Analysis of the Final Essays of the Control Grou...
In this section，our task is to find out the progress the control group have made by studying their final essays and end-of-semester test papers.The final essay had a 2000-word requirement and the students were tested on two essay questions dealing with films adapted from Chinese“reform literature”and“scar literature”respectively.Both questions specifically asked students to consider the limitations of the films in terms of the breadth and depth they have touched，in order to assess whether the students have strengthened their critical thinking capabilities after one semester of study.The results are telling，with eleven students achieving an H1，three students obtaining an H2A and six receiving an H2B.To decode these grades，we need to take a closer look at the areas in which they did well.
To write successful undergraduate essays，the first step is to analyse the essay question and identify the key terms in the question.As can be seen from their essays，most H1 students did a good job of addressing the essay question in the right direction with key terms defined or contextualised at the beginning of their essays.
Similarly，in tackling the“reform literature”question，C1，C8 and C13 provided clarification as to on how changed social conditions paved the way for the advent of the“reform literature”，and made it clear that the“reform literature”reflected“a transition in the economic，political，cultural and ideological domain”(C1);“Chinese people’s desires to modernise the country”(C8);and“the consensus between Chinese people and the government to launch an economic reform”(C13).They cited Perry Link，Richard King，Ziliang Peng amongst other scholars to contextualise the literary phenomenon and pointed out that compared with“scar literature，”which mainly aimed at healing the wounds of the Chinese people，“reform literature”conveyed Chinese people’s wish to pursue a better life.Even the H2A and H2B students quoted academic sources or used their own words to introduce the key concepts in the essay questions before moving on to make their arguments.
To secure an H1 or even an H2A grade，students needed to demonstrate the ability to construct persuasive arguments with evidence-supported analysis and good engagement with relevant scholarship.The ability to critically reflect on the research topic was of course another key assessment criterion.Our students’overall performance in this category was satisfactory.Those in the H2B score band struggled a little bit to organise their arguments or to make more meaningful analysis，but still demonstrated a good level of critical thinking，which indicates substantial progress in the study of this subject.
This critical thinking ability is further demonstrated in the end-of-semester test—a closed-book exam aiming to test understanding of the main characters in relation to the themes of various films that have been discussed throughout the semester.Students had only one hour to complete the 500-word mini essay，and the films included Ju Dou(dir.Zhang Yimou，1991)，Farewell My Concubine(dir.Chen Kaige，1993)，Xiao Wu(dir.Jia Zhangke，1997)，Factory Manager Qiao Takes His Post(dir.Lai Shujun，1980)and Ru Yi(dir.Huang Jianzhong，1982).The grade distribution is:twelve H1，four H2A and eight H2B.
Let’s quote again some key words from the H2Band H2A students to gain a better idea about what each group did well for this assessment.In their discussion of the Tianbai character in Ju Dou，C17 and C20 mentioned that he is“the product of the patriarchal society”and“his mentality is twisted by China’s feudal ethics.”In their response to Jia Zhangke’s film，C9 and C18 said“while Chinese society has been increasingly dominated by commercialism，Xiao Wu becomes an outcast of society”and“Xiao Wu feels alienated and marginalised in a fast-changing society”.C8 and C13 analysed why Duan Xiaolou in Farewell My Concubine can survive，stating that“Duan knows when to bow his head down or even betray others to protect his own life”.In their analysis of Factory Manager Qiao，C10，C14 and C15 emphasised that Manager Qiao“embodies the proreformers whose reform is resisted by the conservatives...China’s Four Modernisation project is fraught with difficulties and power struggles between different political factions.”These are just some of the key points quoted from the students’final essays，but they show the students’critical thinking had improved significantly by the end of the semester.Lu and Singh(2017:1)suggest that the“full linguistic repertoire”of multilingual students needs to be considered for any effective assessment of their critical thinking capabilities.The analysis of the final essays by the control group shows that when the tensions posed by English-only modes of assessment disappear，Chinese international students demonstrate great potential in critical thinking.