MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRVOFEDUCATIONANDTRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI VANANH 453234 READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY HANOT LAW UNIVERSITY ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN COMPREHENDING LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS GRADUATION THESIS Hanoi - 2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRVOFEDUCATIONANDTRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY 453234 READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN COMPREHENDING LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS CHIEN LƯỢC ĐỌC SINH VIÊN NGANH NGON NGU ANH TRUONG ĐẠI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI SỬ DỤNG DE ĐỌC HIỂU VAN BẢN TIENG ANH PHÁP LÝ Major: Legal English GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor Nhạc Thanh Hương, MA STUDENT DECLARATION Thereby state that I: NGUYEN THI VAN ANH ~ ID 453234, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use ofthe Bachelor's Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research im accordance with the normal conditions established by the itbrartan jor the care, loan or reproduction of the paper ‘Supervisor's confirmation ‘hac Thanh Huong MA. Nguyen Thi Van Anh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A comprehensive study would not camied out without any assistance, my graduation thesisis not an exception. Throughout the process of conducting the graduation thesis, I was provided with a substantial amount of aid, guidance, and encouragement from my teachers, family members, and companions.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my utmost gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Nhac Thanh Huong, for her invaluable guidance, courteous assistance, and encouragement. The thesis would not have ‘been satisfactorily completed without her constant monitoring and thoughtful advice Secondly, my gratitude extends to my friends, classmates, and English- majored students at Hanoi Law University who have wholeheartedly encouraged and supported me with all of their abilities I am particularly grateful to all participants for their significant contributions to the data collection for my research Moreover, my sincere thanks also go to the remainder of my thesis committee for their encouragement, insightful comments, and thought-provolaing inquiries Last butnotle , Twould like to would prefer to sincerely thankc my family and close friend. It is unattainable to express enough gratitude towards my parents, who gave me the encouragement I needed throughout this process. To my friend, this would have been a considerably more challenging task without their presence.
Thank them all for their unwavering support and for reminding me to keep moving forward, ñ ABSTRACT ‘Various nations promulgate and implement diverse kinds of legal texts to govern all activities, thus, it is recommended for law students or legal practitioners to obtain proficiency in legal English, which is an exclusive domain of the English language pertaining to legal fields. Additionally, it is undeniable that reading is one of the important skills in legal English acquisition. This study examined reading strategies employed by English- majored students to comprehend legal English texts. In order to accomplish the aim, the research utilized a mixed-method approach wath the participation of 34 legal English major students who are in the courses K45 at Hanoi Law University.
The findings indicated that students with good reading proficiency reported significantly greater use ofreading strategies compared to those with either average or poor reading proficiency, both overall and within specific categories At the level of individual strategies, a total of 20 out of the 35 reading strategies examined exhibited significant variations in relation to the students! levels of reading proficiency. Furthermore, students with different levels of proficiency demonstrated distinct inclinations in the utilization of individual reading strategies. Such findings are expected to be advantageous to school administrators, lectures of legal English, students and anyone who is concemed about the capability of using legal English at work iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STUDENT DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES. Rationale for the study 2.
Aims of the study 3. Scope ofthe study 5, Significance of the study 6. Organization ofthe study.1 English for Special Purposes (ESP) 1.1 Definition of Legal English 122 Features of legal Engitsh 122.3 Reading Strategies for ESP leamers ul 13.1 Definttion of Reading Strategies u 13.2 Classifications of Readmg Comprehension Strategies iv 13.4 Previous studies on reading comprehension strategies of EAP/ESP materials 14 1. Participants 18 Research Instruments 18 2.3, Procedures ofdata collection 1 3.
Data fiom quasionniaires a 23.2 Data fiom interview 1 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.1 Demographic information ofthe respondents, 4 3.1 The Englisi-majored students’ frequency ofreading legal English ” 3.2 The perspective of students regarding the necessity of reading legal Engitsh materials 5 3. Reading strategies employed by participants.1 The most and the least frequently used strategies 26 3.2 Variations tri the frequency ofoverall reading strategy employed by learuers 29 3.3 Variations in frequency of students’ strategy use in the categories 30, 3.3 Variations in the frequency of students’ individual strategy tse. Suggestions for students 37 4.
Suggestions for lecturers 38 4. Suggestions for the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages 39 44 Summary 39 PART III. Summary of the main findings 40 2. Limitations and suggestions for further research, 41 3.
Limitations ofthe study 4l 3. Suggestions jor farther study 4l REFERENCES. -VII APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES. Vu APPENDIX II: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW .XII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EAP English for Academic Purposes EBP English for business purposes ELP English for legal purposes ELT English language teaching EMP English for medical purposes EOP English for occupational purposes ESCP English for sociocultural purposes ESP English for Specific Purposes EVP English for vocational purposes GLOB Global Reading Strategies HLU Hanoi Law University 12 Second language POS Post-reading strategies PROB Problem-solving Strategies PRS Pre-reading strategies SUP Support reading Strategies WHS While-reading strategies LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES List of figures: Figure 1.
The frequency of reading legal English text. The respondent's viewpoint of the importance of reading legal English materials 5 Figure 3. Strategies used by reading profiency levels. Error! Bookmark not defined.
List of tables: Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Likert scale data. Summary of the most frequently used strategies Table 3. Summary of the least frequently used strategies 28 Table 4.
Variations in Frequency of Students’ Overall Reading Strategy Use 29 Table 5. Overall categories of reading strategies used among students at three level of English proficiency 30 Table 6. Variations in the frequency of students’ individual strategy tse. Rationale for the study Nowadays, reading is considered a primary approach in academic contexts.
In other words, reading is regarded as one ofthe essential skills for leamersasit provides an avenue for communication, language acquisition, and interaction. Reading can also include several important aspects that worle together to develop overall literacy. As highlighted by Sheorey and Mokhfan. In the Self-Strategic Regulation (S2R) Mode, readers are perceived as strategically self-regulated ones who approach challenging reading tasks and problems by choosing from a repertoire of strategies they believe are best compatible with the situation and purpose of their reading (Oxford, 2013) In the age of integration and globalization, the ability to comprehend legal documents or texts written in English, such as statutes, codes, precedents, or contracts, is of great importance, especially among legal practitioners.
In order to grasp the content of the aforementioned reading materials, law students or individuals specializing in law are advised to acquire legal English, which is specific branch of English in legal fields, commonly used by legal professionals, In Vietnam, the majority of legal education institutions have acknowledged legal English asa core subject within their cumiculum. At Hanoi Law University (HLU), the study of legal English is an obligatory discipline for students pursuing majors in intemational trade and business law as well as for those specializing in legal English Throughout the formal training, especially in legal English, itis recognized that reading legal English texts with, appropriate strategies is of utmost importance for leamers to effectively access and interpret these types of legal materials. 1 In the literature, various studies have been conducted to explore reading strategies in different contexts of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), such as business (Chen, (2014), Rohaizat, (2021)); engmeering (Nalliveettil (2014), Surendran, (2023)), and medical ( Bitran et al. However, it is hard to identify research conducted at HLU pertaining to the reading strategies employed by English-majored students when comprehending legal texts.
Recognizing the undeniable role of legal English reading slalls as ‘well as the gaps that exist in both academic practice and previous research, hence, the researcher decided to carry out this study to clarify different kinds of reading strategies ESP leamers tend to use in legal contexts, as well as to examine the correlation between their self-assessment of reading proficiency and the strategies they employ. Itis hoped that leamers will be able to enhance their performance in the domain of reading comprehension, as well as cultivate the ability to engage in lifelong learning 2. Aims of the study The study is undertaken to examine the reading strategies utilized by English-majored students in order to comprehend legal English texts Furthermore, it seeks to investigate the correlation between reading proficiency and the utilization of reading strategies among English majors studying at HLU. Research questions To achieve the goal of the study, this research attempts to answer the following question: ‘© What strategies do legal English major students at HLU use to comprehend legal English texts? « What is the relationship between students’ self-evaluation of their reading proficiency and the strategies they use? 4, Scope of the study The current study focuses on the strategies employed by English- majored students as well as the correlation between students’ self-evaluation reading proficiency with the strategies they use.
Therefore, the participants chosen are 90 random students from the legal English department of HLU from. course 45, whereas the teachers’ strategy in teaching reading comprehension to students is beyond the scope of this study. Significance ofthe study Compared with these preceding research papers, this study intensely concentrated on the reading strategies employed by English-majored students at HLU to comprehend legal materials. Furthermore, considerable emphasis is paid to clarifying the relationship between students’ self-evaluation oftheir reading proficiency with the strategies they use Additionally, this study comprises both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, with the purpose of examining and providing an in-depth analysis ofthe subject matter.
Regarding the implementation ofthe results of the present study, instructors, students, materials developers, and lesson planners can benefit from them. Organization of the study ‘The study comprises three major parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. ‘The Introduction includes the Rationale, Aims, Research questions, Scope, Significance, and Organization ofthe study. ‘The Development is segmented into four chapters as follows Chapter 1: Literature Review lays out the theoretical background knowledge related to the explanation of legal English as well as the reading strategies for ESP Ieamers Chapter 2: Methodology sets out three main parts: participants, research, instruments, and research procedure Chapter 3: Results and Discussion indicates the analytical findings of the survey and meticulous interpretation ofthe data gathered Chapter4: Recommendations offers several suggestions based on the key findings of the study.
‘The Conclusion provides a summary of the study, implications of the study, limitations and suggestions for further research PART II.1 English for Special Purposes (ESP) English for Specific Purposes (ESP) encompasses the educational process of acquiring and comprehending English as a secondary or non-native language, with the intention of employing it within a specific field or context Its primary objective is to address the speci fic needs ofparticular groups of leemers pursuing specific professional competencies while enhancing their proficiency in job-related tasks. In the past, the teaching of ESP, during its initial stages, was primarily motivated by the necessity to communicate across languages in fields such as commerce and technology: This has temporarily ‘broadened its scope to include other areas such as English for academic purposes (EAP), English for occupational purposes (EOP), English for vocational purposes (EVP), English for medical purposes (EMP), English for ‘business purposes (EBP), English for legal purposes (ELP), and English for sociocultural purposes (ESCP) (Canarana et al.