I sincerely hope the new program is better than “an ITGS ‘word processing’ option”! ;^ )

But I, too, am apprehensive. We shall soon see, eh?

Thanks for the comment!

Eric

What a thought-provoking post. I’ve heard quite a great deal of varied information regarding the upcoming changes to the programme. I am a bit apprehensive. Unfortunately, it does sound a bit like the introduction of an ITGS “word processing” option. I am particularly fond to the “Thinking Literally” quote and foresee it laminated on my classroom wall in the near future. Keep up the good work- people are learning here

The syllabus review info I used for the last workshop states that the new option for Group 1 is Lang/Lit, ie. six texts at HL and 4 at SL will still be taught and examined (and from the same booklist as the [current] Lit only course). Two parts of the course will be Lang and two Lit-based. In essence it’s not unlike the A level Lang/Lit in syllabus format……..
And it stands beside, and as an alternative to, the whole-Lit based course we know & love – not instead of it.
So I think he’s probably wrong unless there has been a massive sea change in the working party brief since February.
It’s an interesting article but if its premise is that the IB is “dumbing down” Languages Group 1 by offering a Language course from 2011 INSTEAD of Lit, and therefore the cultural stories are not going to be transmitted etc etc he’s just wrong – all candidates, whichever option they choose, will still have to do a lot of literature!! ……You would have to find a way to tell him to remove all inflammatory references to the changes in Groups 1 and 2 and find a new “hook” entirely to make his plea for “Literature at the Core of Learning”.

Here is my reply:

Before, if students wanted a Lang/Lit course, they chose A2. But A2 never became a popular option, so they have essentially re-visioned A2 and turned it into the A1 Lang/Lit option to be paired with the A1 Lit option.

Many people besides myself foresee that students will perceive the Lang/Lit course as the easy option, and that enrolment in the Lit option will drop precipitously.[I do] perceive this as ‘dumbing down’ . . . . The AP program offers two English options, one Lang and the other Lit. I know from my own experience that the Lang option was widely regarded as the easier option, and was chosen by more students overall.

Either way, the net effect is the marginalization of literature as a course of study.

A better approach would have been to update the A1 HL course, and then rewrite the A1 SL course to make it less demanding in the number of books and less academic in its assessments—but still a 100% literature course. It’s not surprising that many students are not thrilled at the thought of writing commentaries, but the study of literature need not be narrowly academic. A SL course that provides a more humanistic, personalized approach to literature would be a welcome addition that would meet the needs of the students who formerly chose A2 or who are wishing for a less academic, less demanding alternative to A1 HL.

I’ll just add one more comment: The current A1 HL course requires 15 works to be studied. That’s a lot more than six!