IB English A Lang & Lit Opinion Column Questionbank

How and to what effect does the writer use language to explore the reader's relationship with social media and digital attention?

How and to what effect does the writer use language, structure, and personal narrative to explore the consequences of language loss across generations?

In what ways does the writer use language and structure to present the Indian coaching centre system as a failure of values rather than a failure of policy?

How does the author use language and structural features to emphasize a serious issue?

The following extract is from The Irish Times, a national newspaper published in Ireland.

¹ secular penance: an act of self-discipline or self-denial performed outside a religious context; something done to acknowledge or atone for perceived failings without spiritual motivation.

² variable reward schedule: a psychological reinforcement pattern in which rewards are given at unpredictable intervals; research has shown this produces more persistent behaviour than regular or predictable rewards.

³ algorithm: in the context of social media, an automated system that determines what content a user sees, based on data about their behaviour and engagement patterns; designed to maximise time spent on the platform.

The following extract is from The Star, a national newspaper published in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

¹ postcolonial: relating to the period following the end of colonial rule, and to the cultural, linguistic, and political legacies that colonialism leaves behind; in Malaysia, the postcolonial education system inherited a hierarchy of languages in which English was associated with professional advancement.

² English-medium schooling: a school in which English is the primary language of instruction for all or most subjects; in Malaysia, national schools use Malay as the medium of instruction, while private and international schools use English.

³ language attrition: the gradual loss of proficiency in a language due to reduced exposure and use, typically occurring across generations in communities that shift to a dominant language; distinct from language death, which refers to a language losing all native speakers.

⁴ vernacular education: schooling conducted in a minority or community language rather than the national language; in Malaysia, Tamil-medium and Chinese-medium schools are constitutionally recognised as part of the national education system but operate with different levels of public funding.

⁵ code-switching: the practice of alternating between two or more languages within a single conversation or even within a single sentence; common in multilingual communities and sometimes interpreted as a sign of fluency, though it can also indicate difficulty sustaining full expression in one language alone.

The following extract is from The Hindu, a national newspaper published in India.

¹ Kota: a city in Rajasthan, India, that has become the centre of the country's private coaching industry; hundreds of thousands of students travel to Kota annually to attend intensive
coaching programmes for competitive entrance examinations.

² coaching centre: a private institution offering intensive preparation for competitive examinations; in India, these are distinct from schools and focus exclusively on examination technique rather than broader education.

³ competitive entrance examination: a standardised test used to allocate limited places at prestigious institutions; in India, the JEE determines admission to the Indian Institutes of
Technology and is widely considered the most competitive examination in the world by applicant-to-place ratio.

⁴ rote repetition: a learning method based on memorisation through repeated practice, without necessarily developing understanding of underlying principles; commonly contrasted with
conceptual or inquiry-based learning.