The benefits of keeping a journal – advice for Language and Literature students

In the new guide for self-taught students in literature, there are three properties defining what a global issue is:

• It has significance on a wide or large scale
• It is transnational
• Its impact is felt in everyday, local contexts

Keep a journal as you read and watch each text, focus on the four suggested fields of inquiry. This will set up your thinking for perceptive understanding in each of your assessments. These fields of inquiry are defined by the writers of the IB Language: A literature guide as:

1. Culture, identity and community- what is the role of the community in shaping or suppressing identity of characters? What does the text say about migration, multiculturalism, colonialism and nationalism?
2. Beliefs, values and education- what tensions are there in individuals and communities and how does their system of beliefs resist or accept change?
3. Politics, power and justice – how are relationships of power represented in the works and who is silenced or marginalised? How is wealth and other resources shared?
4. Art, creativity and the imagination – What is role of the artist in the world? How is the role of the artist expressed through an artistic character?

By asking these questions, you are considering the world centred reading approach. Your thoughts and research may extend to real life situations that you come across in TOK. The global connections will benefit you both within this subject and outside of it.

Happy journaling.