How to formulate a Global Issue for your IO (With Examples!)
Carol Ann Duffy’s Poetry
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Executive Summary: In gist, your Global Issue (GI) statement for your Individual Oral (IO) should be a clear argumentative statement that states the causal relationship in connection with a core theme or idea that is prevalent across both your literary text and non-literary body-of-work. Read below to find out clearly the steps you can take to arrive at a Level 7 GI statement.
About the Individual Oral (IO)
The IO is a 15-minute oral exam that is internally assessed by your teacher and externally moderated by IB examiners. For IB English Language & Literature, students must choose and analyse one literary text and one non-literary text. Supported by your chosen literary and/or non-literary texts, the oral exam is split into a 10-minute of prepared response by the student followed by a 5-minute Question & Answer session with the teacher. For SL students, the IO is worth 30% of the final grade, and for HL students, it is worth 20%.
Overall, your IO should be a prepared response to the following prompt: “Examine the ways in which the global issue of your choice is presented through the content and form of two of the texts that you have studied.” The global issue is therefore the backbone of your IO — without a strong global issue, you will not be able to formulate a balanced, thorough analysis of your selected works. It is the string that ties everything together.
Note: According to IB, an extract of around 40 lines must be selected from both literary text and non-literary work. Students are expected to analyze the chosen extracts thoroughly (i.e., from start to finish), hence students are advised against choosing extracts that are too lengthy to prevent hindering their abilities to effectively expand the discussion to the work as a whole.
“When choosing your Global Issue, it is imperative to consider whether it is presented throughout the bodies of work and also that the issue appears across both texts in a balanced, equally pervasive way. The link between your GI and each body of work should be more than tenuous — it should not be something you are forcing onto your texts, but something obvious and immediately discernible.”
Choosing a Global Issue
IB Requirements: According to your IB, your Global Issue must meet the following criteria:-
1. It has significance on a wide / large scale;
2. It is transnational; and
3. Its impact is felt in everyday contexts.
This means that your GI must be pertinent and relevant in many segments of the world population, not only isolated to one certain group of people or your own country of origin. For example, “the effect of the migrant crisis in the UK” is not a suitable GI as it is geographically restricted to one country only. Also, it should also be something we can see in our neighbourhoods and in everyday situations — something that ordinary people like you and me may encounter or experience.
A popular choice of literary text is Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Step-by-step — Formulating a Global Issue Statement
In gist, you may deploy the following framework in guiding your formulation of a Level 7 GI Statement:
1) Choose a literary and non-literary body of work;
Note: When choosing a text, students should also consider IB’s requirements against ‘double-dipping’ (i.e., using the same texts across different assessments); it is imperative for students to choose strategically and make sure their selection of works is optimised.
2) Assign a field of inquiry to your bodies of work;
Students may look to one of the five fields of inquiries for guidance on how to choose a GI. Think about the themes, the characters, the plot development, the author’s messages within your bodies of work – which field(s) of inquiry do you think is the most pertinent to your selected body of work?
The five fields of inquiry students may explore are:-
Culture, identity, and community;
Beliefs, values, and education;
Politics, power, and justice;
Art, creativity, and imagination; and
Science, technology, and the environment.
3) Identify core ideas and underlying themes;
By looking for clues from the relevant field(s) of inquiry, look for connections of core ideas and underlying themes across your bodies of work and decide on one you feel most passionately for. Examples of core ideas and underlying themes may be: power, abuse of power, gender inequality, income inequality, social division, climate change, toxic masculinity, etc.
Important factor — prevalence across bodies of text: When choosing your core idea, it is imperative to consider whether it is presented throughout the bodies of work (i.e., explored in more than 3-4 locations within the text & these locations are spread out throughout the text), and also that the idea appears across both texts in a balanced, equally pervasive way. The link between your core idea and each body of work should be more than tenuous — it should not be something you are forcing onto your texts, but something obvious and immediately discernible.
4) Expand on your core idea and underlying theme;
After deciding on a core theme or idea, it’s time to develop and expand on it by thinking about the 5W’s in relation to your core idea. For example, if your core idea is “power”, you can ask yourself: Who holds the power in the text? What kind of power is held? How is power used by the characters within the text?
5) Formulate your Global Issue Statement!
After developing your core theme/idea, you should be able to formulate a GI statement based on the following criteria:-
Clear Argumentative Statement: Your GI should be a clear argumentative statement, such that examiners can immediately tell what your stance is and what argument you will be making in your oral response. You should avoid merely stating the topic, and instead focus on what the authors of your respective texts are trying to articulate about your core theme or idea and how such core theme or idea is conveyed through their authorial choices.
Framing of a causal relationship: Your GI statement should be framed in terms of a causal relationship about the core theme/idea that demonstrates the argument you will be making. Your statement should therefore be framed by action verbs such as “How … causes …” or “The effect of … on …”. Again, this causal relationship should be prevalent throughout each body of work and should be more than a tenuous link (i.e., not something you are forcing onto your text but something obvious and immediately discernible).
Tip: Although perhaps a much less tangible and quantifiable factor, another thing IB looks at is whether the candidate expresses genuine passion for the GI they’ve chosen. Choose a GI you genuinely care about—often times, examiners can tell when you don’t.
“You should avoid merely stating the topic, and instead focus on what the authors of your respective texts are trying to articulate about your core idea and how such core idea is conveyed through their authorial choices.”
Global Issue Statements — Examples!
Core idea/underlying theme — Gender Stereotypes
Literary text: The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
Non-literary body of work: Liza Donnelly’s political cartoons
GI statement: ”How traditional gender stereotypes can create destructively binary perceptions of women.”
Core idea/underlying theme — Consequences of War
Literary text: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Non-literary body of work: Photography of Phillip Jones Griffiths
GI statement: “The psychological effect of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers and veterans.”
Core idea/underlying theme — Consequences of War
Literary text: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Non-literary body of work: The ‘Problems’ Campaign by the Refugee Agency of the UNHCR
GI statement: ”How war disproportionately affects vulnerable and disadvantage communities.”
Core idea/underlying theme —Climate Change
Literary text: Poetry of Mary Oliver
Non-literary body of work: Documentary film Breaking Boundaries
GI statement: ”How an appreciation of nature can help individuals accept their responsibility in their contribution to climate change.”
Core idea/underlying theme — Gender Inequality
Literary text: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Non-literary body of work: Patrick Chappatte's political cartoons
GI statement: ”The societal ostracization of women due to criticism and disapproval.”
Core idea/underlying theme — Systematic Discrimination
Literary text: Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Non-literary body of work: Photography of Gordon Parks
GI statement: ”How systematic discrimination causes violence on disenfranchised individuals.”
