Written Assignment HL

Weighting: 20%

This component consists of a creative writing task of 500–600 words linked to one or two literary texts read in class and a 150–250 word rationale. It must be written during the final year of the course and is externally assessed. It is not timed and must be an independent work of the student, under the teacher’s guidance.

Assessment Objectives

The purpose of the written assignment is to:

  • provide the student with the chance to reflect upon and develop further understanding of one or both of the literary texts read in class
  • develop their receptive and productive skills to a higher degree
  • produce an appropriate text in the selected text type
  • organize writing purposefully and coherently
  • extend language skills
  • demonstrate intercultural understanding through reflection on the assignment.

Requirements

The written assignment has two parts: a rationale and the task.

The rationale: Students must write a 150–250 word rationale introducing the assignment that must include:

  • a brief introduction to the literary text(s)
  • an explanation of how the task is linked to the literary text(s)
  • the student’s intended aim(s)
  • explanation of how the student intends to achieve his or her aim(s)—choice of text types, audience, register, style and so on.

The task: Students produce a creative piece of writing that will be based on one or two literary texts that the student has read as part of the course. The task must be 500–600 words in length. Students should effectively use a range of language appropriate to the chosen text type and aim(s) stated in the rationale. Examples of written assignments could be—writing a new ending to a novel, an interview with a character, or a diary entry by one of the characters in a story or play, a news report about an event in the story and so on. Note: A formal (literary) essay is not an acceptable text type for the written assignment.

The student should:

  • develop the ideas presented in the rationale
  • use a range of language appropriate to text type and communicative purpose
  • create a piece of writing that is connected to the literary text(s).

Formal guidelines

  • The assignment must be written in the final year of the course and is not timed.
  • The subject of the written assignment must be the choice of the student in consultation with the teacher
  • The task and the rationale must be in the target language and word processed.
  • The assignment must be the independent work of the student (see below for the role of the teacher).
  • The literary text(s) must be written originally in the target language and studied in the target language.
  • Students may include illustrations in support of their work where this is appropriate; however, artistic merit is not assessed. These must always be electronically embedded, not separately reproduced and physically attached.
  • Written assignments submitted for assessment must be word processed and the electronic files must not exceed a maximum size of 2 MB, including any images.

Assessment Criteria

Three Assessment criteria are used to assess the written assignment, which is worth 20% of the overall mark.

Criterion A Rationale and task                                      10 marks

Criterion B Organization and development                6 marks

Criterion C Language                                                        8 marks

Total                                                                                     24 marks