MINISTRY OFJUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY DINH THI DOAN TRANG 442952 GRADUATION PAPER Hanoi-2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY DINH THI DOAN TRANG 442952 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN READING LEGAL ENGLISH DOCUMENTS -A CASE STUDY AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY. Major: Legal English GRADUATION PAPER Supervisor Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, MA. Hanoi-2023 DECLARATIONS I hereby state that I, Dinh Thi Doan Trang (442952), from class 4429 of Hanoi Law University, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of 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, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Supervisor Student Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, MA. Dinh Thi Doan Trang il ACKNOWLEDGMENT A complete study would not be done without any assistance, my graduation thesis is not an exception. During the process of doing the graduation paper, I received a lot of help, assistance, guidance and encouragement from my teachers, family and friends. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan-a lecturer at Hanoi Law University, for bringing the weight of her considerable experience and knowledge to this study and for her whole-hearted guidance.
Her high standards have made me better at what I have done. Without her invaluable recommendations and advice, I could not finish this thesis. Besides my supervisor, I would love to thank the rest of my thesis committee for their encouragement, insightful comment, and challenging questions. Moreover, my sincere thanks also go to English-majored students at Hanoi Law University who assisted me in the process of conducting the experiment to accomplish the thesis.
Last but not least, I would prefer to give my heartfelt thanks to my family, and my friends. It is impossible to extend enough thanks to my parents, who gave me the encouragement I needed throughout this process. To my friends, this would have been a much more difficult feat without them. Thank them all for their unwavering support and for reminding me to take breaks and have fun when I was stressed out.
ill ABSTRACT Legal English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum of English- majored students at Hanoi Law University (HLU). Additionally, it is undeniable that reading is one of the important skills in legal English acquisition. Therefore, it is vital for English majors to read legal English documents as it is also considered to be the basis for enhancing background knowledge of the law and other skills at higher levels. However, while accessing this type of references, students may encounter certain obstacles.
One that account, the study carried out with the aim to clarify the learners’ difficulties when reading Legal English documents, factors causing these barriers, as well as their available solutions to these hurdles. The researcher was implemented with the cooperation of 122 questionnaire respondents, together with 8 interviewees who were selected from questionnaire participants from Legal English majors at HLU (consisting of 44" and 45”-course students). To achieve the abovementioned aims, there were a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods with a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The results indicated that the real difficulties that English-majored juniors and seniors ran into in reading Legal English documents mainly related to distinct features of Legal English.
These challenges originated from both individual and contextual factors. Furthermore, students have adopted a number of strategies to improve their reading efficiency. In the light of these findings, several recommendations have been drawn up for improving the efficiency of students’ performance in reading legal documents. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATIONS secsssccavesessssxenssnennssensssnensannssnenissonennensscnssnnvensnnsenevennnisannes ii ACKNOWLEDGUVIEN T -cáeeeeerpiekenbetieetidaitattkitdtiirtatcttiXSVVNGES1605001000011600000 iii ABSTRACT sasssceseunvesnasocencenreanescunanatennsssnenneasisencomenuennnanssomeenenesuens iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vssscnccsecessssoresvevsosnesemenmesrsemscesoneestenus Viii IN TROD UC TION ncccnsenecensennesonssnnnenesnoneninnascsuncencamnnennneosunmenneenenss 1 Dh, ,kESVI NI TC ere crete ren coraere cnr.02286 esate ate ie 280305 2o AXIS 0c, Oech ves OF Chie SEC sáng saeresamcan.encwe kinh gHRGGI U05 KIHUG1-390188 CANO LAI 708160 rls race UM, [II PENTEL ree sree cones scone sre a.
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LITERATURE REV HE No n0 0806 0856 6 1. Reading ‹ an ồẦồ. The role of reading skills in the process of learning legal English. Legal English document 17.
Definition of Legal English. Definition of Legal document. Common types of Legal documents .- --‹- --++++-sss++sss++ss II 1. Features of Legal English documenIs.
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English majors and reading legal English documents .- -- a2 eelio il MNS “REIN i PI eet Big G8186 sree cc nares crane nee cet te a emcee EU a2 3. The students’ time spent on reading Legal English documents per 1). Popular types of legal English documents read by English maJors. Students’ viewpoint of the necessity of reading Legal English l0911051901 202777.
Difficulties in reading Legal English documens. Legal vocabulary DaTFI€TS. Legal grammar D4TTI©TS. -- - c6 + 333118321 E32EE£EE+EeEEereeeerve 39 3.
Legal knowledge DaTTI€TS. Factors causing difficulties in reading Legal English documents. Student related ÍaCfOTS. G11 HH HH kh 43 3.
Teacher-related ÍaCfOTS. Solutions for improvement in reading legal English documents. Strategies for enhancing legal vocabulary. Strategies for enhancing legal grammar.
Strategies for improving legal knowledỹe. Strategies for reading comprehensive ablÏIty. 53 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDA TION. Suggestions for Students.
Suggestions for Ï€CẦUTTS. Suggestions for the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages. 56 v1 Khự La LILI NT san kinh HAI 12012 thung 42185 k3Bhã/08/1kã0.L30Dđ 34810L3530010841505 SãN ah 1 hÃHÀg1Gg LOTR BANE kế 57 CGONCTL,UNION sececenoesenosaroenionrorrodontnininiitiaidgtrottiittinrtiro0gi000.08 58 Ì; SSC OE TTI TTHETTEa cers cerns ene in Len AA RA ARRAS AASA 128141 ASA AAO RA 58 sản ,TTHTTN TDHTE Tin nhi scans dư Nhã iin tà H Rõ 1420 ng I814333883-4.1)80L5 BREN RANA RABAS ASIA AA RAGS A3763 428184 158 59 3. Limitations and suggestions for further research.-‹----«+++<s+++s 60 So: Later 0 ES BEY sua sacs samen saaee.
naan ea as eR cI a 60 Sake (SIĐESBTIIWTB TOT TOTS SIU sĩ senes nano swecnscmmcacins sacimeacens cms seminars 280805 188 61 REFERENCES sisscnsccsxesnencencessoneconess eens seneaunnisneansonnennsavenenccnncensunmenennecsnnsnses i Aupperictix Ee Cae BURY execs acnansons cam camenscmms tH880-100158/0016 5⁄G0053/30083/80810% 988g iv Appendix UL Semi-straeturend Itervil «ccs phan nh. TH ng 000011 0h60 murs 5308004. 0003 08000214 Vill vil LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of figures: Figure 1. The students’ years of university study Figure 2.
The students’ time spent on reading Legal English documents per week Figure 3. Popular types of legal English documents read by English majors Figure 4. The respondent’s viewpoint of the importance of reading Legal English documents List of tables: Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Likert scale data Table 2.
Students’ difficulties from Legal vocabulary barriers Table 3. Students’ difficulties from Legal grammar barriers Table 4. Students’ difficulties from Legal knowledge barriers Table 5. Students’ attitude and motivation Table 6.
Students’ reading strategies Table 7. Teacher-relatedfactors Table 8. Strategies for enhancing legal vocabulary Table 9. Strategies for enhancing legal grammar Table 10.
Strategies for improving legal knowledge Table 11. Strategies for reading comprehension ability vill INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for study In the era of globalization, the demand for high-quality human resources in all fields, specifically well-trained human resources in legal English area, is increasing. One of necessary and sufficient condition is Legal English proficiency.
Legal English is a specialized language for legal purposes, which is commonly used by lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and juries in countries where English is the official language. Therefore, it can be seen that in exposure to different legal systems, law practitioners are required to have both a thorough knowledge of the law and a good ability of legal English. Therefore, it is extremely practical to include legal English in the curricula of Law schools around the world. Being in this world trend, Vietnam is not an exception, most of the Legal Education around Vietnam have been recognizing legal English is a core subject in their curricula.
One of those is HLU. Legal English has been a core subject of English majors at Hanoi Law University since the academic year 2014-2015 and International Trade & Business Law since 36" course of HLU. During the formal legal training in general and legal English in particular for any legal English majored students, they are required to read a variety of documents such as statutes, precedents, constitution, decree, circular, etc. Therefore, one of the most essential skills for legal English majors to succeed in their field of study is the ability to read legal documents.
In a study by Christensen (2007) titled “Legal Reading and Success in Law School’, an empirical study shows that students who are able to read judicial opinions effectively and efficiently are more successful in their studies than those who are less capable. Legal English is considered demanding to construe even for native speakers because of its peculiarities regarding terminology, linguistic | conventions, and punctuation (Huong N. The researchers have realized that there are plenty of challenges which learners have been facing in the comprehension of legal documents. In the literature, many studies have been conducted to find out the challenges in reading legal cases and difficulties in learning legal English vocabulary (e., Adlina and Ratnawati, 2014; Nhac, 2022).
Yet, there have been a few researches work investigating difficulties English-majored students meet when reading legal English documents in the context of Hanoi Law University. Acknowledging the importance of reading Legal documents efficiency, this study aims to identify some of difficulties that English-majored students face in carry out this academic activity. It is hoped that by understanding their problems, students can implement better approaches and methodology to improve their reading, especially when reading legal English documents. Aims and objectives of the study 2.
Aims of the study The study is undertaken with the aim of investigating difficulties that Legal English-major students meet in reading legal English documents for the study purpose of the compulsory subjects at HLU. Objectives of the study The study has four objectives as follows: (1) To codify conceptual and theoretical frameworks in relation to the difficulties in reading legal documents. (2) To survey the current status and assess the difficulties in reading legal documents of English-majored students in HLU. (3) To explore the factors arising the difficulties in reading legal documents.
(4) To examine the solutions for the improvement of English-maJored students at HLU in reading legal documents. Research questions To achive the goal of the study, this research attempts to answer the following question: 1. What difficulties do English-majored students at HLU encounter in reading legal documents for study purposes? 2. What are the factors causing difficulties in reading legal documents? 3.