The interactive oral
Name:
Essentials
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A focused class discussion in which all students and the teacher participate
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At least one interactive oral must be conducted for each work studied.
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Each student should have some specific role in one of the orals (across all the works
studied).
For the work of each author we study in translation, you will need to decide upon…
…a specific cultural or contextual aspect of each work that you find engaging to learn about,
present upon, and lead a class discussion upon.
…the specific story, group of stories, or part of a longer work that pertains to your Interactive
Oral subject.
…discussion prompts that you will use to start, sustain, and direct the class discussion to ensure
that students gain the cultural and contextual insight you wish to provide.
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Minimum 5-10 prompts
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For example:
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In what ways do time and place matter to this work?
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What was easy to understand and what was difficult in relation to social and
cultural issues?
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What connections did you find between issues in the works of this author and
your own cultural experiences?
…the format of the interaction between you, your information, and the entire class.
Your Interactive Oral can take one of the following forms:
The following suggestions show the range of possible types of interactive orals.
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During the course of one lesson, several students could introduce a problem they have in
understanding the culture or the context, with the class and the teacher discussing each
issue raised.
Students could introduce the discussion, adopting the teacher’s role for lessons on the
work, and lead the class discussion.
Students, either individually or working in groups, could choose a clip of a film or other
visual medium and lead a discussion on how it may deepen understanding of culture or
context.
A fishbowl of experts discussing a contextual aspect of a work, then field questions from
the class at large.
A panel discussion in which students perform in character to explore the plot, setting, and
motives of the characters, with the rest of the class brainstorming questions for the panel
members.
The student can select a related reading that teaches or informs the class's reading of the
text studied on some aspect of the work and then lead a class discussion through that
related reading.
The student could create a multimedia project (YouTube video, prezi, museum box) as a
springboard into the expert discussion and then engage the rest of the class in a critique or
feedback.
Students could approach the text from a critical viewpoint; i.e., they can consider how
critics associated with archetypal, psychoanalytic, feminist, structuralist,
deconstructionist, or Marxist analysis would approach the work.
The reflective statement
Essentials
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It must be written as soon as possible following the interactive oral. It is
advisable for students to take notes during the interactive oral
discussion to assist them in writing the reflective statement.
Students must know that the reflective statement on the work on which the essay
is written will be assessed, along with the essay.
Each student must write one reflective statement on each work studied for
submission with their Written Assignment. We will write a reflective statement
after each discussion that includes an Interactive Oral, so we can ensure success
on this part of the assessment.
There is one guiding question for the reflective statement, which is:
How was your understanding of cultural and contextual
considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
“Context” refers to all possible contexts. It is intended to embrace the cultural
underpinnings of the works by looking at specifics such as:
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the time and place in which the work was written
information about the author (particularly as it relates to the way in which the
author’s ideas as presented in the work do, or do not, accord with situations in
the contemporary society)
philosophical, political and social contexts
ideas that the students themselves bring to the work.
“Developed” is the other key word in the question. It is a personal statement that is
most likely to be written in the first person, and should be an honest account of
the evolution of understanding. If the student feels that they have not really learned
anything, then they should reflect on what they still do not understand.
The aim is to ensure the focus of discussion is sufficiently challenging so
that students will be stimulated to think more deeply about some aspect of
the work.
The criterion by which students are assessed uses the same words as the question on
which the reflective statement is based. If they answer this honestly and fully, then they
should be able to achieve the three points.
Reflective Statement Sample:
Question: How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work
developed through the interactive oral?
Work used: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
During the discussion, several articles were presented to the class. The subjects brought to light
were the Russian economy during the 1850s, serfdom, and the question of whether Turgenev was
obsolete or not. The articles on the Russian economy explained the state of transition the Russian
economy was in during the mid-1850s. Prior to this period, there were members of the society
called serfs. These were essentially slaves who worked on the fields of rich peasants, or the upper
class. However, at this time Russia began to move away from serfdom.
After this discussion, it would appear Turgenev places great importance on the time, place, and
culture of his novel, as serfdom and the existence of social classes are a predominant feature in
Fathers and Sons. I found this discussion interesting, as it clarified some aspects of the novel.
For example, in Fathers and Sons, Nikolai is a relatively well off land owner, and he ‘owns’ many
serfs. However, as the system begins to evolve, the serfs and their owners have some trouble
adjusting to the new system of land ownership. The serfs are misbehaved and irresponsible, and
these aspects of the culture and context form the setting of the novel.
The article on the ‘Turgenev Question’ was interesting as well, because it highlighted some of
Turgenev’s techniques, and what he’s famous for. According to the article, the art of Turgenev is
in understatement: he manages to capture large philosophical, social, and historical movements
as manifested in everyday life.
This can indeed be seen in Fathers and Sons. Turgenev paints a picture of commonplace Russian
life with characters like Nikolai Arkady, Pavel, Bazarov and Fenichka, using barely any overly
dramatic devices. Yet, through the characters’ thoughts and interactions with each other
Turgenev explores ideas such as familial relationships. Furthermore, he portrays other aspects of
Russian life, including the wide gap between social classes and the idea of young people rejecting
all authorities.
Examiner’s comments: Reflective statement
The length of the statement is 321 words. It is clear that, after listening to the discussion on the articles that were presented, the student has
furthered to some extent his understanding of the cultural and contextual elements of the novel. The student has tried to include rather a lot of quite
complicated information and ideas, which takes the sharpness off the reflection, but there is no doubt that he has at least started to think about
issues in the novel in a different way as a result of the interactive oral. That would place the reflective statement in the middle range of the
descriptors for criterion A: fulfilling the requirements of the reflective statement.