IB Assessment: FOA

Further Oral Activity

The basics

*Further oral activities are based on texts and topics from Parts 1 and 2of the
syllabus. The activity should be rooted in a primary source.

*You must conduct at least two FOAs; one on Part 1 and one on Part 2. Your
teacher may provide more opportunities to do an FOA than these two.

*You may work alone or in pairs.

Basics continued

*You decide on an activity in consultation with your teacher.

*Although there is no official time limit, there must be enough material to

assess. On this matter the IB guide states: “The length of the individual
oral commentary may be used as a rough guide for the amount of time an
individual student should spend speaking during the further oral activity:
15 minutes.”
Continued

*Following each FOA, you will have to write a reflective statement, which
is kept on record within the school. The reflective statement explains
how you met one or more of the learning outcomes for Parts 1 or for Part 2.

*The marks from the best FOA performance count for 15% of the final
grade.

* For your English grade the FOA will be ½ of your FINAL EXAM GRADE
What do FOA’s look like?

1.Oral presentation

A formal speech based on an aspect studied in Part 1 of the course

A report related to an aspect of Part 1 of the course, for example,

comparing two newspaper articles on the same topic and identifying
the cultural bias taken by the newspapers
Oral presentations cont...
The examination of a particular interpretation of a text or event

A commentary on the use of a particular image, idea, or symbol in a text

or texts studied (e.g. a theme, motif, symbol, etc.)

An account of a student’s developing response to a text

Role play...

A dialogue between two public figures (e.g. authors or

politicians) with a follow-up discussion
highlighting the way meaning is constructed in a
text or speech.

A public figure interviewed by the student, or by the

More ideas

1. Deliver a PowerPoint presentation that analyzes how a particular

article/essay uses language in a specific way to achieve a certain
purpose.

2. For example, find an author who writes in a particular dialect and

analyse the poem to show how dialect contributes to meaning

3. Give a PowerPoint presentation about how an official language policy

(at the school or government level) has had a positive or negative
effect on a person’s or group of people’s linguistic identity.
More ideas

Analyze scenes from a specific movie to show how certain language varieties carry differing
levels of status (i.e. prestige) or even a lack of prestige.

For example, in some 1960’s movies set in ancient Rome (e.g. Spartacus), the Roman
Emperor always spoke with a “Queen’s English” British English, the hero spoke in a standard
American accent, and the lowly Roman soldiers spoke in a coarse New York Bronx accent.

OR, Examine what perceptions this choice reveals concerning the status of these
dialects. (Alternatively, you can examine a superhero movie that has the arch villain speaking
in a “Queen’s English” accent, the villain’s thugs speaking in lower status accents, and the hero
speaking in a General American accent).
Requirements...

1. Fill out a FOA Student Worksheet

2. Create a detailed OUTLINE of your presentation...this should NOT be a

script. (This should include a works cited page of all the outside
resources you have used and your primary source)

3. Research your topic!

4. Plan for 12 minutes...you will speak faster the day of your

presentation. If you are under 10 minutes you will lose points