MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY Hanoi — 2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY CONG THI HAI YEN 442951 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE OBSTACLES IN ORAL PRESENTATION IN LEGAL ENGLISH CLASSES AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY. NHAN THUC CUA SINH VIEN NGANH NGON NGU ANH VE NHUNG KHÓ KHAN KHI THUYET TRINH TRONG LOP HOC TIENG ANH PHAP LY TAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI. Major: Legal English GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor Nhạc Thanh Hương, M.A Hanoi — 2023 STUDENT DECLARATION I hereby state that I: CONG THI HAI YEN — 442951, 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. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.
Nhac Thanh Huong for her invaluable guidance of my graduation thesis, for her patience, enthusiasm, immense knowledge and understanding. She has always been dedicated, devoted, and thoroughly instructed me through all the stages of completing my thesis. Frankly, words are not sufficient to depict how great her inspiration is to me, not only during this period of carrying out my graduation thesis but since the first lesson of Legal English that I attended at Hanoi Law University, as well. My sincere thanks also go to all staff and lecturers in Faculty of Legal Foreign Language at Hanoi Law University where it has been my honor and pleasure to be educated for the past four years.
On top of that, with all the English lessons and the department’s extra-curriculum activities, I have the opportunity not only to widen my language knowledge but also better my personality and become the person I am today. Last but not least, I owe special thanks to my family and the valuable assistance of my classmates in class 4429, as well as other peers of mine in the Faculty of Legal Foreign Language during the implementation of the study. They are so supportive to my work, without which this paper could not have been fulfilled. ABSTRACT In the international markets and global agreement world, legal English is regarded as a crucial factor in modern working environment, which leads to higher requirement for the legal presentation ability of students.
In acknowledgment of the situation, legal English classes have been designed and integrated into the syllabus for English majors in Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages, Hanoi Law University, in concern to provide students with fundamental knowledge and enhance their oral presentation skills. However, in reality, most students have encountered certain obstacles when making oral presentations. On that account, the study aims to discover English-majored students’ perception towards their difficulties when presenting orally in front of legal English classes so as to offer sensible suggestions to better the presentation quality in legal English modules at HLU. The research was implemented with the cooperation of 129 participants from English majors at HLU, including K45 and K44.
The study was conducted by taking a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods with a survey questionnaire and an in-depth interview. The data analysis reveals that the majority of students fully perceived the importance of oral presentation to their legal English proficiency as well as certain difficulties in this field. Particularly, psychological matters, lack of academic skills and the influence of objective factors constituted the main obstacles. Thus, a number of practical recommendations were drawn up based on the findings.
ili TABLE OF CONTENT STUDENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES/ TABLES ix PART I. INTRODUCTION 1 1; Rationale Tor f6: EHđĐ:scaoersscszgl0isostlEGGESASE496L386cx8SESE22943g396140g46c038883/52SE 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 5.
Significance of the study 3 6. Organization of the study 4 PART I. LITURA TURE REYV LEYW. Oral Presentation Skill 5 1.
DØ@finition oƒOral Presentation Skil. Types of Oral Presentation. Oral presentation skill in legal English classes. Concept of oral presentation skill in legal English classes.
Principles for oral presentation effectiveness in legal English IGIHSN TẾ :gguurgữnhgugn HA 100016 360038000E001080615980ã. The importance of oral presentation skill in legal English 2/1127 2757 —. Common obstacles of oral presentation performance in legal English classes 11 1. Obstacles relafed to psychology.
Obstacles related to academic skills. Obstacles related to objective ƒqCfOFS. Related studies on oral presentation in English language teaching and learning 17 15. S NV ss setoa on "".
Research Instr t 20 DDch QHÓS ID NHÍ Õ coneetnnidistihe rangiES11256116116001856568158215g5444C14650 086 43150085001040420058/38 20 3. SG TT TH TT HT Hà TT HH nh HT HH hư 21 2. Procedures of data collection 22 2: Sib LDA: TOME QUESTONNAIMCS cossoxssmeranainiseseccenmennevecansueenneerenmserseataen 22 2. Data from ÏTIÍCIfVÏ€VW.
- kg tt nh tưy 23 2. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. The English-majored students’ frequency on making oral presentations in legal English classes. Students’ attitudes towards the necessity and benefits of oral presenfation skills in legal English clasSes.
The students’ perceptions on the obstacles in making oral presentations in legal English classes 30 3. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to psychology in making oral presentations in legal English cÌ4ss€. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to academic skills in making oral presentations in legal English cÌÏasS€s. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to objective factors in making oral presentations in legal English cÏasses.
The methods perceived by the English-majored students for the improvement of oral presentation in legal English classes. Suggestions for students 45 4. Suggestions for Legal English — majored lecturers. Suggestions for the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages.
Summary of the main finding 50 2. Limitations and suggestions for further research. Limitations of the study 52 3. Suggestions for further research 52 vi REFERENCES i APPENDICES viii APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONARRES .------<5<<<<<<< viii APPENDIX IT: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW .ccsccsscssessesseessessessersensesens xv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HLU Hanoi Law University ESP English for Specific Purposes EFL English as a Foreign Language U.K United Kingdom US United States Vili LIST OF FIGURES/ TABLES List of figures: Figure 1.
Frequency of students in making oral presentations in legal English classes 26 Eigure 2. Criteria for evaluating a presentafiOn. --‹- + «+ ++x<ex+veex+ 46 List of tables: Table 1. The students’ perceptions towards the necessity of oral presentations skill in legal English classes 27 Table 2.
The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to psychology. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to oral presentation skills 32 Table 4. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to language mastery 34 Table 5. The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to the characteristics of legal English 35 Table 6.
The students’ perceptions on the obstacles related to audience and instructor 37 Table 7. The respondents’ viewpoints of the methods to deal with psychological matter 40 Table 8. The respondents’ viewpoints of the methods to deal with problems related to academic level 41 Table 9. The respondents’ viewpoints of the methods to deal with objective factors 42 PART I.
Rationale for the study These days, despite a technology-driven society, the ability to communicate orally continues to be a significant part of people’s development. Accompanied with the era of integration and globalization, learning has evolved with an increasing requirement for students’ communicative skills. Students need to experience a variety of assessment methods, which take account of different learning styles and allow them to demonstrate their abilities in multiple ways. Particularly, the ability to present orally is an essential skill taught and assessed at the tertiary level of education.
In general, oral presentation competence comprises knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are required in order to speak in public, where the goals may include informing, or persuading the audience, or self-expressing. In the scope of classrooms, teachers usually provide the topics discussed and delivered in a presentation. It is primarily content-based, and students are to present the content or topic provided by the teachers. Concerning Legal English, this is the version of the English language that lawyers and others who are involved in the legal profession, such as judges and legislators, use when discussing the law and law-related issues.
The importance of acquiring oral presentation skills is gradually noticeable in the practice of teaching and learning in the legal English classrooms, in which students are regularly assigned to present their legal research results, arguments and opinions both collaboratively and individually. All these activities aim at improving students’ oral presentation skills, which will be advantageous when they graduate and start working as professionals in a legal environment. Nevertheless, regarding the present application, when oral presentation is performed in legal English class, it has given more challenges as the presenters are not only required to master the technical skills on the delivery but also need to have a good command of legal English to cater themselves. At Hanoi Law University, Vietnam, although oral presentation has become a core part of assessment recently, the oral presentation ability of English — majored students in Legal English classes is still of concern with numerous obstacles.
In the literature, the majority of the studies have been conducted either to investigate the students’ attitudes on their hindrances in making oral presentation from other disciplines, such as engineering, medicine, and business (Preub, Schoofs, Schlotz & Wolf, 2010); (Radzuan & Kaur, 2011); (Alwi & Sidhu,, 2013); or to focus on how students and teachers assess the oral presentation performance (Miles R. Hence, research providing more detailed insight into how English-majored students perceive the challenges in making oral presentations in legal English settings as a form of assessment is still limited. Understanding the undeniable role of legal English presentation skill as well as the existed gap in both academic reality and previous studies, this paper took a dive into the perception of English-majored students towards their difficulties in oral presentation performance in legal English classes, with a hope to strengthen the motivation of students in making legal English presentation and improve the quality of oral presentation performance in legal English classes at Hanoi Law University. Aims of the study The study has three main aims as follows: e Seeking the perceptions of English — majored students towards the obstacles of oral presentation performance in legal English classes at HLU.
e Investigating the challenges English-majored students have faced when making oral presentation in legal English classes at HLU. se Clarifying methods to enhance the oral presentation effectiveness of English — majored students in legal English classes at HLU. Research questions The research will be implemented to resolve the following questions: e How do English-majored students perceive the obstacles of oral presentation performance in legal English classes at HLU? e What are the obstacles English — majored students encounter when making an oral presentation in legal English courses at HLU? e¢ What are the strategies to better the oral presentation quality of English — majored students in legal English classes at HLU? 4. Scope of the study The main purpose of this research is to figure out the students’ perception towards the obstacles of oral presentation performance in legal English classes, as well as the strategies for English majors to deal with legal English presentation challenges at HLU.
Therefore, participants chosen are 129 random students from the Legal English Department of Hanoi Law University from K44 and K45, whereas the teachers' view on the obstacles of students in making oral presentation in legal English classes is beyond the scope of this study. Significance of the study In comparison with these preceding research papers, this study deeply concentrated on the importance of oral presentation in legal English classes 3 based on the perceptions of English-majored students. Moreover, attention is paid to clarify the obstacles these students encounter when presenting orally such legal topics so as to propose valuable suggestions for both educators and learners to enhance students’ legal language proficiency. Besides, this study is a qualitative and quantitative research, which aims to investigate and provide in- depth analysis on the subject matter.