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The existingliterature on legal writing in general, and legal correspondence in particular, contains various rules and suggestions as to how legal writers can improve their writing skill

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN HA MY443057

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.A

Hanoi — 2023

T hereby state that I: Nguyen Ha My, class 4430, 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

April 032, 2022

Supervisor’s confirmation Student’s signature

M.A Nhac Thanh Huong Nguyen Ha My

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe researcher could not have undertaken this journey without the enthusiasticsupport 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.A., Hanoi Law University, Hanoi forher unconditional guidance, invaluable advice, and unlimited support when reviewingthe progress constantly with endless patience and outstanding feedback Words areinsufficient to express how grateful the researcher is to her supervisor for being herbiggest inspiration - not just during this time when the researcher has been working onher graduation thesis but also ever since the immensely valuable Legal English coursethat she took at Hanoi Law University

Besides that, the researcher would like to extend her sincere thanks to all staffand lecturers at Hanoi Law University's Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages, whereshe 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 beenincredibly supportive throughout her life and especially during the time she carried outthis thesis The researcher is also thankful for the unwavering assistance of herclassmates in class 4430, as well as other peers of hers in the Faculty of Foreign LegalLanguages during the implementation of the study Special thanks also belong to all K43and K44 English-legal major students at HLU for their significant contribution to myresearch data collection Without all of you, this endeavor would not have been possible

il

ABSTRACTThe 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 essentialdocuments, which are not only syntactically complex but also contain highly technicalvocabulary, proving to be extremely challenging for non-native speakers The existingliterature 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 conceptualframework upon which to ground individual rules and suggestions Although thedevelopment 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 whiledealing with legal correspondence as a learning course in the context of Hanoi LawUniversity Furthermore, it serves the purpose of finding solutions to such challengesand strategic orientation suitable for students to improve their skills in writing legal

correspondence

To accomplish the primary goal, the research employed a survey questionnaire asthe 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, thestatistics 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 ofEnglish majors believe that a lack of legal knowledge is the biggest obstacle inimplementing legal correspondence, others reveal that their academic writing skills areweak, which significantly impacts how they perform legal correspondence Additionally,

insufficient motivation to learn generic English writing skills and difficulties intransferring skills to a specific legal writing environment also constitute such challenges.

Based on the findings, several recommendations have been drawn up Mostimportantly, 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 makingsignificant contributions in having a detailed profile of students’ weaknesses in legalwriting Such valued descriptions would be beneficial for EFL instructors to design anddevelop 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 iACKNG WLEDGENIEN TS rxxenoccncsmnonnascensannsncanan anne anacc eos RIERA INCI ITENE iiABSTIRAACCTT G5 << 5 9 0 0 0 000004000004 00 iiiLIST OF ABBREVIATIONS isssessssccsvsccssscrssscossvenssesexscssenssunssonsnssoasevenssvsnsnvenes ViiiLIST OF FIGURE ES nsseesnaeeonnrteotetrtiaiiotoEtbrEDEENDXAEG0EDEEIMV8094681000N00101499904ĐI00160A000001010466 ixLIST OF TABLES 5-5 55 << 5 5< 9 9 0 H000 0009008806 xINTRODUCTION 5 vv co SỀ ẾP, Besse MM vsscoe ings stngveconsvsecssessavsecseoesuses 11.1 Rationale for the (UỦY 1.sccspemoremmmmmemne dt osconsslifovscsssseovesgsetigconensssnseuvsesceses 1

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CHAPTERI.EIIENSAILREEZI'TLYV c 51.1 Legal English and its Í€23ÝUT€S o5 << 5 5 5 55 9555999509565 989996 51.1.1 Lư ỆNCHÏ FORTE LITE No vnsvnsssrcersemiaresovscnsersetorscergfaosecedeencoese 61.1.2 SVWHiINC Tea aGe ey Se ++ ononsvecnensssonsncssMtonndetaonMsonensglonensvosesns 81.2 Legal writing in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) - 81.3 Legal Correspondence learning .cccscccccsssssssccsssssscccsssssscccssssssssees 121.3.1 Concept of legal COFF€SDOHGHCG eee 055550559509 69 121.3.2 Types of legal COFFCSDOHÍCHCG co G55 S005 910 6 9096658 121.3.3 Features of legal COrrespOndenceé ceeeĂĂ G5559 658 141.3.4 Importance of studying legal COFF€SDOHGHCG eee<<ss<<<sssss+ 15

1.4 Difficulties in learning legal correspondence in the previous studies in

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY o5 5 5 5< S5 9.91 00950088505656 23Del, PHYÍÍCÌN HH suy cease rreneennnci4110111LG16040115600015) 6 EL3919916116340G55013500954 65520809766 232.2 Data Collection 05 <5 55 << 5 5< 9 9 94.00 0.00000000400004 008098008 232.2.1 Data Collection [HSÍTHIHHHÍ o5 << 55c < 9É 0.00004006880008 08 232.2.2 Data COURCTION DT0DodwffNXEEm ẻÓXàă / 25VA) Oe ee , a a ee 262.3.1 § Data [fOTHo, H110 000/000 G, ă.ccecvooooooo CÀ» cstsseoooenesrikaseee 262.3.2 Di (HA píc oo ee | een ee oe 272.4.Summnm ớv 27

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION - c5 S2 283.1 Students' perceptions of legal writing in general and legal

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3.2 Students' subjective and objective challenges in acquiring legal

correspondence WFITIMNG COUTS€S G555 5 555.9 09900000 00980906 31

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CHAPTER 4 RECOMMENDATIONS cccscosscssssccesccescccsesssccssecsesccescssoes 464.1 Suggestions for legal English-major students <<« 464.2 Suggestions for lecturers and curriculum development 48CONCLUSION u21 minnie neni Ia EReN SOT RSIENAEONEROTA INH 51

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1 Summary of the main ÍÏndÏTIØS o5 5 5 55 9559995055596 51

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REFERENCES cxnnsceessecsvennsrscenssonsvernveesccusxsounnwesnssseuaeassevenavesmaeavesevecenssaxeves a5APPENDIC ES 0 <G SH Họ 0 00.009 0090 000408804008800 aAPPENDIX I: Survey (QuesfÏonnaÏFC << 5 55s S91 95 898056588996 aAPPENDIX II: Interview Questions 0G G G5590 00588960996 g

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSESP: 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

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LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1 The students’ perception of the necessity of acquiring legal correspondencewriting skills

Figure 2 The students’ preferences for learning legal correspondence

Figure 3 The difficulty of learning legal correspondence as perceived by participants

LIST OF TABLESTable 1 The participants’ perspectives on the subjective challenges of learning legalCOTTESPONCEN 10088 3a 4 32

Table 2 The participants’ perspectives on the objective challenges of learning legalCOTTESPONCEN CE eeeeceesecceesseeeeseeceseeeeeseneeeeeaeecesseeeeseaeeeseeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeaaeeeeeaeeeeetaeeeenees 36

Table 3 Learners’ general views on the difficult skills in the legal correspondence6901-08 -“1 Ắ ẽrẽ ‹s 8s -+1+›+)BHBH,)HH.Ã|H.ÔỎ 39

Table 4 Participants’ perspectives on how to overcome current personal difficulties in

the legal correspốndbncfcourses S — ¬DỪ.- ~ 41Table 5 Participants’ perspectives on the role of teachers and curriculum designers inovercoming current challenges in legal correspondence COUTS€S - - 43

INTRODUCTIONThis part provides the context of the research by explaining the rationale, aims ofthe study, research questions, significance and scope of the study, along with thestructure of the paper.

1.1 Rationale for the study

Writing, which was once previously believed to be a privilege of a certain socialclass, has now become an essential communication tool for people working in variousprofessional fields in the community Writing in a legal context does not make thewriter's life any easier, which in fact, becomes even more difficult when this writingoccurs 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 writingsince the writing process implies not only the physical aspect but also the legal reasoningthat is behind it (Harmer, 2007) Law schools have been under increasing pressure toimprove practical orientation skills instruction Students are confused when producinglegal 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 everyoneknows the most appropriate and effective way to write legal documents in English.Therefore, strategies to improve students! legal writing skills in English are graduallyreceiving more attention from teachers and students from teachers and students from lawschools 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 anoptional subject for legal English majored students, yet legal writing proves to be of greatimportance for ones applying for legal fields after graduation Although the issue oflearning how to write or draft legal correspondence effectively has captivated theattention 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 intostudents' difficulties in learning legal correspondence at the university level Thequestion of overcoming difficulties or improving students’ legal writing skills has notbeen satisfactorily addressed Taking into account all of the points, this research iscarried out to clarify learners’ objective and subjective difficulties in learning legalcorrespondence at Hanoi Law University Moreover, several strategies for changingstudents' attitudes toward legal writing subjects have been discussed in order toovercome existing difficulties and hopefully boost their learning motivation.

1.2 Aims of the study

The study has three primary goals, which are as follows:

° Investigating the English majored students’ attitudes toward learning legalcorrespondence

° Identifying the challenges that English majored students encounter whenstudying and writing legal correspondence

° Exploring the techniques and strategies to overcome these difficulties.1.3 Research questions

This study serves its purpose by addressing three following questions:

1 What are the perspectives of English majored students of learning legalcorrespondence?

2 What difficulties do English majored students face when studying and writinglegal correspondence?

3 How to overcome these difficulties while learning legal correspondence?

1.4 Scope of the study

The primary goal of this study is to identify the difficulties that learners encounterwhen learning legal correspondence, as well as techniques and strategies for overcomingthese difficulties and boosting their motivation for this subject As a result, theparticipants were randomly selected as 109 students from the Faculty of Legal Foreign

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Languages at Hanoi Law University, ranging in age from K43 to K44, while teachers'perspectives on difficulties in teaching are beyond the scope of this study.

1.5 Significance of the study

Legal writing in particular poses unique challenges due to the complex system oflegal writing genres and the interferences created by multiple languages, cultures, andlegal systems (Daniel L Barnett, 2007) Case files can vary in length and complexity Inproducing legal documents, students are confronted with a series of difficulties becausethey are not experts in the legal system (Daniel L Barnett, 2007) As a result, thisresearch aims to explore those difficulties in respect of the scope of this paper

Furthermore, some authors have conducted studies to clarify the difficulties thatlearners face when learning legal writing; however, the number of studies focuses ondemonstrating complex points of legal English in general, and students' writing skillsremain limited Previous research papers have never shifted into a specific field in legalwriting practice, especially legal correspondence writing skills, in order to clarifylearners about those specific aspects This is due to the fact that legal English is

considered a new field of study in educational organizations worldwide, particularly in

the context of tertiary institutions As a result, the findings of this study are expected tofill the existing gap and effectively support English majors at universities, as well as gaintheir interest in learning legal writing since it is undeniable that this is an extremely

crucial skill

1.6 Organization of the study

The study comprises of three main parts: Introduction, Development, and

Conclusion

The Rationale, Aims, Research Questions, Scope, Significance, and Organization

of the Study are all included in the Introduction

The second part, Development, is subdivided into the following categories:

Chapter 1: Literature Review provides background knowledge related to the

features of Legal English, Legal writing in ESP, and Legal correspondence learning aswell as the challenges that students encountered

Chapter 2: Methodology sets out three main parts: participants, researchinstruments, and research procedure

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion shows the analytical findings of the survey and

a detailed interpretation of the data obtained

Chapter 4: Recommendations provide several suggestions related to the study

The Conclusion provides a summary of the study's findings and limitations, as

well as some recommendations for future research

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW1.1 Legal English and its features

ESP is a term that refers to teaching or learning English for a particular career.Dudley Evans (1997) defines ESP in terms of absolute characteristics (e.g., meetingspecific needs of the learners, using the underlying methodology and activities of thediscipline it serves; focusing the language appropriate to these activities in 6 terms ofgrammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse, and genre) and variable characteristics(e.g., being designed for specific disciplines, using a different methodology from that ofGeneral English in specific teaching situations, being designed for adult learners and forintermediate or advanced students with some basic knowledge of the language systems),which helps understanding ESP better (Boldea & Signirean, 2019)

Legal English is part of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) According toVeretina’s study (2012), Legal English is the style of English used by lawyers and otherlegal professionals in their profession Legal English 1s based on standard English, but italso contains some specific characteristics concerning terminology, linguistic structure,punctuation, etc which are the results of the historical development of English legallanguage (Sanja Gavrilovska, 2016) The development of legal English is closelyconnected with the history of the United Kingdom’s legal tradition, which follows thecommon law Legal English shares many similarities with other ESPs in that each type

of ESP has its own set of technical terms Legal English is a separate part of generalEnglish with its own lexical, semantic, and syntactic features and it is a part of the ESPlanguage family (Sanja Gavrilovska, 2016)

There are two different kinds of legal English: spoken or written media legalEnglish and legal texts (Veretina-Chiriac, 2012) The spoken language varies from thecross-examination of a witness by an attorney, over procedural instructions delivered by

judges, to lawyers' interpersonal communication Legal texts, on the other hand, consist

of case law, law reports, and prescriptive legal texts They comprise international

Moreover, the spoken language of lawyers is creative, especially when a lawyer

addresses the jury, and written legal English is conservative and formal Chiriac, 2012)

(Veretina-Subsequently, the exploration of written texts dominates the study of LegalEnglish vocabulary in law school contexts Language use in law school courses isfrequently described in terms of writing skills or student acculturation As a result, this

study will focus primarily on general aspects unique to written legal English The scope

of the study investigates legal English in two dimensions, lexical and syntactic features,based on Veretina's study (2012)

1.1.1 Lexical features

The first lexical characteristic relates to the use of archaic terms and the formallanguage known as legalese, which is used by lawyers Examples include pursuant to

(e.g., under; in accordance with), prior to (before), subsequent to (after), etc Legalese

can be challenging for laypersons to understand The hereinafter; aforesaid; therein;thereto; thereof are just a few examples of the many archaic words that can still be found

in many legal documents, despite the fact that legal professionals tend to use them lessfrequently than other terms (Veretina-Chiriac, 2012)

Second, technical terms are commonly utilized in the legal field Technical terms

or terms of art are pure legal terms (Veretina-Chiriac, 2012) Some of them are familiar

to laypersons (e.g., patent, share, royalty), while others are only known to lawyers (e.g.,bailment, abatement), which can cause misunderstanding Also, there are common

words with uncommon meanings in specific legal contexts, e.g., “attachment, action,consideration, execute, party” (Rylance, 1994, p.150) These are the terminologies that

legal professionals use as technical terms in specific contexts They are distinctive

because they are defined precisely in the domain of legal science Nonetheless, special

attention must be taken when the legal meaning differs from the general meaning

(consideration, construction, redemption, tender), or when everyday phrases are used in

seemingly unusual settings (furnish, prefer, hold) Nevertheless, terms of art are different

from legal jargon Words that are not precise enough belong to legal jargon, which is aspecialized language that enables a professional group to communicate quickly andefficiently In this way, the internal communication of lawyers is improved, butindividual meanings of terms become obscure for non-lawyers, who face the difficulttask of deciphering them.

Furthermore, legal English has a significant number of foreign phrases and words,the majority of which are of Latin and French origin Some of them look distinctivelystrange Foreign words derived from Latin or French underwent either the process oftransliteration or the direct borrowing process (Garner, 1989) Examples of words ofLatin origin are negligence, inferior, versus, pro se, stare decisis, obiter dictum, etc.Additionally, the impact of French can be seen not only in the words of French origin(e.g., appeal, claim, complaint, court, default), but also in the position of adjectivesbehind modified nouns in phrases such as attorney general, court martial, fee simple

absolute, state auditor general, etc (Veretina, 2012)

In terms of synonymy, the usage of synonyms is also relatively common in legalEnglish The accumulation of synonyms within the idioms in cases where one wordwould be enough is also a prominent feature in legal English The most prevalent sorts

of synonym pairs are doublets and triplets with the conjunction “and”, such as act and

deed, legal and valid, goods and chattels, null and void, etc (Garner, 1989) As in legal

English, they are composed of two words having the same conceptual meaning, one ofwhich is redundant and adds little to the meaning itself (Veretina, 2012)

In light of Veretina's research (2012), the repetition of words serves as the finallexical feature The lack of anaphoric reference in legal English prompted wordrepetition Despite the fact that it is employed in other registers by personal pronouns,demonstrative adjectives, and demonstrative pronouns, anaphoric reference is avoided.Since it is not always obvious which word in the text a certain pronoun refers to, whichlegal writing does not tolerate, nouns are repeated instead of pronouns As a result,repetition is used to avoid ambiguity

1.1.2 Syntatic features

In terms of syntactic features, complex and compound sentences are used in legal

documents rather than simple ones Particularly, sentences in legal documents frequently

include a considerable amount of information, repetitiveness, noun phrases with plenty

of modification as well as coordinate and subordinate clauses (Veratina, 2012) The

movement for plain English contested the structural complexity of legal writing andinvestigated options for sentence-lengthening Every section of a legal document used to

be composed of a single sentence in the past, which has led to the development of specificsentence structures Lawyers are therefore advised to measure the length of theirsentences, eliminate superfluous words and sentences, or even eliminate redundantwords and phrases

Additionally, nominalization is more commonly used in formal writings,including legal writing Nouns derived from verbs are frequently used in place of verbs.For instance, to give consideration instead of to consider, to be in opposition rather than

to oppose, to be in contravention instead of to contravene, to be in agreement instead of

to agree It is noticed that nominalization lengthens the text and renders it non-dynamic(Bhatia, 1993)

The impersonal style, which gives the idea that law is impartial, is characterized

by the use of a third person (e.g., everybody, nobody, and every individual) and passivevoice in legal writing In legal documents, the phrases “everyone, everyone, everyindividual” and “no one, nobody” are used when a provision applies to everyone Theuse of impersonal style creates the impression that the law is impartial However, suchgeneralizations are vague and make them obscure to people who do not specialize in law(Veretina-Chiriac, 2012)

1.2 Legal writing in English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

1.2.1 Historical background of Legal Writing in ESP

Legal writing in the English language in most law schools is taught together withthe legal reasoning since a written piece in legal writing does not imply only the process

of writing (David S Romantz, 2003) It includes the stages of gathering the right

information and the legal reasoning made by the lawyer linking it to the right or therelevant judicial precedent Related to this, there have been a lot of controversies whether

to teach legal reasoning and legal writing together or separately (Greta Pergjegji, 2018)

According to Christopher Langdell at the end of the 19th century, the study of law

is akin to science, law school educators have taken a decidedly theoretical approach toteaching law (McManis 1981), making his students have their own opinion and developtheir writing through analytical reasoning Up to the late ‘30s of the 20th century legalwriting in ESP in most universities was taught mostly by lawyers and as a result studentslacked what was called “finished legal writing’ (Rombauer, 1972), which theydesperately needed As a consequence of this, after the World War II, since it was clearthat the law students, already lacking basic writing skills, needed being taught on how towrite that analytical research in plain legal English, and how to make use of law books,

it was considered the fact that they needed courses of “English grammar andcomposition” (Rombauer,1972) Hence, in order to change the situation certain law

schools used to combine writing instruction made of English grammar and composition

with the legal research, a method used nowadays

On the other side, up to the mid-1980s because of a myriad of reasons students in

law schools still had problems in reproducing conventional legal documents, such asopinion letters, memoranda, and briefs Therefore, the nature of teaching writingchanged Writing teachers started to teach legal writing as a process, making studentspractice repeatedly on the same writing task, making notes and correcting mistakeswhere relevant as well as consulting with the students after each draft (Barnett, 2007)

Nowadays, the pedagogy or teaching of the legal writing is chiefly based onwriting as a process which means a lot of practice, the legal bases and audience whichimplies the fact that it should have legal grounds in order to be addressed to a legalaudience, and lastly on the writing generative aspect, although professors like Marjorie

D Rombauer are of the idea that the classes on legal writing should involve “the wholeintegrated sequence of thinking and developing legal arguments.” (Lawrence, 2003)

1.2.2 Characteristics of Legal Writing in ESP

Legal writing is a type of technical writing used by legal professionals to expresslegal analysis as well as legal rights and duties Legal authority serves as the foundationfor all types of legal writing, and lawyers, judges, and paralegals construct courtopinions, statutes, and administrative regulations to back up or support their ideas Itsdistinguishing characteristics include reliance on formality and authority citation,specialized vocabulary, or jargon, and over formality

Due to the fact that the law is based on authority, legal writing places a high value

on authority Most legal writings require the writer to back up assertions and statementswith proper citations to authority This is especially true when writing articles,educational materials, and books Depending on the context, the authority may refer torules, customs, or contracts In the common law legal system, precedents (1.e., judgments

of higher courts) are also used as authorities The legal profession has its own citationstyle While it provides enough information for the experienced reader to evaluate andretrieve the cited authorities, it may initially frustrate a lay reader The purposes of legaldocuments are to inform, persuade, record information, and set forth the law to befollowed

Legal writing is technical in the sense that it frequently employs technical termsthat a non-legal professional is unlikely to understand Some of the terms are unique to

the legal profession, such as tort, or come from another language, such as voir dire, which

is a French term When writing to clients or other non-lawyers, lawyers may need toadjust their writing slightly so that it contains fewer technical terms A layperson isunlikely to understand the legal terms used in legal writing The primary goal of anylegal document is to express the author's legal opinion on a specific issue Some types oflegal writing are also used by writers to persuade the reader of a particular position oropinion A legal writer always includes properly formatted citations to the legal authority

on which he or she is relying, but the format can vary depending on the jurisdiction andthe writer's audience Therefore, a piece of legal writing requires certain features:

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Precision: Like all the types of writing a written material should be clear, to the

point, accurate, simple as well as precise On the other side sometimes as

(Thornton 1996) states: “The blind pursuit of precision will inevitably lead to

complexity; and complexity is a definite step along the way to obscurity.”

Therefore, what counts is the fact that the reader and the writer should read the

same word in the same way, and the meaning conveyed from both sides should

be the same in order not to have misunderstandings of any type

Legal jargon or the Legalese: The archaic legal language or in other wordsexpressions of old times, considered as bizarre in the modern English language,that are still in use in legal papers since their meaning is widely acknowledged inthis environment The core vocabulary of this distinguished jargon consists ofLatin, French and Old English words that are not in use in the everyday languageand that are used only among lawyers, words like aforementioned or hereinafterare hardly ever used outside the context of the legal sentences or documents.Wordiness or verbosity: This is another characteristic or derivation of thelegalese, which means that for the same concept in the legal English are used twosynonymic words together linked the conjunction “and” like cease and desist, nulland void These synonymic expressions were used to clarify the situation, since

those words belonged to different languages

Mentality: It has a strong effect in the legal environment since someone mighthave some expectations from a system that still uses the idea of the precedentslike stare decisis This emphasizes the fact that things happen the way they go

because this is the manner they have occurred before Therefore, it can be said

that the legal writing makes use of the traditional terms and legalese as a naturalpractice paying no attention if it comprehended or not by the general public.Hence, a certain jargon understood by an educated lawyer is unclear to the people,something that clearly undermines the image that they might have of the legalese

So “the objective of precision can be better achieved by rigorous and exact use of

modern language than by reliance on anachronistic formulas.” (Richard Wydick,1998)

We use eight words to say what could be said in two We use arcane phrases toexpress commonplace ideas Seeking to be precise, we become redundant Seeking to

explain, we become verbose Our sentences twist on, phrase within clause within clause,

glazing the eyes and numbing the minds of our readers (Richard Wydick, 1998)

1.3 Legal Correspondence learning

1.3.1 Concept of legal correspondence

Legal correspondence is a major form of written communication between the lawfirm and the outside world (P Ishwara Bhat, 2020) Legal correspondence as a part oflegal writing Other than documents submitted to courts and transaction documents, such

as contracts, correspondence is the primary form of writing designed for an audienceoutside the law office The main aims of legal correspondence in all cases are clarity andaccuracy However, the style of correspondence will differ slightly according to whomthe correspondence is being written for When writing to another lawyer, the writer canassume that legal jargon and terms of art will be understood and do not need to beexplained When writing to clients and other third parties, this assumption cannot bemade Care should be taken to explain legal technicalities in terms that a layperson canunderstand Legal correspondence should be well crafted because it helps establish andmaintain the image and reputation of the law firm (Carol M Bast & Margie Hawkins,2001)

1.3.2 Types of legal correspondence

According to Carol M Bast & Margie Hawkins’ study (2001), there are severaltypes of correspondence that a paralegal or law clerk may be required to draft: demandletters, settlement proposals, notices of events such as hearing dates, and so on Theassignment may require the preparation of a draft of a letter to be sent to the clientinforming the client of the law that applies in the client’s case and how the law applies

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Neither a paralegal nor a law clerk may give legal advice to the client, but they mayprepare a draft of the correspondence that the attorney will send to the client.

There are three main categories of legal correspondence which are:

k Letters that provide information - Informational letters

k Letters that provide answers or legal opinions - Opinion letters

k Letters that demand action - Demand letters

More specifically, legal correspondence can also be divided into two groups:

k Letters are written to clients:

- Letters to clients typically inform the client about the status of the case orrequest action from the client

- Sometimes the lawyer will draft an opinion letter to explain the law as it

relates to the client’s particular facts

- Confirmation letters are written to clients to remind them of court dates, ofwhat happened in court, or of conversations to which they have been a party

k Letters are written to people who are not clients:

- Letters to other attorneys, which could be demand letters, negotiation

letters, or informational letters

- Letters sent to parties opposing the client who is not represented by legal

counsel, typically demanding that the person do or stop doing something and providing

a reason why the person must comply

- Conflict letters are written to the Court when an attorney has a conflict in

court appearance dates

- Confirmation letters are written to others with whom the lawyer or theoffice staff have spoken to create documentation of the conversation

1.3.3 Features of legal correspondence

Features of Informational letters

Except for status letters, these letters are often brief and may be only one or twoparagraphs in length (Carol M Bast & Margie Hawkins, 2001) Informational letters

provide information concerning the law which is general legal information or

background on a legal issue (e.g., the information may be a summary of the law or therequirements of a particular statute)

Features of Opinion letters

Letters that provide information concerning the law, an analysis of thatinformation, and legal opinion or legal advice An opinion letter, like an informationletter, provides legal information It is distinguished by the fact that it frequently includes

an analysis of that information as well as a legal opinion or legal advice (Mary AnnRobinson, 2020) According to that, the purpose is to inform the reader how the lawapplies to the facts An opinion letter is typically written in response to a client's question

or in response to facts in a client's case As a result, the emphasis of this section is on

client-addressed opinion letters Moreover, Mary Ann Robinson stated that an opinion

letter provides the reader with a legal opinion and legal advice; thus, it constitutes legal

practice and must be signed by an attorney The attorney is legally liable for any harm

caused by the client acting on erroneous information contained in the letter

Features of Demand letters

Considering Mary Ann Robinson’ research (2020), letters designed to set forth a

client's demands, persuade someone to act favorable to the interest of the client or cease

acting in a manner that is detrimental to the client (e.g., a summary of the applicable law

in support of the requested action) The most common type of which is a collection letter,

which outlines the basis for debt due to a client and sets forth a demand to be paid In

these types of letters your tone should be firm and businesslike, not strident, or nasty Toeliminate any disputes on whether a letter was received, send the letter by some verifiabletype of delivery, such as registered mail In many instances, a demand letter will include

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a summary of the applicable law in support of the requested action This section

addresses the considerations involved when preparing a demand letter that includes a

reference to the law and an analysis of the law A major difference is that a demand letter

is not designed to address a legal question, but to encourage action or seek relief.Therefore, it does not contain an answer/conclusion section in the body because it doesnot address a question that requires a brief answer The demand letter also differs from

an opinion letter in that it is designed to advocate a position and persuade the reader;therefore, it is written in a persuasive manner (Mary Ann Robinson, 2020)

1.3.4 Importance of studying legal correspondence

The importance of learning legal English correspondence writing or legal writingeven in mother tongue, since the problem is found even here, is not to make thesestudents get accustomed to the pompousness of the legal jargon or the legal English(Carol M Bast & Margie Hawkins, 2001) Therefore, the purpose is not to urge thestudents to be average legal writers with a wordy stuffy, artificial, and in most of thecases with an ungrammatical style of writing, but to make them learn the subtleties oflegal writing in order not to be a mediocre writer that might be derided for the haughtywriting he has produced At the end, what matters is the communication, what the writer

and the written piece convey to the reader (Carol M Bast & Margie Hawkins, 2001)

This is something that should not be forgotten, bearing in mind that the following quote

on legal writing and the lawyers by Abraham Lincoln should be present in the writer’sthoughts to remind him or her that the aim of writing is to communicate

As lawyers, what we do most is write - lawyers’ time and advice are ourstock in trade, but we express the advice in words And we use our time in drafting,

in communicating mostly by the written word Sometimes, though, we fail to

remember the first object of writing - to communicate (Abraham Lincoln)

Legal writing has undergone a long process to be transformed into what isnowadays Like all the other types of writing it requires a lot of effort and practice,especially if it is conducted in a second language (David S Romantz, 2003) It is a long

process and the first step toward improvement is admitting that writing itself is not easy,

and that everyone should be aware of the fact that no matter how well they think theywrite at the end what is important is the outcome (Greta PergJegji, 2018) Most peopleespecially those working in a professional environment, like doctors, military personnel

or businessmen are not skillful writers, this 1s valid for lawyers The second stage of thisprocess is the one in which people are made to write a piece 1n an insidious professionallanguage full of technical words, or jargon that is not used in the everyday life, technicalwords that one might have difficulties in using in the first language, let alone anotherlanguage that is not the mother tongue The third stage is that of making the law student

or the lawyer write a piece of writing in which the student breaks the cycle of insidiouslegal writing where the habits of the past are clearly left behind in order to achieve agood style in writing (Mark Osbeck, 2012) Good style in legal writing means that thelaw students must make every effort to attain it Good style needs dedication If onewants to enhance his/her writing style has to choose the difficult path and not the easyway out, so he /she must commit him/her into it Through learning legal correspondence

as a process in which the student has to write and rewrite the same assignment manytimes the student can manage to avoid producing a horrible piece of writing (Mark

Osbeck, 2012)

As a professional practice, legal writing is at the very heart of lawyering: it hasbeen said that lawyering is a craft at the center of communication (Terrill Pollman, 2002).Learning legal writing as a law student is more than just a matter of skill development.Moreover, learning legal writing is fundamental to one’s own development as a lawyer:writing has been described as ‘thinking on paper’, so learning to “write like a lawyer’ isinextricably linked to learning to ‘think like a lawyer’ and so to the development of your

own professional identity (Terrill Pollman, 2002)

According to Daniel Bell & Penny Pether’s study (1998), before students begin

the journey into legal correspondence writing, they may wonder why legal writing is so

important and thus why ensuring a smooth transition to legal writing is so critical Thereare two main answers First, lawyers write - a lot and often - and thus it is important to

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gain familiarity with legal writing and confidence in this new discipline Whether theyare an aspiring litigator who will write motions and briefs or a future transactional lawyer

who will draft contracts and due diligence memos, their writing throughout your career

will apply foundational skills gained during the first few months of their legal writingclass Secondly, most legal writing skills are transferable to other disciplines that areimportant to their growth as a law student and future lawyer For example, effective legalwriting employs sound logic and reasoning and thus improving the way students presentarguments for a legal writing assignment will also translate to how they presentarguments in doctrinal subjects (Daniel Bell & Penny Pether, 1998) Relatedly, in legalwriting, students learn to spot gaps in reasoning, compare favorable authority, anddistinguish unfavorable authority; these are all building block techniques used by

lawyers throughout their careers Thus, developing legal writing skills is important to

every law students’ evolution into becoming a lawyer (Margaret Z Johns, 1990)

1.4 Difficulties in learning legal correspondence in the previous studies in theliterature

1.4.1 Difficulties caused by subjective factors

A legal correspondence writing course will undoubtedly present a number of

challenges The difficulties arise because the course is both a legal writing course and a

language-learning course for L2 students (C.N Candlin, 2002) The legalcorrespondence writing course, in particular, 1s aimed at an L2 population, which willmost likely consist of a group of students with multiple languages, competencies,cultures, and legal systems, resulting in diverse audiences who must learn different legalwriting genres and skills used for various purposes, requiring the development ofmultiple types of materials (C.N Candlin, 2002)

According to Maleerat Ka-kan-dee’s study (2017), the main difficulties faced bylaw students were their incompetent knowledge of vocabulary, grammar structure,interpreting the question, fulfilling task demand, evaluation, rhetorical features,

awareness of audience’s expectation and motivational elements, topic choice,

understanding the question, organized ideas, L1 transfer and translating, generating

ideas, planning process, specific supporting details, effective conclusion, and creative

thinking ability In addition, the students encountered various difficulties ranging fromplanning the process to generating ideas These weaknesses were the main barriers whichlead to ineffective writing The results of this study were similar to the study carried out

by Lertpreedakorn (2009) and Kakan-dee and Kaur (2015) whereby they stated that L2students are incompetent in areas ranging from grammar structure to putting togetherorganized ideas Similarly, Bennui (2008) reported that most L2 college students areincompetent in their writing skill because of their lack of preparation of English writingdue to inadequate performance in their classroom practice It was clear that the majority

of L2 students deeply entrenched legacy of disadvantage remained stubbornly intact,which left its students without the English language skills needed for skilled andeffective communication in legal discourse, without critical thinking skills, without legalargumentation skills, and without a general frame of reference which many simplyexpect students to possess at tertiary level

The quality of legal analysis will determine, in large part, how well the legaldocument is written; and many of the problems students encounter in legalcorrespondence result not from poor writing skills but from weak analysis (Suzanne ERowe, 2015) Even so, to become an accomplished legal writer, students must embracenew vocabulary, new conventions, and new organization Words have new, specificmeanings For example, “negligence” seems like a simple word, but in Torts classstudents will learn that it is an entire body of law Also, students often have troubleaccepting conventions of legal writing They will feel like novices until they learn theseconventions, and experienced lawyers will recognize their work as that of someone new

to the field (Suzanne E Rowe, 2015)

Obviously, the multifaceted nature of legal writing in general, and legal

correspondence in particular, which included legal analysis and application as well as

logical sequencing and argument, could not be taught in a vacuum, especially given that

the majority of the learners were largely unfamiliar with any form of legal discourse, andmany spoke English as a second language When researching possible causes of students'

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poor legal writing skills at the time, the researcher noted with interest that other legalacademics had commented on the negative impact that students' lack of familiarity withlegal discourse could have on their writing skills For example, Greenbaum makes thepoint that: “ added to the non-English mother tongue speakers' difficulties, a factorthat cannot be ignored is that most of these students have less cultural familiarity with

in first-year legal correspondence courses will be too concrete, simply summarizing thecases that they are supposed to be using to analyze the issue instead of using the casedecisions to help in their analysis of the problem Most will also fill up their papers withredundant “filler” that shows the student has not yet learned what matters can be takenfor granted, and what must be explained Students often find it challenging to generatecontent for their compositions by retrieving relevant information from memory (e.g.,Graham & Harris, 2003) In other words, even though they have knowledge of aparticular topic, or have ideas that would enhance a story, they are unable to access thatinformation such that it could be incorporated into their writing

In fact, teaching legal correspondence may be getting harder every year It has

been noted that today’s students are spending relatively little time on writing during their

undergraduate educations As a result, if students enter law school with under-developedwriting skills, teaching them legal writing will require more time and effort Strugglingstudents, on the other hand, do not simply need assistance with their writing skills; they

need assistance with being students — literally learning how to learn (Dionne L Koller,

2005) In addition, the legal correspondence course is also limited in its ability to identify

and assist struggling students because it is usually not structured in a way that allows for

the more in-depth assistance a struggling student requires

1.4.2 Difficulties caused by objective factors

The inevitable "gap" between the knowledge and skills required at high school

and those required at university has been referred to by Scott and Hendry as a "lack of

effective educational continuity, or articulation, between consecutive educationallevels" They believe that if there is not sufficient articulation between the levels thenthis will be a "counter-productive obstacle to student progression" They maintain thatthe path to effective articulation is not just about aligning formal entry requirements;rather, it is achieved by ensuring appropriate forms and levels of provision at theinterface between educational types or phases, and by providing appropriate support forstudents making the transition Articulation is thus a critical matter for educationalplanning as well as theory

First, while it has been pointed out that legal writing courses are more likely thantypical substantive courses to incorporate concepts of learning theory, many legal

correspondence courses, like some of their substantive course counterparts, fail to

provide an optimal learning experience for all students (Dionne L Koller, 2005) Indeed,the same problems that critics argue can plague substantive course classrooms — toomuch lecture, plodding through a textbook with little explanation of how the reading fitswith the expectations for the course, too little context for what is being taught, amongother things — can be present in legal writing classrooms Additionally, legal

correspondence courses oftentimes overlook the diverse learning needs of students in the

same way that many substantive courses do

Secondly, even if the legal correspondence course were conducted in a way that

it maximized the learning potential of all students, resource constraints in a typical legalwriting curriculum limit a legal writing instructor’s ability to deliver meaningful

academic support while helping students through the very difficult “novice” stage of

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legal writing (Dionne L Koller, 2005) As a result, there is not enough time to allow theprofessor to teach analysis and writing and provide meaningful academic support.

Additionally, the learning interferences that arise due to varying language,rhetorical, cultural, and legal expectations from the first language According to Brown

(2005), there must be an explicit attempt to identify and understand the interferences

carried over from the first language, culture, and legal systems to the second.Specifically, the interference created when teaching in a different legal system than theone used in the materials, or when teaching in a mixed legal system (Rafael DeanBrown,2019) For example, the materials developed for a legal writing course may bebased on a common law legal system, but the course is taught in a country with a civillaw or mixed legal system The US and UK legal writing method is deemed to becomethe most dominant and influential method for teaching legal writing However, adoptingthe US and UK legal writing method may create interferences with the different legalsystem Unfortunately, the lack of available legal resources like publicly available cases,creates an even bigger challenge of not having a sufficient amount of legal resourcematerials available for pedagogical purposes Therefore, the US, UK legal resources andlegal writing methods may be employed as the best alternative However, if the legalmaterials used are anchored to a second legal system like the US, learning interferenceswill likely arise because of assumptions students make about the second legal system

based on their knowledge of the first legal system (Brown, 2014) In the context of Hanoi

Law University, when students are taught using New York law, they will not understandhow New York state law differs from federal law because Vietnam is not a dual federal

system Such differences in the legal system must be explicitly taught to students to avoid

learning interferences

According to the research papers above, there are numerous difficulties in

teaching and learning legal writing Because legal writing has proven to be an extremelyimportant area in shaping awareness and upskilling for future practice and also can make

a difference in students’ learning process in the legal environment However, there areonly a few research papers on legal writing in ESP courses in Vietnam As a result, this

research is carried out to investigate learners' perceptions of the difficulties in learning

legal correspondence in particular, with the hope of filling the gap in the aforementionedstudies

1.5 Summary

In summary, most studies have indicated that learning legal writing in general,and legal correspondence in particular, presents a variety of difficulties arising fromobjective and subjective factors in different education settings As a result, there is abelief that a more appropriate and appealing curriculum is required to stimulate students'creative thinking and curiosity Students must be taught how to learn more effectivelyfor theoretical subjects, including legal correspondence Accordingly, this current studynot only emphasizes the difficulties that students face when learning to write legalcorrespondence, but also suggests some strategies to enhance the quality of teaching andlearning in the context of Hanoi Law University, Vietnam

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY2.1 Participants

The study's initial population was 128 students, nevertheless, due to a variety of

external factors, 109 participants, including both alumni (K43) and undergraduate

students (K44) of the Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages at Hanoi Law University took

part in the study All participants speak Vietnamese as their first language and English

as their foreign language

Hanoi Law University is one of the few universities in Vietnam that provides legalEnglish courses to undergraduate students majoring in English Throughout their studies

at HLU, these students are required to successfully complete basic and advanced legalEnglish courses that provide fundamental knowledge as well as specific legal conceptsand issues Besides, classes on basic skills needed for students such as negotiation, legalwriting, presentation, etc are also meticulously and thoroughly developed by the school

In particular, the subject of legal correspondence is introduced into the curriculum bythe school after students have learned the most basic knowledge of specialized legalEnglish courses Therefore, such groups of students are also considered to be the mostsuitable for this study as it is deemed that they have in common having completed or aregoing to complete legal correspondence courses

Dede Data collection

2.2.1 Data collection instrument

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in order to answerthe specific research questions The researcher chose to employ both questionnaires aswell as interviews to get a more in-depth knowledge of the attitudes and difficulties thatlearners encounter when learning legal correspondence At a general level, a mixed

method is chosen because of its strength of drawing on both qualitative and quantitative

research and minimizing the limitations of both approaches At a practical level, themixed method provides a sophisticated, complex approach to research that appeals tothose at the forefront of new research procedures At a procedural level, it is a useful

strategy to have a more complete understanding ofresearch problems (J David Creswell

& John W Creswell, 2017)

The questionnaires in this study are divided into three main parts Part I assessesresearch subjects’ perceptions of legal writing in general and legal correspondencewriting in particular The first question explores the degree of accuracy students

perceived for the subject's difficulty The second question is intended to evaluate the

student's level of interest in the subject The final question in this section is designed to

assess students' perceptions of the course's importance in the future legal field In Part

II, the students' subjective and objective factual challenges in acquiring legal

correspondence writing are investigated With a 5-point Likert scale, 20 statements about

students’ challenges in learning to write legal correspondence are displayed Along withthe difficulties discussed in the previous three main questions, students are also required

to respond to one sub-question by writing about additional problems they encountered

Part III investigates students' perceptions of how to overcome current difficulties inlearning legal correspondence The research objective-related question items arestructured on a five-point Likert scale Participants are expected to indicate (1) stronglydisagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree, and (5) strongly agree

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In hopes of minimizing the major drawbacks of the survey questionnaire datacollection instrument, a semi-structured interview was employed as an additionalsupplement in this study Conducted conversationally with one respondent at a time, thesemi-structured interview employs a blend of close-ended and open-ended questions,often accompanied by follow-up why or how questions Relaxed, engaging, in-personsemi-structured interviews should be worth the effort in terms of the insights andinformation gained (Joseph S.Wholey, 2015)

The follow-up semi-structured interview consists of 5 questions to determine

students' general attitudes toward legal correspondence as well as the difficulties they

encountered while taking this course

2.2.2 Data collection procedure

2.2.2.1 Data from the questionnaire

Following the completion of the questionnaire, the researcher contacted thestudents of two classes from K44 of FLFL as well as a group of graduates from K43 ofFLFL who had finished the course to ask them to participate in this phase of the studysection

From 1 to 19" March 2023, all participants received questionnaires through

Google Forms, allowing users to collect information via a customized survey or quiz.The link to the survey form was delivered to the class monitors, who subsequentlydistributed it to all members of their classes Respondents were asked to complete andreturn the questionnaire within one week of receipt via email to ensure that all issues in

the survey were thoroughly considered before responding Participants are welcome to

contact the researcher using the contact information provided on the survey form if they

have any questions The data was then collected and coded in preparation for data

treatment.

2.2.2.2 Data from the interview

After the interview questions were submitted to supervisors to ensure theirconciseness, and effectiveness, the researcher contacted 8 students who provided notable

responses to confirm their willingness to participate in the interviews Nevertheless, onlyeight of them agreed to participate.

Each interview was held for around 12 and 15 minutes and was conducted inVietnamese to ensure its clarity All the interviews were audio-recorded In hopes ofachieving a great outcome, the researcher generally encouraged the interviewee to besincere, truthful, and forthcoming throughout the entire process The researcher beganeach interview by briefly explaining the goal of the interview to the participants.Moreover, the researcher reduced the degree of formality to a minimum to make theinterviewees feel comfortable throughout the interview, in order to create an atmosphere

as soothing as possible from the external background

2.3 Data analysis

2.3.1 Data from the questionnaire

With 128 questionnaires have been sent out in total, the researcher collected datafrom 109 randomly selected English majors As a result, the obtained data has a solidfoundation upon which to draw conclusions The statistical approach utilized in thequestionnaire as part of the analytical procedure relies on frequency and percentage Themost significant, required responses to the study questions are displayed by the item withthe highest frequency and percentage Each questionnaire was examined to assemble theresponses provided by each participant when a sufficient number of completed ones had

been collected To illustrate the respondents’ perspectives on the difficulties they

encountered while learning legal correspondence, the proportion of responses was thencalculated using Microsoft Office Excel

Data from the questionnaires were treated through SPSS To carry out thecalculations of such measures, the author utilized SPSS v.20 software which would runthe data input and release the descriptive statistics output Three main measures would

be used in this research including Mean, Range, and Standard deviation As data fromthe questionnaires were mainly statistical, the information would be categorized inaccordance with the literature review and presented visually in form of bar charts andtables to highlight the important points as well as provide a better understanding of the

26

result The mean value of each item can be interpreted as follows (1.0-1.79) very low,(1.8-2.59) low, (2.6- 3.39) medium, (3.4-4.19) high, and (4.2-5.0) very high.

2.3.2 Data from the interview

The researcher used the data from semi-structured interviews to bettercomprehend and clarify the findings gathered from the questionnaire As the dataobtained through this method of data collection was considered qualitative, it had to bepresented as quotations or sayings The convergent mixed-method design was used todemonstrate the data However, data that were both quantitative and qualitative weregathered and examined separately The analysis of both datasets produced results, whichwere compared and interpreted to see if they concurred or contradicted one another Thediscussion described the qualitative and quantitative results

2.4 Summary

The approach employed to carry out the current investigation is depicted in thischapter Together with the procedures and instruments used for data collection andanalysis, it specifically lists the participants and those involved In this research, the

researcher used survey questionnaires, which is a research approach that aims to

understand phenomena of what research subjects grasp, such as perception, motivation,and action by describing in words and language and employing a variety of scientificmethods (Moloeng, 2010) Besides, an online interview was also conducted, allowingthe researcher to gain a more intensive viewpoint (Boyce & Neale, 2006) Followingthat, the results and statistics were analyzed and displayed as figures and tables usingIBM SPSS and Microsoft Office Excel

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The data from the survey questionnaires are summarized and explained in this chapterusing figures and tables

3.1 Students' perceptions of legal writing in general and legal correspondence

writing in particular

One of the primary goals of this study was to investigate the attitudes of 109English majors at Hanoi Law University toward learning legal correspondence.Therefore, the first question of the survey is to determine the participants' view on thenecessity of the subject's learning

Participants’ perceptions towards the necessity of acquiring legal correspondence writing skills

120 100 80 60

Figure 1 The students’ perception of the necessity of acquiring legal

correspondence writing skills

According to Figure 1, 65 out of 109 respondents agreed this subject is necessaryfor them, indicating that a considerable percentage of learners are aware of the subject'simportance and acknowledge how important legal correspondence is to their future

careers Furthermore, nearly 20% of respondents stated that studying legal

correspondence is crucially significant to them However, approximately 15% ofstudents are still genuinely unsure about the significance of legal correspondence duringtheir studies Meanwhile, 2 respondents stated that studying legal correspondence is not

considered necessary These figures may imply that legal correspondence remains a

non-compulsory subject at Hanoi Law University

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