Transforming knowledge through practice: improving Chinese students understanding of theoretical and conceptual approaches in documentary studies

The article seeks to understand how the application of theoretical approaches in documentary filmmaking improves students’ conceptual and analytical skills. Through the delivery of a theoretically orientated documentary module, the motivation of the study emerges from the authors’ own observations that the integration of practice can support students to better conceptualise theoretical approaches. Notably, the module is delivered at a Sino-British University within the School of International Communications, where most students are of Chinese nationality. The originality of this article arises from inclusion of data encompassing Chinese students’ views enrolled in a theoretical documentary course as part of their communications degree, data that is lacking in current literature. The article contributes to knowledge specific to how higher education instructors delivering a theoretical documentary module can better serve students pedagogically from Mainland China. The significance of these findings should not be underplayed, particularly as higher education students from Mainland China in the fields of the social sciences, humanities and the arts find critical thinking and debating skills demanding. Conclusions reached are strengthened by the employment of deductive thematic analysis to unpack the gathered interview data, which is crystallised by the application of Kolb’s experiential learning model as the theoretical framework.