MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN HA MY 443057 STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL CORRESPONDENCE - A CASE STUDY AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY Hanoi — 2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN HA MY 443057 STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL CORRESPONDENCE - A CASE AT HANOT LAW UNIVERSITY KHO KHAN CUA SINH VIEN TRONG VIEC HOC THU TIN TRONG LĨNH VUC LUẬT - NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRUONG DAI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI Major: Legal English Nhac Thanh Huong, M. Hanoi — 2023 DECLARATIONS T hereby state that I: Nguyen Ha My, class 4430, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor ofArts 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. April 032, 2022 Supervisor’s confirmation Student’s signature M.
Nhac Thanh Huong Nguyen Ha My ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The researcher could not have undertaken this journey without the enthusiastic support of many people in various ways. First and foremost, the researcher would like to express her deepest appreciation to her supervisor, Mrs. Nhac Thanh Huong, M., Hanoi Law University, Hanoi for her unconditional guidance, invaluable advice, and unlimited support when reviewing the progress constantly with endless patience and outstanding feedback. Words are insufficient to express how grateful the researcher is to her supervisor for being her biggest inspiration - not just during this time when the researcher has been working on her graduation thesis but also ever since the immensely valuable Legal English course that she took at Hanoi Law University.
Besides that, the researcher would like to extend her sincere thanks to all staff and lecturers at Hanoi Law University's Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages, where she has had the honor and pleasure of studying for the past four years. Additionally, the researcher has the great opportunity to not only broaden her language knowledge but also develop her character thanks to all the English lessons and extracurricular activities the department offers. Last but not least, her heartfelt gratitude goes to her family, who have been incredibly supportive throughout her life and especially during the time she carried out this thesis. The researcher is also thankful for the unwavering assistance of her classmates in class 4430, as well as other peers of hers in the Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages during the implementation of the study.
Special thanks also belong to all K43 and K44 English-legal major students at HLU for their significant contribution to my research data collection. Without all of you, this endeavor would not have been possible. il ABSTRACT The globalization of business activity has been accompanied by an unprecedented need for lawyers to communicate internationally. One of the main focuses of their work is the legal writing, that includes drafting and understanding contracts and other essential documents, which are not only syntactically complex but also contain highly technical vocabulary, proving to be extremely challenging for non-native speakers.
The existing literature on legal writing in general, and legal correspondence in particular, contains various rules and suggestions as to how legal writers can improve their writing skills. However, it lacks a sufficient theoretical explanation of the fundamental characteristics of effective legal writing. As a result, legal writers are left without a solid conceptual framework upon which to ground individual rules and suggestions. Although the development of resources for legal writing has significantly increased in recent years, only a few of them are targeted at second language learners.
Therefore, this study aims at clarifying English learners’ attitudes as well as identifying their difficulties while dealing with legal correspondence as a learning course in the context of Hanoi Law University. Furthermore, it serves the purpose of finding solutions to such challenges and strategic orientation suitable for students to improve their skills in writing legal correspondence. To accomplish the primary goal, the research employed a survey questionnaire as the main data collection method and semi-structured interviews as a supplement. The survey questionnaire was created and distributed virtually via Google Form to 109 random legal English major students from K43 to K44.
In addition, an online interview consisting of eight questions was conducted making use of the assistance of either Google Meets or Microsoft Office Teams. For frequency and percentage analysis, the statistics were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel and IBM SPSS. The research provides some notable results that were consistent with the findings in experimental documents. The most obvious result indicates that, while a number of English majors believe that a lack of legal knowledge is the biggest obstacle in implementing legal correspondence, others reveal that their academic writing skills are weak, which significantly impacts how they perform legal correspondence.
Additionally, ill insufficient motivation to learn generic English writing skills and difficulties in transferring skills to a specific legal writing environment also constitute such challenges. Based on the findings, several recommendations have been drawn up. Most importantly, it is highly recommended that providing helpful information about learners’ weaknesses in their writing task can raise awareness among EFL instructors and learners. This can also be combined with other appropriate teaching approaches toward making significant contributions in having a detailed profile of students’ weaknesses in legal writing.
Such valued descriptions would be beneficial for EFL instructors to design and develop their writing programs and to further support learners’ writing development. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARA TIONS cu cause sesnssccens coun temscesi cess senses cuss came anes naneenaesesesiss i ACKNG WLEDGENIEN TS rxxenoccncsmnonnascensannsncanan anne anacc eos RIERA INCI ITENE ii ABSTIRAACCTT. 0 0 000004000004 00 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS isssessssccsvsccssscrssscossvenssesexscssenssunssonsnssoasevenssvsnsnvenes Viii LIST OF FIGURE ES nsseesnaeeonnrteotetrtiaiiotoEtbrEDEENDXAEG0EDEEIMV8094681000N00101499904ĐI00160A000001010466 ix LIST OF TABLES. 0 H000 0009008806 x INTRODUCTION 5 vv co.
Besse MM vsscoe ings stngveconsvsecssessavsecseoesuses 1 1. Rationale for the (UỦY .sccspemoremmmmmemne dt osconsslifovscsssseovesgsetigconensssnseuvsesceses 1 PA Ue a ae re 2 1. Significance Of the SUY. Organization Of the SUỈY.
Legal English and its Í€23ÝUT€S. SVWHiINC Tea aGe ey. Legal writing in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Legal Correspondence learning.
Concept of legal COFF€SDOHGHCG. Types of legal COFFCSDOHÍCHCG. Features of legal COrrespOndenceé. Importance of studying legal COFF€SDOHGHCG.eee<<ss<<<sssss+ 15 1.
Difficulties in learning legal correspondence in the previous studies in The HGPaLONS occscccnamrmacma mmm ene en Eee 17 1. 00950088505656 23 Del, PHYÍÍCÌN HH suy cease rreneennnci4110111LG16040115600015) 6 EL3919916116340G55013500954 65520809766 23 2. Data Collection [HSÍTHIHHHÍ. Data COURCTION DT0DodwffNXEEm.
25 VA) Oe ee. Di (HA píc oo. ee | een ee oe 27 2. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Students' perceptions of legal writing in general and legal Correspondence Writing IN Particular. Students' subjective and objective challenges in acquiring legal correspondence WFITIMNG COUTS€S. Students' perspectives on how to improve the current difficulties in the legal correspondenC€ COUTS€S. Suggestions for legal English-major students.
Suggestions for lecturers and curriculum development. minnie neni Ia EReN SOT RSIENAEONEROTA INH 51 vi 1. Summary of the main ÍÏndÏTIØS. o5 5 5 55 9559995055596 51 CR HH LHE EHẨÍlYesereneeeerreresrnotorteistottntoSEVSSSERDOEESLSDGSRSEEERESIERESMDSOSESE 52 REFERENCES cxnnsceessecsvennsrscenssonsvernveesccusxsounnwesnssseuaeassevenavesmaeavesevecenssaxeves a5 APPENDIC ES.
0090 000408804008800 a APPENDIX I: Survey (QuesfÏonnaÏFC. << 5 55s S91 95 898056588996 a APPENDIX II: Interview Questions. 0G G G5590 00588960996 g vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for Specific Purposes EFL: English as a Foreign Language EALP: English for Academic Legal Purposes FLFL: Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages L1: First Language L2: Second Language HLU: Hanoi Law University US: United States UK: United Kingdom CREAC: Conclusory Statement, Rule, Explanation, Analysis, and Conclusion Vili LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The students’ perception of the necessity of acquiring legal correspondence writing skills Figure 2.
The students’ preferences for learning legal correspondence Figure 3. The difficulty of learning legal correspondence as perceived by participants 1x LIST OF TABLES Table 1. The participants’ perspectives on the subjective challenges of learning legal COTTESPONCEN 10088. The participants’ perspectives on the objective challenges of learning legal COTTESPONCEN CE.
Learners’ general views on the difficult skills in the legal correspondence 6901-08. Participants’ perspectives on how to overcome current personal difficulties in the legal correspốndbncfcourses S — ¬DỪ. Participants’ perspectives on the role of teachers and curriculum designers in overcoming current challenges in legal correspondence COUTS€S .--- --- -- 43 INTRODUCTION This part provides the context of the research by explaining the rationale, aims of the study, research questions, significance and scope of the study, along with the structure of the paper. Rationale for the study Writing, which was once previously believed to be a privilege of a certain social class, has now become an essential communication tool for people working in various professional fields in the community.
Writing in a legal context does not make the writer's life any easier, which in fact, becomes even more difficult when this writing occurs in a second language as the writer must consider the social and cultural context in which it occurs. Legal writing is one of the most complicated types of ESP writing since the writing process implies not only the physical aspect but also the legal reasoning that is behind it (Harmer, 2007). Law schools have been under increasing pressure to improve practical orientation skills instruction. Students are confused when producing legal documents due to problems with common English learning at the university level.
In spite of being a required subject in schools, the majority of EFL Vietnam students still struggle to use English effectively and regard it as a difficult subject. Due to the many complex factors affecting this learning process, not everyone knows the most appropriate and effective way to write legal documents in English. Therefore, strategies to improve students! legal writing skills in English are gradually receiving more attention from teachers and students from teachers and students from law schools. In fact, a number of research have been conducted, emphasizing the difficulties of students’ legal document processing skills as well as their ability to write a comprehensive legal document.
At Hanoi Law University, legal correspondence an optional subject for legal English majored students, yet legal writing proves to be of great importance for ones applying for legal fields after graduation. Although the issue of learning how to write or draft legal correspondence effectively has captivated the attention of legal educators, lecturers, and learners, little is known about the difficulties when dealing with such kinds of legal writing. Similarly, there has been no research into students' difficulties in learning legal correspondence at the university level. The question of overcoming difficulties or improving students’ legal writing skills has not been satisfactorily addressed.
Taking into account all of the points, this research is carried out to clarify learners’ objective and subjective difficulties in learning legal correspondence at Hanoi Law University. Moreover, several strategies for changing students' attitudes toward legal writing subjects have been discussed in order to overcome existing difficulties and hopefully boost their learning motivation. Aims of the study The study has three primary goals, which are as follows: ° Investigating the English majored students’ attitudes toward learning legal correspondence. ° Identifying the challenges that English majored students encounter when studying and writing legal correspondence.
° Exploring the techniques and strategies to overcome these difficulties. Research questions This study serves its purpose by addressing three following questions: 1. What are the perspectives of English majored students of learning legal correspondence? 2. What difficulties do English majored students face when studying and writing legal correspondence? 3.
How to overcome these difficulties while learning legal correspondence? 1. Scope of the study The primary goal of this study is to identify the difficulties that learners encounter when learning legal correspondence, as well as techniques and strategies for overcoming these difficulties and boosting their motivation for this subject.