IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature – Non-literary text types and their conventions Study Guide

This study guide teaches the conventions of common non-literary text types for IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature, at SL and HL. It follows the current IB subject brief (first assessments for SL and HL 2021). It belongs to the area of exploration Readers, writers and texts, and it serves the assessment objective to know “features of particular text types and literary forms”. The same content is needed at SL and HL.

It is a reference for each text type and for reading images and layout. For the exam method (how to plan and write a timed analysis), use the Paper 1 study guide. For this unit, go on to the revision notes and the practice questions. Course links: Language and Literature hub · printable checklist · Readers, writers and texts · syllabus guide.

What this unit covers

From the subject brief	What you must be able to do	SL/HL
Know “features of particular text types and literary forms”	Name a text type and list its usual conventions	SL and HL
Know “elements of literary, stylistic, rhetorical, visual and/or performance craft”	Describe images, layout and typography precisely	SL and HL
Analyse “uses and effects of literary, stylistic, rhetorical, visual or theatrical techniques”	Explain what a convention, or a break from it, does to the reader	SL and HL
Aim: engage with texts “in a variety of media and forms”	Handle print, screen, spoken and visual texts	SL and HL
Aim: develop skills in “viewing”	Read images as closely as words	SL and HL
Paper 1: “unseen non-literary passage/passages from different text types”	Recognise an unseen text type quickly	SL and HL (different times)

The brief does not list which text types you must study; the eight here are common ones. Your teacher will share the assessment criteria.

Why conventions matter

A text type is a kind of text defined by its purpose, audience and form: an advert, a speech, a news report. A convention is a feature readers expect in that type, such as a headline on a news report or a call to action on an advert.

Conventions matter in analysis for three reasons.

1. They create expectations. “Our view” above an article tells you to expect the paper’s own opinion.
2. Each convention does a job. A byline names who is responsible; a source line asks you to trust the numbers.
3. Breaking a convention is a choice. An advert with no product in it stands out because it is unexpected.

Say which convention you see, what it does, and why it suits this audience and purpose.

The eight text types

Advertisements

Purpose: sell a product, service or brand, or build a feeling about it. Conventions: brand name and logo, a slogan or tagline, a headline, a dominant image, short body copy, a call to action (“Book now”), contact details or a web address, and sometimes small print. Adverts often use direct address (“you”), imperatives and appeals to emotion, authority or reason. Ask: what does the image promise that the words do not say outright?

Editorials

An editorial is the publication’s own opinion on a current issue. It is usually unsigned and speaks as “we”, the voice of the paper. A common shape is: the issue, the paper’s position, reasons and evidence, a concession to the other side, then a recommendation. Compare an opinion column, which is signed and uses a personal “I”. Ask: whose authority stands behind the “we”?

Speeches

A speech is written to be heard, on a particular occasion, by a particular audience. Conventions: an opening address (“Friends”, “Members of the board”), reference to the occasion, inclusive “we”, repetition, lists of three, rhetorical questions, short sentences and clear signposts, because a listener cannot re-read. A transcript loses tone and pauses.

Blogs

A blog is a series of posts by one writer or a small group, shown with the newest first. Conventions: a title and date on each post, first person, a conversational register, a recognisable persona, headings, embedded images, links, tags and a comments section. Ask: what relationship does the writer build with regular readers, and how?

Infographics

An infographic presents information visually for quick reading. Conventions: a headline or headline figure, charts, icons or pictograms, colour coding, very little running text, a clear reading path and a source line. Every infographic selects. Ask: which number does the design make you see first, and why?

Photographs

In analysis, treat a photograph as a set of choices, not a window. Look at shot distance (close-up, medium, long), angle (high, eye level, low), framing and cropping, focus, lighting, colour, composition (where the subject sits in the frame) and gaze (does the subject look at the viewer or away?). A caption often fixes the meaning of an image. This is called anchorage: the same picture can say different things under different captions.

Cartoons

An editorial cartoon comments on a topical issue, usually in a single panel. Conventions: caricature and exaggeration, visual metaphor, symbols the reader will recognise, labels on people or objects, a caption or speech bubble, and irony. A cartoon relies on the reader knowing the context, so explain what the reader must already know for the joke to work.

Reports

A news report gives an account of recent events. Conventions: headline, standfirst (a short summary under the headline), byline, dateline, third person, quotations from sources, and the inverted pyramid: the most important facts first, detail and background lower down. A report appears neutral, but choice of headline, quotations and order still shapes the reader’s view. A formal report from an organisation uses a title, a summary, headed sections, findings and recommendations, an impersonal register and often the passive voice (“It was found that…”).

Reading images and layout

Use this vocabulary for any visual or multimodal text.

Term	Meaning	Typical effect to discuss
Salience	What stands out most, through size, colour, contrast or position	Tells you what the producer wants noticed first
Reading path	The route the eye takes around the page	Controls the order in which ideas are met
Vector	A line that leads the eye: a pointing arm, a road, a gaze	Links two elements, for example a face and a product
Demand and offer	Subject looks at the viewer (demand) or away (offer)	Demand creates contact; offer invites us to observe
Anchorage	Words that fix the meaning of an image	Narrows many possible readings to one
Hierarchy of type	Differences in font size and weight	Signals what matters most and what can be skimmed
White space	Empty areas of the page	Isolates an element and makes it feel important or calm
Typeface	The style of lettering	Can suggest tradition, informality, urgency or luxury

In languages written left to right, readers often start top left and finish bottom right, so a call to action or logo is commonly placed at the end of that path. Treat this as a tendency to test against the text, not a rule.

Describe precisely before you interpret: “a low-angle shot against a grey sky” is evidence; “a nice picture” is not.

Worked example 1: an editorial

Original text written for Marlbridge – editorial from an invented local newspaper

Our view: Keep the night market in the square

For eleven summers, Friday nights in Kelby have ended in the square: forty stalls, strung lights, a fiddler nobody booked. Next month the council will vote on moving the market to the car park behind the leisure centre, where, it says, there is “more room and less mess”.

We understand the worry about litter. We have seen the bins on a Saturday morning. But the answer to litter is more bins, not fewer people.

The square is the only place in Kelby where the town meets itself. Move the market to a car park and it becomes a shopping trip. Keep it in the square and it stays an evening out.

We urge councillors to vote no, and to spend the money for the move on bins and cleaners instead.

Step 1: name the type and its conventions. The label “Our view” and the unsigned, collective “We” mark this as an editorial: the paper speaks as an institution. It follows the usual shape: issue (the vote), position (keep the market), concession (“We understand the worry about litter”), rebuttal, and a recommendation (“We urge councillors to vote no”).

Step 2: explain what each convention does. The institutional “We” gives the view the weight of the whole paper, not one writer. The concession makes the paper sound fair, and the rebuttal is short and balanced: “more bins, not fewer people”. Quoting the council’s phrase “more room and less mess” lets readers hear the other side in its own words, and the paper then answers it.

Step 3: look at language inside the conventions. The list “forty stalls, strung lights, a fiddler nobody booked” ends with an unplanned detail, which makes the market feel alive and unofficial. The contrast “a shopping trip” against “an evening out” states the argument in two short phrases a reader can repeat.

Step 4: link to audience. Local readers know the square, so the paper appeals to shared memory before it asks them to agree.

Worked example 2: a photograph and two captions

Original text written for Marlbridge – description of a news photograph

[Photograph: a low-angle shot of a woman in a high-visibility jacket standing on top of a new flood barrier. She looks out of the frame to the left. A grey sky fills the top two-thirds of the image. The town’s rooftops are small in the bottom corner.]

Caption A: “Engineer Dana Okoro checks the new barrier on its first day.”

Caption B: “Is this all that stands between Wexmoor and the next flood?”

Describe. Low angle; the figure stands above the viewer; she looks away (an offer, not a demand); the sky dominates; the town is small and low in the frame.

Interpret with Caption A. The low angle makes the engineer look strong and in control. Her gaze out of frame suggests she is watching for danger on the town’s behalf. The picture reads as reassurance.

Interpret with Caption B. The same grey sky now looks threatening, and the tiny rooftops look exposed. The rhetorical question turns one person on a wall into a sign of how little protection there is. The picture reads as a warning.

Conclude. The image has not changed; the caption has anchored it.

Common errors

• Naming the type and stopping. “This is an infographic” earns little. Say which conventions it uses and what they do.
• Confusing editorial and opinion column. Check for a byline and for “we” or “I”.
• Treating a report as neutral. Selection and order are choices. Look at what comes first and who is quoted.
• Vague visual description. Name the angle, shot distance, position and colour before you interpret.
• Analysing the image and the words separately. Explain how they combine.
• Ignoring broken conventions. When a text does something unexpected for its type, that is usually worth a paragraph.

Where to go next

Condense this page with the revision notes, then test yourself on a blog, an infographic, a cartoon and a photograph in the practice questions. See also Time and space, the subject guide and the assessment revision notes.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language A: language and literature, first assessments for SL and HL 2021 (2019). The editorial and photograph description on this page are original texts written for Marlbridge; all names and places are invented.