‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOILAW UNIVERSITY TRAN VU MINH THU 453231 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING SKILLS AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY GRADUATION THES Hanoi - 2024 ‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOILAW UNIVERSITY TRAN VŨ MINH THU’ 453231 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING SKILLS AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NHAN THỨC CUA SINH VIÊN NGÀNH NGON NGỮ ANH VE NHUNG KHO KHAN KHI HỌC PHIEN DỊCH PHÁP LÝ ANH- VIET TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI. Major: Legal English GRADUATION THES Supervisor La Nguyén Binh Minh, MA Hanoi - 2024 STUDENT DECLARATION Thereby state thatI Tran Vu Minh Thu — ID 453231, beinga candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, accept the requarements of the University relating to the retention and use ofthe Bachelors Graduation Paper deposited in the libreny. Interms of these condhtions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the brary should be accessible for the purposes of study andresearch in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Aguil 4% 2024 Supervisor's confirmation Researcher's signature MALaNguyen Binh Minh Tren Vu Minh Thu ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Completing a thesis is never a solitery endeavor, it requires the support, encouragement, and guidance of numerous individuals. I am deeply grateful to all those who have contributed to the fruition of this work First end foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supsrvisor, Ms La Nguyen Bình Minh, whose unvavering support end insightful guidance have been invaluable throughout this research journey.
Her expestise and petience have significantly shaped this thesis, endl am immensely grateful for her dedication Tam slsoiadebtedto the faculty members and staff of the Faculty of Foreign Languages st Hanoi Law University, whose commitment to education andresearch hhas served ase source of inspiration for me. Their support and encouragement have played a crucial ale in my academic pursuits. Furthermore, I would like to extend my gratitude to the members of the thesis defense committee for their valuable time and constructive feedback, which hhave greatly enniched this werk Special apprecistion is also extended to the students of K45 and KA6 for their enthusiastic participation in the research, which hes made « significent conttibution to its completion Finally, Iam deeply grateful for my family’s umvavesing love, support, and confidence in me, which have been the bedrock of my achievements, Their constant backing hes propelled me forward, and hold their presence in my liẾ in the highest regard Additionally, I offer heestfelt thanks to my peers and classmates, whose unfelteing encowagement end motivetion have been indispensable throughout my academic endeavors, providing me with resilience end inspiration To all those mentioned end countless others who heve contributed in various ways, I extend my heartfelt thenks. Without your support, guidance, and encowagement, this thesis would not have been possible iii ABSTRACT Ta a globalized economy, legel interpreting plays an essential role in supporting effective conversations in legal end paralegal settings.
Besides, just « few institutions treininterpreters, end aminosty of studieswere conductedin egal interpretation This paved the way for the cwrent greduction thesis to be conducted. The focus of this graduation thesis was to investigate the legal English. mejored students’ difficulties in learning legal English: Vietnamese interpreting stalls end proffer some practical strategies to help them overcome them. In the esearch process, the reseercher applied œ quantitetive method through œ sesearcher-made survey questionnsise, The pasticipents partaking in this research ere 84 English majored students from two intakes K45 and K46 et Hanoi Lew University.
The study findings reveal thet pesticipents usually encounter problems selsted to background knowledge, specialized interpreting sills, linguistic Factors, English competence and psychology. Among them, insufficient background knowledge was voted as the most influential factor. Some tips and techniques for English-major students are proposed accordingly to umount the difficulties mentioned sbove. Besides, several recommendations for lecturers in legal interpreting end the institution ere also put forward to addkess such challenges, ‘ultimately improving the teaching end learning quality of legal intexpreting skills in general, and legel English-Vietnam ese interpreting sillsin pasticuler et the ssid institution.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STUDENT DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES! TABLES PART I. Retionale for study 2. Aims of the study 3. Scope of the study 5.
Significence of the study 6. Orgenizetion of the study PART Il. Types of interpreting, 1. Legal English 121, Beefintroduction 1.
Common difficulties in learning egal English 1. Legal Interpreting sll from English to Vietnemese at Hanoi Law University 1.4 Previous studies on common difficulties in leaning interpreting skills 1. Studies in the Vietnamese context v CHAPTER 2. Research questions restated 20 2.
Pasticipants end setting a 2. Procedures of date collection 23 26. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25 31. Students’ motivation to learn legal English-Vietnem ese intespreting stalls 25 3.
The students’ perceptions ofthe difficulties in leening legal English: Vietnamese 26 3.21, Paychology-seleted factors 26 3. English competence —related factors + 3.23 Interpreting shlle-seleted factors ” 3.4, Background knowledge-seleted Factors 31 3. The sent of the difficulties seleted to linguistic factors. The remit of the difficulties elated to other problems 35 3.
Comparison of the mean score of different contibuting factors to leseners difficulties 36 3.1, Recommendations for legal English-majored students 41 42. Recommentlations for lecturers 4 43. Recommendations forthe institution 4 44. Summery “4 PART III.
CONCLUSION 45 1 Summary of the mein findings 45 stions for fudher research BE S 2. Limitations of the study: 2. Suggestions for further research, REFERENCES APPENDIX. SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DTU Duy Ten University ESP English for Specific Purposes EAP English for Academic Purposes ELT English language teaching ELP English for Legal Purposes EFL English as e Foreign Language General English Hanoi University BLU Hanoi Law University HUST Hanoi University of Science and Technology HCMCOU Ho Chi Minh City Open University ULIS University of Lenguages and International Studies VUC Vietnam University of Commerce LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES.
Interpreting process Table 1. Profiles of the respondents involved in the study. The students’ motivation to learn legal English- Vietnamese interpreting stalls 25 Table 3. Psychology-ralsted difficulties + Table 4.
Language competence-selated difficulties 28 Table 5. Interpreting sills related difficulties 30 Table 6, Background knowledge related difficulties 31 Table 7. Linguistic-releted difficulties 33 Table 8. Other selated problems 35 Table 9.
The mean score of different contsibuting factors 36 ix PARTI. INTRODUCTION ‘This pact is designed to set up the foundation for the research paper by lucideting its rationale, sims, research questions, scope, significance, methodology and orgenizetion with en unequivocal focus, purpose, and direction 1 Rationale for stuly Edtuceting English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become a trend of the times because the labor market is in need of personnel whose English cepacity net the needs of specific working environments. Jendrych (2013) discusses the developments in teaching ESP with the sim of resolving the sophistication of ESP teaching in the 21 century and showing the enhencem ent in teeching English for specislized communication t the higher educetion level. According to her, in ESP teaching English tumed out to be the desires, requirements, end demands of individuals who are not teaching languages.
Within the sphere of English language teaching (ELT), teeching end leaming ESP has a tendency to prevail over general English (GE) or English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Dang et el, 2023). Also, cone reseerch found out thet ESP is expesiencing sustainable development and contibuting significantly to the ares of ELT (Negova & Umerove, 2 citedin Dang et el, 2023). ESP pays attention to the needs of leemers as essential es how the language is tought (Jendkych, 2013). Also stated in her ticle, ESP is a general ong thet contains various English teeching types such es English for Science and Technology, English for Academic Purposes, English for Business and Economies, English for Finance end Barldng English for Lew, etc.
English for Legal Purposes ELP) is designed! especielly for students or people who ere inegal mejor or have & need to explore legel English to support their profession As a result, teaching legal English is e sub-type of ESP and needs more attention to develop educating quality to train more legal English graduates. Ine globalized economy, interpreting is e profession that is important for society. The đem and for a professionel and qualified interpreter hes sisen higher in recent yeers, Besides, more and more multinational enterprises are choosing Vietnam as e new promoting market Due to this reality, the demend for œ professional end quslified interpreter hes siten higher in secent years beceuse 1 companies need a legel teem to operate smoothly in a non-mother nation. The interpreters can make a contribution es a bridge bebveen the multinational cntesprise and the reguletions in Vietnam.
Inthe context of Vietnam, trining interpreters hes taken place in e number of institutions such as Hanoi University (HANU), University of Lengueges and International Studies (ULIS), ete. for many years. However, ESP education has grinedmore populasity for two decedes, for example, commercial interpretation st Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC), snginsering interpretation at Hanoi University of Science and Technology HUST), ete. Since 2014, legal interpreting stall has been one subject of the English cwriculum at Hanoi Law University (HLU) which is also one of two privileged institutions focusing on this area of ‘ueining This emphasizes the prerequisite of optimizing the English cwsiculum to ceducete professionals Hence, the English curiculum of English mejors at Hanoi Lew University hhas been concentrated more on trining « high mumber of skilled English lenguage ‘bachelors.
However, from the researcher's observation, English-msjored students find it challenging to master legal interpreting skills. Previous researchers have pinpointed some problems in educeting interpreters such as inadequate lesening hhows, shortage of euthentic studying materials and class practices, and limited counsel for real practice (Wang, 2015), leemess’ psychology Bontempo & Napier, 2011; Amsiz-Castro & Diez, 2016; Zhao et al, 2023, ch), poor background knowledge (Gefiystova & Pomortseve 2016), ee Despite the pivotal role of legal English intespreting sills, just a smell smumber of studies have been conducted about this reelm. In Vietnam, Pham and Bui (2013) end Nguyen and Nguyen (2021) carried out studies on students’ difficulties in leeming interpreting sills in Vietnamese universities Inthe context of HLU, interpreting skills have not been adequately investigated, however, there xe several erticles concentreting on legel English (Nhac, 2021; Nhac, 2023). Apart from studies on interpreting, several ones on translation skills have been conducted et HLU (Le & Nguyen, 2023; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2023; Nhac, 2023, Vu & Le, 2023), Perceiving the importance sole of legal English interpreting skills, together ‘with the chortage of previous studies o lack of interest in this field, this paper will delve into seeking the students’ existing difficulties dhưông interpreting lessons with the intention of coming up with beneficial solutions to ameliorate the problems’ dire consequences end enhance the capacity of each individual's interpreting still as well as the general quality of this module in Hanoi Law University 2.
Aims of the study ‘The sims of the study are two-fold: ~ To investigate the difficulties encountered by English-majored students in Acesning legel English. Vietnamese interpreting sills at HLU. — To proffer some recommendations for English-majored students, lecturers in lege interpreting, end the institution to addvess such challenges. Research questions ‘The study sims to explore the difficulties of legal English majored students inthe process of leaning English.
Vietnamese interpreting skills end accordingly recommend some useful solutions to the problems, ultimetely improving the quality of legal interpreting training at HLU. To achieve the eforementioned goals, two rossarch questions were formulated as follows (2) Whst are the difficulties in leaming English Vietnamese interpreting stalls thet English-m sjored students Fece? @ What ae some solutions to elleviete the students’ encountered obstacles? 4.