English A: Literature HL or Literature-Language HL?

[traveller]

I am having trouble deciding whether i should take English A Literature or English A Lit-Lang. I have to take either English class in HL.

 

After reading other blogs and various websites, i initially chose to take Literature because i gathered that it was the more difficult of the two courses, and i love English so i would like to undertake the challenge.

 

However today, our English teachers gave us a long and scary lecture on the difference between the two. The Lit-Lang teacher in particular described her course as extremely difficult. She also said that in Lit-Lang you analyze more adverts/newspapers/speeches, the motives behind why things are said or advertised, the history behind texts, you analyze different languages and communication techniques. She also said that because of the 'language' component, that it is double the work of Literature. She further mentioned a lot of memorization of poems involved in her course (5 scenes from Macbeth memorized by heart, as well as other poems!!), for oral as well as written assessments.

 

I thought that because of the communication involvement, Lit-Lang would benefit me more because my aims are to become a dentist, which requires an understanding of communications.

 

I was very interested in what she described, however i do not want to take Lit-Lang and end up not doing as good in my Chemistry HL and Biology HL. Those are what really matter to me most.

 

Please give me the best advice! What is really the difference between the two? Which do YOU think is more difficult? Which would benefit me more in my career in medicine?

 

Thank you so much!

Sorry for the long post!

 

(English is my first language by the way)

Edited September 3, 2014 by traveller

[artisticsoul8]

Well, my teachers gave us similar lecture at the beginning of the year but its conclusion was that Literature alone is the hardest one. I think it all depends on how well you think you can do in either of them. Language & Literature (at least in my school) focuses more on grammar and the ones that choose it analyse less poems and read less novels. Literature is more about interpretation and analysis of both poetry and prose and we have no lessons on grammar at all.

 

If English is your first language you should do relatively well in either option (I speak from experience, I'm a native speaker as well) but the only issue could be whether you like analyzing or not. Because if you're not really into reading between the lines and getting the back story of literally EVERYTHING you read then maybe you should consider Language & Literature.

 

If you want to be a dentist after IB, then I don't think you need to have Literature alone but definitely one of them on HL. It also all comes to what you like doing, because you'e never going to get good grades if you don't like the subject at all.

 

I hope it helps a bit. Feel free to ask anytime 

[Blackcurrant]

Here is an easy solution: Just ask yourself

 

"Which course am I willing to put more effort into?"

 

That is (really) the crux. It ALL depends on YOU. 

 

"Easy "Hard" is all relative. An easy course that you hate/dislike/bored by will be far more "work" than one that is complex, takes up more time,  but which engages your mind and fascinates you.

 

Edited September 3, 2014 by Blackcurrant

[Sandwich]

Analysing adverts and so on is usually a lot easier for most people than analysing poetry and novels, because on the whole it's pretty obvious what those sorts of texts are trying to get across to you. If it weren't, it would be a crap newspaper, advert or speech! That's why it has a reputation as being easier, the things you're analysing tend towards the blindingly obvious if you just think about it for half a second. Anybody who can't see that an advert is trying to sell you something and have a stab at how that's going needs their head checked. You don't need to memorise poems or scenes from plays off by heart in either, to my knowledge You have to be able to analyse them on the spot in Lit (not sure about Lit-Lang) but not recite them, there's no benefit to that. Basically you have to be able to say a verbal 'essay' on multiple extracts from multiple texts. As for one being twice the work, it's actually the same - you just drop a load of the literature in L&L in order to do some language bits too. It's not like you're working twice as hard.

 

Generally people do find Lit-Lang easier, although it depends on you. Having studied Literature and Language separately in the past my feeling is that it's the 1% who must find Language harder - I mean, I don't know anybody who does! Back in the day my whole class got A*s in English Language and only 2 people A*s in English Literature, if that tells you anything.

 

Neither Lit nor Lit-Lang will specifically help you in becoming a dentist. So it's really just up to you which you fancy doing.

[Clockwork]

I had a similar problem, at first I wanted to do Lit but then after some research and consulting teachers about the difference between lang/lit and lit I chose lang/lit. I chose lang/lit because of the diversity of texts you'll be analyzing and based on my university study. On the other hand Lit will be focusing solely on prominent novels such as 1984, Great Gatsby etc......, you'll be reading around 12-13 novels(please correct me if I am wrong). 

 

Before you chose what to do ask yourself these questions:

 

1. Are you a keen reader, are you willing to read 12-13 novels in Lit HL over the periods of 2 years(technically 1 and a half) 

 

2. Do you prefer to only focus and analyze on one type of media or various types of medias. 

 

3. Do you think you will enjoy the course(don't just chose the course because you are force to, chose it based on interests)

[Blackcurrant]

All the previous points are good. But, it is not just the content of the course that matters here. Much of what makes a course "hard" or "difficult" depends on the teacher: teacher personality and how well organized they are. And --more importantly -- how well organized YOU are.

 

In the Langlit course, you will probably get an endless flow of photocopies, documents, online links and references -- you will be buried under all this , as there are no course textbooks, forcing teachers to draw on many disparate sources all in one sitting. You'll have to be super-organized and your toes every class to absorb this multitude of bite-sized, which soon can become un-manageable and undistinguishable. I 'm talking tons of references and paper or online stuff. Partly depends on how yor teacher manages this too. But there is much more variety of material to go through and keep track of. Muuuuch more. 

 

You may prefer the relatively straightforward handful of selected works that are assigned for Lit. class, rather than the flood of LangLit bits and bobs.

 

It will be good to factor THAT into the equation too.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Blackcurrant

[wonkyungy]

I think english A : language & literature is better because you get to learn both language and literature.

[traveller]

Thank you to everyone who replied! I think I will switch back to English Literature because I love reading and I love analyzing things. Our teacher told us we read about up to 15 texts (poems/novels/everything) total. I'm kind of looking forward to reading all of that. Also, the teacher for Literature is simply awesome.

[Blackcurrant]

Way to go!