The exposition
THIS WEEK, we will turn our attention to the expository section of the internal assessment (IA).
This section of the IA will be orally presented and examined. The duration should be no longer than 10 minutes per student. Topics chosen in this section should be current. A student should collect at least two pieces of related information on the selected topic. It is usually best to use at least one primary source and one secondary source of information. This ensures that your research base is fairly wide and balanced. You will also recall that this section is worth 16 marks.
The marks are allotted as follows: i. Discussion of issues and challenges. (5 marks) ii. Evaluation of the effect of source, context and medium (or channel) on the reliability and validity of information gathered. (4 marks) iii. Organisation. (3 marks) iv. Delivery (audibility, fluency, eye contact, body movement and paralinguistic features such as pauses, throat clearing, pitch, etc,). (4 marks) In lesson three of this series, I mentioned that the presentation should be well-organised and effectively delivered in standard English. Let us now look more closely at (i) and (ii) above and what is required of you for each one.
I. DISCUSSION OF ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
This will look at the issues presented in the article or other sources of information used, and personal/ emotional or practical challenges faced, while exploring the theme and processing the information. So, your examiner should have a good sense of the critical issues associated with the topic you are exploring (For example: The Prevalence of Human Trafficking in Jamaica). By now, you would have read and researched widely and be in a position to say whether the incidents of human trafficking are on the rise or declining, and what measures the Government of Jamaica and other stakeholders have taken to address the issues, et cetera. You should also be able to comment on whether the information was readily available or what challenges you faced as you conducted your research and processed the information. You can include whether the interview you conducted with the victim of human trafficking was so emotionally moving that you had to reschedule the interview in order to compose yourself. Perhaps all the questionnaires you distributed were not returned, and this hindered you in some way. Be prepared to share a fulsome discussion of all these.
II. EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF SOURCE, CONTEXT AND MEDIUM (OR CHANNEL) ON THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF INFORMATION GATHERED
This will look at the expertise, authority and perspective, social and political bias of the author/speaker/ source; the social and historical context in which the piece was written/presented; the factual accuracy, logical structure and cogency of the piece. If you review the lesson carried in this series for the last couple of weeks, you will see how everything falls nicely into place. So, as you review your sources, consider whether the author or speaker is considered an authority on the matter being discussed. From what perspective are the ideas being presented? Is it based on personal experience, professional experience or other? What impact does this have on the information? Does the potential for bias exist in the way the information is presented by any of the sources? If so, what impact does it have? Could the social, political or historic context in which the information is presented have any impact on what is presented or how it is presented? Was Jamaica about to sign a new IMF agreement and, therefore, the article presented the country in a very favourable light economically, in contrast to what your other research indicated was the case? Was the information presented factually, free from fallacies, with the points flowing in a logical order from start to finish? Were the ideas jumbled and confusing, making it difficult to decipher and assess?
For written material, especially, please make note of the publisher’s information. Is it a reputable source? Is it politically aligned? Is it well known and highly respected? Please also pay attention to the date of publication. Some things remain factual throughout the passage of time, some secondary sources can be considered primary after some time, but new truths emerge as research widens and deepens; so carefully note the date and how this may impact the information presented, especially when compared to other sources of the same information.
III. ORGANIZATION
Although you have been advised that you may take into the room ONE 4” x 6” cue card with headings/main points related to your presentation, your ideas must be cohesive. Your examiner will be listening for an introduction, logical sequence of ideas throughout the body, and a conclusion. It is easier to evaluate one source at a time instead of hopping from one source to the other several times throughout the presentation. As with all oral presentations, remember to make it as easy as possible for the listener to follow what is being said. Next week, we will look at delivering the speech. You may review the previous lesson in the series on nonverbal communication. Trudi Morrison Reid teaches at The Queen’s School. Send comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com.