Analysis of the Film Review Assessment of the Co...
This section reports on the question regarding the strengths of Chinese international students in the study of Chinese cinema by analysing the film reviews of the control group.The film review assessment task has two components:a 1000-word critical film review，and an in-class oral presentation of the film review.Students can use multimedia tools or cue cards for their oral presentations.The assessment criteria for the film reviews are similar to those for the essay writing，which focus mainly on students’critical understanding of the film text in relation to its aesthetic，social and political significance，and their engagement with relevant scholarship.The oral presentation assesses students’ability to present their ideas clearly and coherently on top of their critical thinking.As can be seen in table 1，the majority of the control group did quite well on this assessment task with seven of them achieving an H1(80%+)，ten students obtaining an H2A(75%～79%)and only three falling into the H2B category(70%～74%).These scores are strikingly higher than what they achieved at the mid-term test，and students generally demonstrated great potential in their critical understanding of the films.
C5，C7 and C13 reviewed Zhang Yimou’s Oscar-nominated film，Ju Dou(1990)and related the tragedy of the female protagonist to China’s patriarchal social order by saying“Ju Dou is a victim of the oppressive feudalism in China.”C15，C19 and C20 looked at Chen Kaige’s masterpiece，Yellow Earth(1984)and considered how this groundbreaking work represented an eagerness to critically re-evaluate Chinese culture in the 1980s.C15 commented that“the yellow earth is metaphorical and compels the audience to think about the roots of Chinese culture”.C19 and C20 discussed the poverty and superstition that characterised life in north-western China.It’s worth noticing that the cultural and language connections provided by these contemporary films can often be turned into motivations for the students to learn more about their own culture and society.[13]Being far away from home，these students are at higher risk of being influenced by negative psychological symptoms as revealed in the research by Redfern(2016);therefore，these films may well serve as a kind of cultural and emotional connection for the students.Distanced from their home country yet still connected to it by this powerful medium of film，the students were able to gain a critical distance and think more deeply about the culture and society they feel so familiar，or unfamiliar，with.
C10，C11 and C17 reviewed Jia Zhangke’s debut feature，Xiao Wu(1997)and discussed the loss of faith in post-socialist China as represented by various characters in the film.C10 pointed out“Xiao Wu is marginalised in a moneyoriented society”.C11 and C17 suggested that Xiao Wu’s alienation from society is related to China’s unbalanced economic growth.C8 and C12 examined Zhang Yang’s Shower(1999)，and C4 and C16 discussed Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle(2001)in the larger context of China’s urbanisation and integration into globalization.C3，C9 and C14 analysed the narrative structure of Ning Hao’s commercial hit，Crazy Stone(2006)and the film’s use of black humour.These students were also able to cite academic sources，although mainly Chinese ones，to support their claims.The topics or issues discussed in their film reviews reflect the depth of their thinking and a good level of engagement with relevant scholarship.In fact，the opportunity to use their first language seems to have opened up infinite possibilities for them，boosting their confidence to grapple with more complex concepts and motivating them to read more extensively for a new angle from which to interpret the film text.
In terms of the oral presentation，their performance was equally sound.[14]With a strong cultural connection but without the language barrier，our students not only articulated their ideas freely but also inspired discussions and debates by raising questions in class.It is not compulsory，although encouraged，for presenters to leave two or three questions about the film they review for class discussion，but 80% of the presenters have done so.This was helpful for creating an intellectually stimulating classroom environment for more meaningful discussion of topics relating not only to the films but more broadly to Chinese culture and society.Some of the thought-provoking questions raised by the presenters include“in what ways the relationship in Farewell My Concubine heightens the tragedy of the story”，and“who shall be blamed for Xiao Wu’s alienation from society”，or“how your hometown has been affected by urbanisation in the last ten years”and so on.As these questions are not the“yes or no，right or wrong”type，they opened up space for students to explore the filmic world and beyond from different perspectives.
The interaction between the presenters and the listeners is by all definition a process of learning and critical thinking，particularly for the presenters，as they need to respond actively to bounce-back questions from fellow students and the teacher.This ability to think critically and independently is one of the core objectives of this subject as well as a key aspect of all humanities studies.The teacher’s role is an enjoyable one in this part，involving mainly guiding the discussion and gearing the class towards more critical and independent thinking about the topics in question.Feedback from fellow students and the teacher is generally helpful for clearing confusion about certain aspects of the film and increasing the analytical skills of the students as reflected in their final essays，which we will discuss in the following section.
It is also worth noticing that the use of multimedia tools is common practice for this presentation task.17 students in the control group made good use of multimedia tools to illustrate their points.There’s sometimes even an invisible but healthy competition amongst students to make the best PowerPoint slides to impress the audience.Living in an age of visual culture in which“emoji is said to be the fastest-growing language”，these millennials are entirely used to reading and interpreting meaning from various visual symbols and images(Tang and Hew，2018:191).As a result，incorporating still frames into their slides for film analysis was only a default，with some also using film clips or animation as a more powerful communication tool.Not surprisingly，the use of multimedia tools would normally generate more discussion and debate amongst students，which benefited the whole class.
Comparatively speaking，this presentation and interactive discussion process was the part in which students best demonstrated their potential and achieved the highest average scores amongst all assessment tasks.From the performance of the same control group in this assessment task，we see that Chinese international students can indeed achieve high scores if language is not an issue and if they are motivated by some kind of cultural bond or emotional connection with the course content.This is not to say that educatorsshould make every effort to create such connections just to cater to students.But sensitivity to the cultural or emotional needs of international students will certainly have a positive effect upon the dynamics between the students and the teacher.