Teaching The Culture In Language Through Film handout from Linda Marion's presentation at AFMLTA conference in Sydney 2009

2. Social structures and relationships as they reflect the elements of ideology; socialisation/member identity; forms of discourse; and face systems

3. Basic practices and institutions of society, like education, health care, family structures and so on.

6. TEXTCONTEXTVerbal & Visual Language:An analysis of the objectDescription & Interpretation of the film text, including dialogue, paralinguistic semiotics and filmic language. Key linguistic features, structure of text, cohesion.The Processes of production & receptionA Processing analysisExplanation & Interpretation of content, roles and relationships of speakers and listeners, intended audience, and discourse typeThe Conditions of production reception:A Social AnalysisExplanation of the Situational, Institutional & Societal ‘Member Resources’, including socio-historical knowledge, and ‘natural’ assumptions.Are there any internal contradictions?Who is the ideal reader of this text? How do the assumptions about what the reader knows and values enable us to work out who the ideal reader is? What do intertextual references tell us about the ideal reader?How is this discourse positioned or positioning in relation to reproducing or changing social practice? Does it work to sustain or transform existing relations of power?TEXTCONTEXTVerbal & Visual Language:An analysis of the objectDescription & Interpretation of the film text, including dialogue, paralinguistic semiotics and filmic language. Key linguistic features, structure of text, cohesion.The Processes of production & receptionA Processing analysisExplanation & Interpretation of content, roles and relationships of speakers and listeners, intended audience, and discourse typeThe Conditions of production reception:A Social AnalysisExplanation of the Situational, Institutional & Societal ‘Member Resources’, including socio-historical knowledge, and ‘natural’ assumptions.How is language used to construct a representation of the world?How do key linguistic features work to position the reader/listeners? Do they all pull in the same direction? Is there a pattern?Who is speaking to whom? When? Where? On what occasion?What relations exist between the speaker/writer and the listener/hearer?What is the socio-historical context?What power relations, social, institutional, situational shape this discourse?A Critical Discourse Analysis of Scenes from Not One Less Scene 1, Cut 5 Teacher Gao explains the daily routineSynopsisTeacher Gao gives Wei Minzhi a series of intense instructions, a sort of ‘professional development’ session about day to day housekeeping matters and how to teach the 28 primary school students left in his schoolText AnalysisKey linguistic structures & features: = 1 roman i) Instructions: Teacher Gao tells Weiminzhi when the sunlight reaches the nail on the pole in the classroom, it is time to go home. Teacher Gao’s face and voice reveal the extent to which he is worried about leaving the children. = 2 roman ii) Questions and answers: 那 如 果 要 是 没 有 太 阳 呢 ? When Wei Mingzhi asks a question about what happens on days when there is no sun, Teacher Gao instructs her to send them home a bit earlier. = 3 roman iii) Questions and answers: 那 如 果 要 是 学 生 提 前 抄 完 呢 ? Repeating the pattern那 如 果 要 是, emphasises Wei Minzhi’s attempt to engage in a productive conversation with the teacher. = 4 roman iv) Questions and answers: Finishing class work early: Wei Minzhi asks what students can do once they have finished copying the text. Teacher Gao answers they should go out to play and she should not let them fight. = 5 roman v) Questions and answers: Extension work: After they have finished the work, students can copy the text out again. = 6 roman vi) Teacher Gao’s frown and gestures: to a western audience this might indicate annoyance or anger, but there is no intended suggestion here that the teacher is being unreasonable to Wei Minzhi. His tone of voice and manner expresses proper moral serious concern about leaving his students, which overrides all other considerations in this exchange. = 7 roman vii) Wei Minzhi is observing the politeness rules about eye contact and giving face to Teacher Gao by listening attentively. Film Language: = 1 roman i) The Chinese audience would be both shocked and amused by this travesty of impoverished educational conditions being revealed by the camera with such intense and touching realism. = 2 roman ii) The actors, although playing parts, have themselves first hand experience of such conditions and there is a convincing natural and matter of fact quality to the dialogue enhanced by the close-up shots showing the teacher’s concerned expressions and Wei Minzhi’s animated responses. Context, Processing AnalysisRoles & Relationships = 1 roman i) Teacher Gao maintains an intense, formal distance as he systematically explains the daily routines. = 2 roman ii) Wei Minzhi relaxes a little in the familiar environment of listening to the teacher and is even bold enough to ask some pertinent questions.Discourse = 1 roman i) Each question that Wei Minzhi asks is answered with seriousness and at times a sense of hopelessness. This is a teacher/student discourse of instruction in which he repeatedly asks her if she is listening, 听见没有? (tingjian meiyou) = 2 roman ii) This solemn discourse is dominated and driven by Teacher Gao’s problem. It is not his intention or role to make Wei Minzhi feel comfortable or welcome as one might expect in a western setting. Context, Social AnalysisCultural Themes = 1 roman i) The extreme poverty of rural China: No clock and the need to lengthen the teacher’s bed by putting a chair at the end of it, amplify the extreme poverty and declining standards of living and education in rural China.ii) Chinese resourcefulness and creativity: Teacher Gao explains the practical strategies he has developed for dealing with the hardships of the impecunious learning environment. Teacher Gao shows how Chinese people can find inventive solutions under difficult conditions and make the best of trying circumstances.iii) The Chinese teacher’s duties: Chinese teachers are traditionally responsible for many aspects of their students’ lives apart from their education. In this scene, sleeping three to a bed with the female students, cooking for them, and on really windy or rainy days, personally accompanying students home, are all part of a teachers day, as well as teaching them.Symbols = 1 roman i) The nail on the pole underlines not only the poverty, but also life being lived at a primitive subsistence level where even a basic item like a clock is missing.ii) Lack of sealed roads and being at the mercy of the elements underscores the neglected infra-structure and further stresses the extreme simplicity of the village lifestyle. Table SEQ Table ARABIC 2 Critical Discourse Analysis Data from Not One Less, Scene 1, Cut 5