Research Design and Method
This study adopts a qualitative research approach with a quasi-experimental design for two sets of samples:a control group of 20 students from Chinese cinema，and an experimental group of 12 students from Asian cinema.As“quasiexperimental designs include，but are not limited to，nonequivalent control group designs，in which the outcomes of those exposed to two or more conditions are studied”，this method is particularly useful for gaining insight into the learning curves of Chinese international students in their study of the humanities，where two languages are constantly at play(Shadish and Clark，2011:899).[11]Using“a combination of design features，practical logic，and statistical analysis”，quasi-experiments enable researchers to show causal inferences with presumed causes(Shadish and Clark，2011:899).
As indicated in the overview of the two subjects，the key variable for the control group and experimental group is English.With minimal interference of the variable，the control group allows us to examine the difficulties that Chinese international students encounter，the strengths they have，and the progress they make in the study of humanities subjects.With the key variable added in，the experimental group enables us to observe the impact of English on Chinese international students’study of the humanities.To avoid sampling bias，we make sure that both our sample sets are representative of the entire population by selecting four ranges of high-，medium-high-，average-and low-achieving students corresponding to four score bands of H1(80%～100%)，H2A(75%～79%)，H2B(70%～74%)and H3 or lower(50%～69%)respectively.Maintaining a sample size of above 10%of the total population and by covering four score bands，we believe that this study allows us to chart out a broader picture of the implications of Australian humanities subjects for Chinese international students.[12]As the assessments of both subjects are primarily based on academic essays and critical film reviews，the main focus of our study will be on the written work of the two groups.