Luận văn thạc sĩ Luật học: Thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc tự học trong giờ học tiếng Anh pháp luật tại Đại học Luật Hà Nội

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOI LAW UNIVERSITY LE NGUYEN KHANH LY 442940 STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS LEARNING IN LEGAL ENGLISH CLASSES AT HANOI LAW

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

LE NGUYEN KHANH LY

442940

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS LEARNING IN LEGAL ENGLISH

CLASSES AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

Major: Legal English

SUPERVISOR Nhac Thanh Huong, M.A.

Hanoi-2023

I here by state that I, Le Nguyen Khanh Ly (442940), from class 4429 of HanoiLaw University, being a candidate of the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept therequirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bacherlor’sGraduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited inthe library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for thecare, loan, or reproduction of the paper

Supervisor Student

Nhac Thanh Huong Le Nguyen Khanh Ly

May , 2023

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To fulfill the graduation thesis, I am indebted to many people

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to mysupervisor, Ms Nhac Thanh Huong, M.A., Hanoi Law University for herinvaluable guidance and continuous support of my thesis, for her endlesspatience, enthusiasm, immense knowledge and understanding She has alwaysbeen dedicated, inspired and instructed me throughout the course of mygraduation thesis

This endeavor would not have been possible without the support from allstaff and lecturers in the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages at Hanoi LawUniversity, where it has been my honor to be educated for the past four years

Last but not least, my sincere thanks also go to my family and myclassmates in class 4429, as well as other peers in the Faculty of Legal ForeignLanguages during the implementation of the study Without their valuableassistance, this graduation thesis could not have been thoroughly fulfilled

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ABSTRACTSAutonomous learning has been regarded as a vital value that is expected

to be present in any English language student due to its positive effects on theirlearning In Vietnam, the notion of this learning mode has attracted muchattention from researchers to conduct studies on this topic; however, not muchevidence has been provided on students’ attitudes towards autonomous learning

in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) context in Vietnam, especially at thetime when there has been a shift towards the learner-centered approach In order

to contribute to bridging such gap, the present study concentrates on examiningstudents’ attitudes towards autonomous learning 1n the domain of legal Englishclasses — a type of ESP in the legal field, at a higher education institution Italso unveils students’ degree of engagement in autonomous activities bothinside and outside legal English classes

The study employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodswith the participation of 96 legal English seniors In specifics, the surveyquestionnaire was designed and distributed virtually through Google Forms and

a supplementary semi-structured interview was also conducted with eightstudents out of 96 participants The data was then analyzed via Microsoft OfficeExcel and IBM SPSS

Through comprehensive data analysis and result discussion, the statisticsdisclose that, in general, most of the survey respondents were on neutral rankfor readiness to be autonomous in legal English classes, yet in certain aspects,their perceived level of engagement in autonomous learning activities inside

and outside the classroom was just average In light of these results, such

findings set practical implications for both legal English majors and lecturers

in the process of language teaching and learning

IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSHLU: Hanoi Law University

FLFL: Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

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LIST OF FIGURES/TABLESList of figures:

Figure 1 The respondents' general viewpoints on the necessity of autonomouslearning in learning legal English

Figure 2 The respondents’ viewpoints of their ability to learn legal Englishautonomously

1 Rationale for the study

Classroom-based, teacher-directed language learning has been dominant

in language teaching and learning for decades; however, the notion ofindependent, autonomous learners is also not novel to language teachers Apartfrom traditional educational methods, classrooms are no longer viewed as thesole learning environment where teachers take much class time with theassumed aim to provide students with the knowledge they are supposed toacquire (Ahmed & Hasan, 2020) Moreover, such trends also declare the factthat although working collaboratively has its own benefits in terms ofempowering learners and stimulating them to exchange ideas, learners’working on their own remains a fundamental source of learning This is becausethey are engaged in the learning tasks on their own, 1.e autonomous learning

It plays a crucial role in language education because in any educational context,learners are autonomous when they establish their own learning goals, as well

as have responsibility for planning, managing, and evaluating specific learningactivities and the learning process overall Autonomous learning has nowbecome concomitant to language learning in general and language for specificpurposes in particular Especially, in recent years, the number of ESP learnershas grown sharply Therefore, in this study, the researcher would like to focus

on autonomous learning based on ESP learners’ views

In the past, the traditional educational methods which mainly focused onthe lecturing were applied; therefore, to some extent, it could not stimulatestudents’ autonomy In most classrooms, lecturers are the knowledge providers

and students are not allowed to confront the teacher directly Specifically, the

contexts of language learning in Asian cultures in general and Vietnameseculture, in particular, are known to be teacher-authoritative that encourage

obedience to and reliance on the teacher (Hsieh & Hsieh 2019) However, along

with the radical changes in the teaching and learning methods, students’autonomous learning ability has recently been considered the top priority inmost higher educational institutions, especially in the ESP contexts At HanoiLaw University, the new teaching method of reducing the time of lecturing andincreasing the time of seminars has been introduced to develop learners’autonomy, aiming at enhancing proficiency in the teaching and learningprocess Therefore, it is of utmost importance to investigate students’ attitudestowards autonomous learning in this institution.

Since the focus of the practice and theory of language teaching hasshifted to the student-centered approach, the ability of learners to take an activerole in their learning has gained attention in foreign language education (Hsieh

& Hsieh 2019) In the field of English education, learning legal English hasbeen considered to be uniquely different and difficult from other types of ESP(Nhac, 2022) On the other hand, in practice, the current ongoing globalizationtrend and competitive labor market emphasize even more the need for ESP thatstudents should employ both English skills and specialized knowledge to adapt

to various job requirements Under these conditions, exhorting students to beautonomous in ESP learning is of particular importance, as stated by Raya andSercu (2008) that, “what people need in order to be able to maintain theirground in a rapidly changing world are skills that allow them to independentlyaddress new questions and new situations, integrate already acquired and newinformation, developing new” (p.7) Furthermore, Belcher (2017) assures thatlearner-centeredness has been the priority of ESP since the earliest days

In reality, ESP, as a teaching and learning approach, is getting more andmore researchers’ interest worldwide including in Vietnam However, it isworth mentioning that despite numerous studies on exploring learners’ attitudes

towards autonomous learning worldwide (Scheb-Buenner, 2019; Selama,2018), few studies on this issue have been done in higher education in Vietnam,

especially within the context of legal English classes at Hanoi Law University

As the matter of fact, this research paper is an attempt to clarify legal Englishstudents’ attitudes towards autonomous learning as well as to provide profoundinsights about autonomous learning activities in the views of those ESP learnerswho are actually the insiders of the autonomous learning developing process.

2 Aims of the study

The present study aims to:

(1) Identify students’ attitudes towards autonomous learning in thecontext of legal English classes at Hanoi Law University;

(2) Explore the activities legal English students engage in both inside andoutside the legal English classrooms

4 Scope of the study

The main purpose of this study is to explore legal English majors’attitudes towards autonomous learning, as well as the activities they engage inboth inside and outside legal English classes Therefore, the participants chosenare 96 random students from K44 of the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages(FLFL) of Hanoi Law University whereas the teachers’ views on autonomouslearning in legal English classes is beyond the scope of this research

5 Significance of the study

Autonomous learning has been one of the most discussed issues inlanguage learning for the last three decades (Khotimah et al., 2019) However,

several scholars have conducted studies to prove positive attitudes of students

towards this learning mode in general, the number of studies that has merely

been implemented within the ESP context, especially in legal English classeshave been relatively limited By identifying students’ attitudes towardsautonomous learning in both inside and outside legal English classes, thisresearch aligns with the current Vietnamese educational objectives, which aim

to develop the positiveness, awareness, activeness, creativity, and study ability of learners (Hoang, 2017) Therefore, the results of this study areexpected to fill the existing gap and help legal English-majored studentsenhance their autonomous learning ability as well as contribute to theknowledge and theory on examining ESP students’ attitudes towardsautonomous learning in the Vietnamese context of ESP education at tertiarylevel, thus helping in improving the current situation of ESP teaching andlearning in Vietnam

self-6 Organization of the study

The study includes three central parts: Introduction, Development, andConclusion

The Introduction consists of the Rationale, Aims, Research questions,Scope, Significance, and Organization of the study

The Development is divided into four chapters as below:

Chapter 1: Literature Review provides relevant literature related toautonomous learning

Chapter 2: Methodology sets out three main parts: participants, data

collection, and data analysis

Chapter 3: Results and Discussions reports analytical findings of thesurvey and further interprets the data obtained

Chapter 4: Recommendations presents several recommendationsregarding the study

The Conclusion delivers concluding remarks, implications, and

limitations of the study as well as put forward certain suggestions for furtherresearch

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW1.1 Autonomous Learning

1.1.1 Definition of Autonomous Learning

Autonomous learning is assumed to be a thorny term due to its noticeableconfusion with self-instruction But first, in order to seek what autonomouslearning means, it is essential that the term autonomous be clearly defined Theword autonomous is the adjective form of autonomy, which is a key widely-used concept in educational policy and practice

There have been numerous definitions of the term autonomy Holec(1981) broadly views autonomy as the ability to take charge of engaged-in tasksincluding that of learning the ability to take charge of one’s own learning Thisability includes a potential capacity to act in a given situation — in our caselearning — and not the actual behavior of an individual in that situation Thus,for Holec, autonomy is an ability, not an action It is the ability to create thepossibility of learning when and where and what one wants to learn (Holec,1981) Moreover, based on Holec’s definition of autonomy, it can beinterpreted that autonomous students are expected to be responsible for theirlearning They have to actively participate in learning, take charge of self-planning, self-management, self-reflection, and self-evaluation (Teng, 2019)

Autonomy is shown in more details that it is about people taking morecontrol over their lives — individually and collectively (Thanasoula, 2000).Dickinson (1994) adds that autonomy is a situation wherein learners are wholly

in charge of all the decisions pertaining to their learning and the implementation

of those decisions From these definitions, it seems that students must beindependent theorists, as well as have a clear view of their whole learning

process, including the purpose of learning, the aim of learning, the way of

learning, etc In other words, it could be said that autonomy comprises both

decisions and actions Besides, Little (1991) defines autonomy as a capacity for

detachment, critical reflection, decision-making, and independent action

Based on the above definitions of autonomy, autonomous learning isunderstood as a process enabling learners to recognize and evaluate their ownlearning needs to select and apply their own learning strategies or styles in suchways that lead to effective learning Xu (2009) emphasizes that autonomouslearning itself is an act of learning that consciously motivates learners to makethe best decisions about their own learning Learning can be more focused andpurposeful for learners when they are involved in decision-making processesregarding their own language competence From Illes’s standpoint (2012),autonomous learning entails learners taking responsibility for different aspects

of the learning process including setting goals, determining content, selectingresources and techniques as well as assessing progress In such a framework,Chan (2003) highlights that an autonomous learner is a decision-maker whoexercises varying degrees of control at the levels of learning content, learningmanagement, and cognitive process (Benson, 2012) Likewise, Sert (2006)indicates more exactly that the practice of autonomous learning requiresinsight, a positive attitude, a capacity for reflection, and a readiness to beproactive in self-management and in interaction with others In this respect,autonomous learners make decisions about what to learn, when, and how tolearn it by taking charge of their own learning

In an attempt to put forward an all-embracing definition of autonomouslearning, Holec (1981) identifies four ways, that is to say 1) the situations where

learners study is absolutely autonomous 2) the set of skills that can be learned

and applied in autonomous learning 3) learners’ innate competence which isnegatively impacted by institutional education, and 4) the exercise of learners’responsibility for their learning Holec (1981) also mentions that taking charge

of one’s own learning means to have, to hold responsibility for all decisionsregarding all aspects of learning consisting of:

e Determining the objectives;

e Defining the contents and progressions;

e Selecting methods and techniques to be used;

e Monitoring the procedure of acquisition;

e Evaluating what has been acquired

In view of the foregoing definitions, autonomous learning is a learningmode that views learners as individuals who can and should control and be incharge of their own learning in terms of identifying needs, setting goals,choosing learning activities, and doing self-assessment all under teachers’guidance and supervision Autonomy in learning is an aim that has a lot ofbenefits, and although it implies different responsibilities, it could beachievable if learners determine their routes for learning autonomously.Briefly, the term “autonomous learning’ obviously encompasses differentinterpretations Nonetheless, it cannot be interpreted that students areindependent of their teachers, or their learning is completely isolated fromteachers’ roles and practices, and from the learning institution (Le & Huynh,2019)

Nowadays, the term “autonomous learning” is used interchangeablywith the terms “independent learning”, “‘self-access learning”, all of whichmean freedom from dependence on others This is because autonomouslearning implies a more intricate relationship between the learners and thelearning processes rather than the mere access to and provision of resources.And this has been reflected in the statement of Benson and Voller (1997), whoassert that autonomous learning refers to learners’ ability to make personaldecisions about what to do away from influence or instruction by teachers

1.1.2 Dimensions of Autonomous Learning

According to Littlewood (1999), one major dimension of autonomouslearning is Responsibility In defining responsibility, Littlewood points out that

students should take responsibility for their own learning since it is only the

students who carry out all their learning Moreover, students need to enhancetheir ability to pursue further education after the end of their formal education

(Hassan, 2018) Another point is that students take either partial or totalownership of many processes which have traditionally belonged to teachers.And among these are determining learner objectives, choosing learningmethods, and assessing the teaching process.

As explored by Hassan (2018), another dimension of autonomouslearning is Ability, which refers to students’ competence in completing thesetasks The development of ability is a prerequisite for being in charge of theirown learning (Hassan, 2018)

Lastly, Motivation is another main dimension of autonomous learning.Deci and Ryan (2000) define this dimension as the performance of a task forits own sake and valuing rewards achieved through the process of taskaccomplishment irrespective of any external rewards

1.1.3 Autonomous Learning in English for Specific Purposes (ESP)English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is conducted to equip learners with

a certain English proficiency level for a situation where the language is going

to be used, termed target needs (Agustina, 2014) The ESP is a more technicalcontext of language learning that has particular learning purposes rather thangeneral aims as it is the case of language learning per se Williams (2014, p.141)specifies that ESP “has to do with specialized forms of discourse with whichthe majority of native speakers will be unfamiliar with’ In other words, ESP

is a challenging subfield of language learning even for native speakers, because

it may exceed the mastery of the language to cover technicalities of differentdomains Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define ESP as an approach rather than

a product to language teaching In this sense, ESP is neither a methodology nor

a type of teaching material Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) bare the sameview that ESP is a methodological approach focusing on specific learners'needs and their reasons for learning that recognizes the learner’s subject-matter

expertise In short, ESP should be simply seen as an “approach” to teaching

that satisfies learners’ needs

People need to use ESP, the internationally and globally acceptedlanguage for such global transactions as accounting, aviation, medicine,technology, especially the legal field Legal English, also known as Language

of the Law (Mellinkoff, 2004), is a dispensable element contributing to thedevelopment of the legal field Legal English bears a strong resemblance toother types of ESP in that each type of ESP has its own set of technicalterminology and special syntax (Supardi, 2013) In Veretina-Chiriac’s position(2012), when it comes to legal English, it is distinctive with regard to lexical(the use of archaic words, technical terms, borrowed words, and synonyms) andsyntactic features (the use of complex sentences, passive sentences,nominalization, and third person) Such features makes legal English muchmore challenging for learners leading to the more necessity of their autonomy

in the learning process

In describing relevant theories about ESP and autonomous learning,Togo (2007) specifies that the decision to adopt an autonomous learningcurriculum initially arose in response to poor attendance and academic resultsfor a remedial English-language academic writing class applying the instructor-centered approach Another study suggests that autonomous learning classeswhere students can progress in accordance with individual learning styles mayhelp learners acquire ESP proficiency more quickly and effectively thanteacher-centered classes (Kajiura, 2006)

There are so many endeavors made by scholars to substantiate the

effectiveness of autonomous learning mode in ESP teaching and learning

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) stress the significance and role of learners indesigning and implementing the ESP course The authors even expand the

concept of self-dependence from a philosophy of teaching and learning to a

philosophy of life by citing a well-known Chinese saying (p.39):

“Give aman a fish and you feed him for a day

Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

Quoting such a saying implies that both writers strongly believe increating a life-long and self-dependent learner rather than confining thelearning process to the classroom setting Pirsl, Popovska & Prrsl (2013, p.5)

in their part argue that due to researchers’ interest shift from what to learn tohow to learn “autonomous learning is one of the basic essentials for teachingand learning ESP” As far as ESP learners are concerned, Dobrota (2009,p.511) sums up that because they are urged to master professional English, ESPlearners “need to be given necessary guidance to become autonomous learners,able to independently confront different challenges in their working

environment ”’

1.2 Related studies on Students’ Attitudes towards Autonomous Learning

in higher education institutions

Autonomous learning has attracted much attention from languageeducators and researchers in the literature Up to now, many studies have beenconducted to investigate issues related to this learning approach within theframework of higher education institutions (1.e., Breeze, 2002; Ahmadi, 2013;Selama, 2018; Conttia, 2007; Joshi, 2011; etc.)

In the educational context of Vietnam, the classroom culture ishierarchical in terms of the teacher-student relationship (Le, 1999) Vietnamesestudents are often believed to share characteristics with those in East Asiancountries influenced by Confucianism (Hoang, 2017) They are often viewed

as passive learners who depend totally on the teacher, attending the course,listening to the lectures, taking notes, and reproducing their memorizedknowledge in exams (Phan, 2013; Tran, 2013) According to Le (1999) andNguyen (2014), in most classrooms, the teacher is the knowledge provider and

students are not allowed to face the teacher directly In English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) teaching and learning in Vietnam, together with the students’passive learning style, there exist problematic issues such as large class size,

shortage of resources, and traditional teaching methods (Phan, 2013; Tran,

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2013) As a result, with regard to the factors assisting the development ofautonomous learning such as freedom, choice, and negotiation (Dang, 2010), itappears to be of utmost importance to investigate students’ attitudes towardsautonomous learning at the tertiary level in Vietnam.

Nevertheless, autonomous learning has recently received growingattention in Vietnam represented through national policies on tertiary-leveleducation reform Accordingly, it focuses on the renovation of undergraduatefrom year-based to the credit-based, the renovation of teaching methodsorienting towards developing the positiveness, self-awareness, and self-studyability of learners, and the enhancement of ESP education This reformeventually aims at using a language other than mother tongue, improving theproficiency of learner autonomy, enhancing teaching and learning quality, andmeeting the country’s demand for industrialization, modernization andinternational integration (Hoang, 2017) However, Vietnamese highereducation has applied a credit system in which students are required to relymore on themselves in learning rather than on their lecturers in the classroom.Accordingly, Le (2018) points out the problem that appears is how students areable to study independently of teachers given that they did not experience thisduring high school Thus, these can be considered favorable conditions forresearch on examining students’ attitudes towards autonomous learning inVietnamese tertiary-level contexts

Trinh (2005) focuses on learner autonomy on curriculum for EFLstudents at Can Tho University He uses a three-dimension model of planning,monitoring, and regulating to conduct his study Later, Van (2011) explores theperceptions of responsibilities and abilities relating to learner autonomypractices among non-English majors from 24 different universities acrossVietnam studying in both undergraduate and graduate education programs Theresearch identifies learners’ perceptions of their responsibilities for self-studyand any other self-motivated learning activities which students engage in both

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inside and outside the classroom Phan (2015) conducts a case study on theteachers’ and students’ understandings of language learner autonomy in terms

of attitudes, ability, and perceptions of pedagogical approaches to fosterautonomous language learning at a Vietnamese university Subsequently, Le(2018) investigates students’ learner autonomy at tertiary education in theMekong Delta, Vietnam The findings of this study confirm that all the EFLlearners revealed clear insights into learner-centered approach values To someextent, the results of such studies have also made a significant contribution toits understanding, and at the same time identifying ways to enhance learnerautonomy for Vietnamese EFL learners at the tertiary level, which, in turn, helpimprove the current situation of EFL teaching and learning at the highereducation institution in Vietnam

In short, there have been a number of studies of students’ perceptionsand practices regarding autonomous learning worldwide generally and inVietnam particularly (i.e Selama, 2018; Breeze, 2002; Conttia, 2007; Joshi,2011; Van, 2011; Phan, 2015; Le, 2018), it is noticed that the majority of thestudies have focused on understanding teachers and learners’ perspectives onautonomous learning in various contexts; yet within legal English classes atHanoi Law University context, it is not yet thoroughly studied Besides, fewstudies carried out aim to explore the activities that students engage in bothinside and outside the classroom Hence, further research needs conducting atthis institution in order to provide clearer insights about autonomous learningfrom the views of legal English-majored students, who are actually the insiders

of the autonomous ESP learning developing process

1.3 Summary

To sum up, it can be seen that by approaching the concept of autonomouslearning, the findings of the above-presented studies have contributed much tothe enhancement of the awareness of autonomous learning in the context ofVietnam higher education However, these studies are limited in scope and

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cannot be comprehensively generalized in other domestic educationinstitutions As autonomous learning is a socio-culturally driven construct(Dang, 2010) that can be interpreted diversely in different settings, there should

be research on the students’ attitudes towards autonomous learning fromoutside the classroom in higher educational ESP settings in Vietnam where thesocio-cultural conditions are different from those studied previously

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY2.1 Participants

The population in this study was 96 random senior students regardless ofgender from classes 4429 and 4430 of the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages

at Hanoi Law University The first language of all participants is Vietnameseand their foreign language is English

As aforementioned, Hanoi Law University is one of a few universities inVietnam that offers legal English courses for English-majored undergraduates.During the study process at Hanoi Law University, it is compulsory for legalEnglish majors to take basic and advanced legal English courses which providethem with requisite knowledge on various legal areas, including legal systems,criminal law, tort law, contract law, intellectual property law, contract law, etc.Moreover, the participants chosen are in their fourth year who have completedall modules of compulsory legal English courses Therefore, their responses onthe attitudes towards autonomous learning would be a reliable source ofinformation for conducting this study In addition, as the researcher is a K44English-majored student of the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages, it wasmuch more convenient to collect data from these two classes

The target population of this research paper is more than 100 fourth-yearstudents; however, only 96 participants responded to the survey questionnaireand eight students (of 96 respondents) agreed to participate in the interview.2.2 Data collection

2.2.1 Data collection instrument

This research paper aims to survey Hanoi Law University students’attitudes towards autonomous learning as well as to explore the activities these

students engage in both inside and outside the legal English classrooms at this

institution In order to address the proposed research questions, a survey

questionnaire and interview were adopted to seek quantitative and qualitative

data According to Creswell and Clark (2011), a mixed methods research design

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is a procedure for collecting, analyzing, and “mixing" both quantitative andqualitative methods in a single study or a series of studies to understand aresearch problem This approach 1s applied in an effort to provide an entireunderstanding of the aforementioned research problems.

2.2.1.1 Questionnaire

With the purpose of achieving the ultimate aims of the study, an onlinesurvey questionnaire via Google Forms was employed for data collection Thequestionnaire consisted of a list of close-ended questions to clarify therespondents’ views on autonomous learning within the context of legal Englishclasses (see Appendices)

The data collection method was used in this research paper as it hasseveral strengths as follows According to Ackroyd and Hughes (1981), theinstrument could be conducted on any number of people without posing far-reaching consequences on its genuineness Another advantage of this method

is that the speed would be faster by the way the result would be gatheredimmediately, which is time-saving Moreover, a questionnaire “tends to bemore reliable because it is anonymous, it encourages greater honesty, it iseconomical in terms of time and money, and there is the possibility that it may

be mailed” (Cohen et al., 2000, p.269) However, this method of collectingdata also has some weaknesses Accordingly, the accuracy of the answers islimited depending on the willingness to participate of the respondents As there

is no face-to-face interaction between the researchers and the participants, theauthenticity of each result is not evaluated Besides, when using this datacollection method, in case there are more questions to ask, the researchers areunable to retrace the participants after they finished the survey

The questionnaire items are divided into two main parts in which part I

enquires about the background information of the participants with two questions Part II comprising eight different questions seeks answers to the two

sub-research questions about students’ attitudes towards autonomous learning and

15

their autonomous activities in the domain of legal English classes Statements

in each question are presented with a 5-point Likert Scale that participants areexpected to indicate (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree,(5) strongly agree Among eight questions, the first question consists of twosub-questions The first one is to examine students’ views on the necessity ofautonomous learning, the remaining includes six items relating to students’general readiness for autonomous legal English learning The two nextquestions involve students’ beliefs about the teacher’s roles and the role offeedback in legal English classes; the next twenty-three items seek the answer

to students’ beliefs about their confidence in learning ability and learnerindependence; and the subsequent question with eleven different statementsinspects broader autonomous activities that students engage in their legalEnglish learning; the rest question employed to investigate students’ self-assessment in their autonomous legal English learning ability

2.2.1.2 Interview

In addition to the survey questionnaire data collection instrument, asemi-structured interview was conducted as the supplementary method in thisstudy Compared to other forms of interviews, structured and unstructuredinterviews, semi-structured interview includes some questions that not onlyhelp to define what areas to be explored but also allow the researcher to gain amore intensive viewpoint (Boyce & Neale, 2006) This approach also providesconsiderable flexibility, which allows for the discovery or elaboration ofinformation that is crucial to respondents but may not have previously beenthought of as pertinent by the research team (Gill, Stewart, Treasure et al.,2008)

The research interview’s purpose is to clarify the beliefs, viewpoints, and

experiences of individuals on particular matters Qualitative methods,

especially interviews, are believed to offer a deeper understanding of social

phenomena than would be attained from purely quantitative methods, such as

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questionnaires (Gill, Stewart, Treasure et al, 2008) Interviews are alsoappropriate for exploring sensitive topics in which participants may not want

to talk about such issues in a group environment (Gill, Stewart, Treasure et al,2008)

With the purpose of gaining profound insights into students’ attitudestowards autonomous learning in the domain of legal English classes, teninterview questions were made up

2.2.2 Data collection procedure

2.2.2.1 Data from the questionnaire

After finalizing the questionnaire, the researcher contacted theparticipants through Messenger to ask for their agreement to participate in thisphase of the research The researcher sent messages to the class monitors ofclasses 4429 and 4430 in order to ask them to deliver information about thequestionnaire Students in these two classes agreed to take part in the survey

The survey was carried out from 14th February 2023 to 28th February

2023 by sending out a Google Forms link through Messenger messages toparticipants from K44 of the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages at Hanoi LawUniversity The respondents were asked to fill out and return the questionnaireafter two weeks, which is suitable for collecting sufficient answers fromrandom samples The data was then collected and coded for the data treatment.Because all participants were legal English-majored students, the questionnaire

was carried out completely in English language

2.2.2.2 Data from the interview

Having prepared properly, the researcher contacted ten students withnoticeable answers to confirm their consent to participate in the interview;

however, only eight of these students agreed to respond Detailed information

about the time and method of communication (via both Messenger Call andface-to-face) for interviewing was provided beforehand

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Each interview took about ten to twelve minutes and the languageconducted was Vietnamese All the interviews were audio-recorded for laterdata analysis The researcher initiated every interview by briefly informing theparticipant of the purpose of this research paper and generally requested theinterviewees to be sincere, truthful, and forthcoming throughout the wholeprocess To create an open atmosphere, the researcher kept the degree offormality to the least to help the interviewees feel comfortable throughout theinterview.

2.3 Data analysis

2.3.1 Data from the questionnaire

Data gathered from 96 legal English majors, which resulted in 80%,would be deemed to be credible As data from the questionnaire was mainlystatistical, the information was presented visually in the forms of pie charts andtables to highlight the crucial points and provide an entire understanding of theresults as well After an adequate number of questionnaires were collected, eachquestionnaire was evaluated to gather the responses from the participants Inorder to display the participants’ views on autonomous learning in legal Englishclasses, the volume of answers was calculated using Microsoft Office Excel.The findings were then demonstrated in figures and tables to clearly identifythe perspectives of students

In specifics, data from the questionnaire was treated through IBM SPSSv.20 software including three main measures: Mean, Range, and StandardDeviation to release the descriptive statistics output The Mean value denotesspecifically (1.0-1.79) very low, (1.8-2.59 low, (2.6-3.39) neutral, (3.4-4.19)high, (4.2-5.0 very high)

2.3.2 Data from the interview

Data from the semi-structured interview was used to support theresearcher to gain a deeper analysis of the results obtained from the

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questionnaire The information gathered from the subsequent interview was to

be presented in the form of quotations or sayings

2.4 Summary

This chapter depicts the methods used to implement the present study.More particularly, it mentions the participants involved, the devices, and theprocedures for data collection and data analysis In this research paper, theresearcher utilized the survey questionnaire, which is considered an approach

to comprehending what research subjects convey such as perception,motivation, and action by describing in words and language and employing avariety of scientific methods (Moleong, 2010) Furthermore, interview was alsoconducted to obtain the optimal purpose of the research Finally, the results andstatistics were analyzed via IBM SPSS and Microsoft Office Excel anddisplayed in figures and tables

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CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS3.1 Students’ general readiness for legal English autonomous learning

One of the major aims of this research is to seek attitudes towardsautonomous learning of legal English majors from two classes 4429 and 4430

at Hanoi Law University As a result, the first question of the survey is toexamine their general viewpoints on the necessity of autonomous learning inlearning legal English

Figure 1 The respondents' general viewpoints on the necessity of

autonomous learning in learning legal EnglishFirst and foremost, Figure I displays that there witnessed more thanhalf of the participants believed that autonomous learning was very necessaryfor their legal English learning (56.9%) Over a quarter of the participants

supposed that this learning approach was vital likewise (26.1%) Moreover,

15.6% of the students held a neutral viewpoint on the necessity of autonomouslearning In contrast, a minority of the learners believed that autonomouslearning was unnecessary for their legal English learning Briefly, the number

of participants who supposed that autonomous learning was important

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constituted a large proportion, which indicates that most legal English majors

of classes 4429 and 4430 at Hanoi Law University initially found thatautonomous learning was necessary for them in their process of learning legalEnglish

Table 1 The participants’ beliefs on general readiness for autonomous

learning in legal English classesItems N | Mean| SD(1) If I do not learn legal English, it is my fault 96 | 4.11 | 635(2) I could learn legal English by myself 96 | 2.68 | 561

(3) I prefer legal English classes where I can decide what

96 | 2.96 | 533will be learnt

(4) I know what I want to learn in legal English courses | 96 | 3.63 | 758

(5) When I see there is something I do not understand in

96 | 2.39 | 361

my legal English courses, I stay away

(6) If I get good marks in legal English tests, I do not

96 | 2.66 | 459worry if I still have questions

Looking at Table 1., it can be seen that 2 out of 6 items receivedsubstantial mean value Specifically, there was a high rate of approval amongthe participants that the responsibility for learning resides with the learner,which experienced a considerable mean score of 4.11 Obviously, most of theparticipants initially had good awareness that learning legal English

autonomously was solely belonged to their responsibility In specifics, later

interview was conducted to identify the respondents’ readiness for autonomouslearning Interestingly, results show that students initially had certainperceptions of this kind of learning approach in legal English acquisition Oneinterviewee clarified as follows:

“From my understanding, autonomous learning in case of legal Englishstudents involves my responsibility My responsibility is to autonomously take

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charge of my learning, actively participate in all learning activities both insideand outside legal English classes to gain good results and cultivate my ability

in order to improve my skills of autonomous legal English learning as well”

Following this tendency, the statement that gained general agreementamong the respondents concerns their determination in learning legal English(M=3.63; SD=.758) Furthermore, participants declared themselves to beundeterred by things they did not understand and external assessment, forexample, good marks was not the prime motivating element in most casesduring legal English courses, with the mean values of 2.39 and 2.66respectively

Whereas all these above statements would seem to specify a degree ofreadiness for autonomous learning in legal English classes, there are also someindications to the contrary The item (2) “! could learn legal English by myself”witnessed a neutral mean score of 2.68 The most striking response, however,was the issue of student participation in deciding what is to be learned (item(3)), which stood on humble rank of the readiness (M=2.96; SD=.533) Moreparticularly, about 42% of students responded that they did not want to have apart in such decisions, while about 32% felt that they did, and 26% wereundecided This result seems to be consent to Ahmadi (2013), who exploredthat ESP learners were not willing to take part in the activity of choosing whatmaterials to utilize for learning English in their English lessons

As a result, it can be found that most legal English majors from K44 ofFaculty of Legal Foreign Languages of Hanoi Law University were on theneutral rank of readiness for autonomous learning in legal English classes Thisfindings might be considered similar to Le (2018) although the level ofagreement is not completely the same due to the difference in the teaching andlearning context In this research, the interviewees confirmed that EFL studentshad clear insights into the learner-centered approach, that is to say, they

perceived of what they should do to be EFL autonomous learners at university

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as well as they were aware of the vital role of autonomous learning in highereducation and after they graduated from the university (Le, 2018).

3.2 Students’ beliefs about the role of the teacher in legal English classesTable 2 The respondents’ beliefs about the role of the teacher in legal

English classesItems N |Mean| SD(7) I want the teacher to explain legal terms in detail 96 | 4.46 | 501

(9) The best way to learn legal English is by the teacher’s

96 | 3.42 | 593explanations

(10) I like the teacher to decide what will be taught in the

96 | 4.18 | 611next legal English lessons

(11) I like the teacher to decide what I learn outside the

i 96 | 3.51 | 635class

(12) I cannot learn legal English effectively without the

96 | 3.69 | 516supervision of the teacher

Concerning the importance of the teacher in legal English classes, Table

2 clearly discloses that the majority of participants agreed with most of theitems Specifically, the survey respondents wanted legal English classes wherethe teachers explain all legal terms in detail or they felt that without theteacher’s supervision, they could not learn legal English effectively, with thesubstantial M=4.46; SD=.501 and M=3.69; SD=.516, respectively.Additionally, the participants also found that their teachers’ responsibilities todecide what to learn in the next legal English lessons, or what they have to learnoutside the class is important since the mean values of these statements are 4.18

and 3.51 correspondingly However, in the same scenario, item (9) “The best

way to learn legal English is by the teacher’s explanations” experienced alower mean value than the other ones, which indicates that a small butsignificant percentage of the students held differing opinions regarding whether

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the best way to learn legal English efficiently is by the teacher’s explanations.However, the overall results would tend to confirm that students from twoclasses 4429 and 4430 of Hanoi Law University still depend heavily on theirteachers.

These aforementioned figures can be due to the fact that legal Englishhas often been regarded as uniquely differently from other types of ESP in thefield of language education and it requires learners to equip such extensiveknowledge relating to all legal areas Especially, legal English is considered to

be one of the most challenging for learners due to its distinct terminology(Nhac, 2022) In addition, the survey respondents are legal English studentswhose majors are not the in field of law As a result, they might not be able tocover background knowledge of Vietnamese law and English law in order tocomprehend all the legal terminology without their teachers’ instructions andsupervision And this can explain the reason why the items in Table 2 receivedsuch high mean values

Apparently, the above figures are consistent with Breeze (2002), whosestudy pointed out that students assigned their responsibility to their teachers Inthis research, students thought that they could not successfully learn a languagewithout dependence on the teacher It was students’ beliefs that the teachershould be at the center of their learning and be capable enough to plan theirlearning goals That is to say, the education these participants have received allalong their learning process might have been teacher-dominated

3.3 Students’ beliefs about the role of feedback in legal English classesTable 3 The respondents’ beliefs about the role of feedback in legal English

classesItems N | Mean | SD(13) Having my performance evaluated by the teacher is

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(14) I find it scary to having my tasks in legal English

h om 96 | 2.84 | 632lessons evaluated by the teacher

(15) I find it embarrassing to talk to the teacher about my

96 | 3.12 | 570progress after a legal English module

(16) I have my own ways of testing how much I have

96 | 2.78 | 745learnt after each legal English lesson

As noticed from Table 3., the outcomes demonstrate that four statementsreceived significantly different mean values, ranging from 2.78 to 4.56.Undoubtedly, statement (13) “Having my performance evaluated by theteacher is helpful” ranks on the highest preference (M=4.56; SD=.494) whichshows that the role of the teacher’s feedback plays a crucial part in therespondents’ legal English learning A student from class 4429 mentioned inthe interview that:

“T think having my performance assessed by my lecturer is useful for mylegal English learning because it can help me know what my strengths andweaknesses are so that I can keep enhancing my strong points and avoidmaking the same errors next time.”

Moreover, participants held a neutral point of view that it is embarrassing

to share their progress with the teacher after a legal English module (M=3.12).This result is consent to Conttia (2007), who found that 32.6% of therespondents were undecided that whether they got uncomfortable or ashamed

of discussing their progress with the instructors

Notably, the two statements (14) and (16) experienced relatively samemean scores of 2.84 and 2.78 specifying that the participants gave theresponsibility of evaluating and testing their performances to the teacher.Clarifying their position, interviewees show their viewpoints in the subsequentinterview as below:

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“In legal English lessons, I prefer all of my tasks assessed by my lecturer

as they have a huge professional knowledge about legal English, and theircomments are more reliable Especially, if I make errors during legal Englishlessons, I want the teacher to correct me right away”

Or “7 have problems with testing how much I have gained through legalEnglish classes I prefer my lecturers to comment on my work, give mecorrective feedback during class, which helps me consolidate my legal Englishskills Moreover, I can learn from the ways how the teachers evaluate my tasks

so that I can apply them to my autonomous learning.”

Apparently, the obtained results reveal that students tend to lean on theteachers’ roles concerning giving performance feedback or providingassessment The reason for this could be due to the fact that the students might

be influenced by the traditional Vietnamese teaching method in which teachersplay the role of knowledge provider as well as the controller of the learningenvironment while students serve as passive receivers of knowledge (Nhac,2022) These statistics might also be found in the findings of Selama (2018) Inthis research, students’ responses to the survey that reflected students’perceptions about the role of feedback in class showed their beliefs in theteacher as an external source of feedback More specifically, the majority ofrespondents concurred that they need the teacher to tell them how they wereprogressing as well as they did not get embarrassed when talking to the teacherabout their performances Also, there were only a minority of students self-monitor their language acquisition, which emphasized a high degree of theimportance of the teacher in class However, in this study, the author alsosignified that “the students’ agreement need not necessarily be associated with

dependence on the teacher Rather, it could reflect an understanding of the

importance of monitoring progress and a recognition of the assistance ateacher can provide in that process” (Selama, 2018, p.194)

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3.4 Students’ beliefs about about their confidence in learning ability inlegal English classes

Table 4 The respondents’ beliefs about their confidence in learning ability in

legal English classes

Items N | Mean| SD

(19) I prefer individual work in each activity at legal

96 | 2.57 | 624English class

(21) I know how to study legal English well 96 | 3.16 | 517

(22) I know how well I am learning legal English 96 | 3.21 | 763

23) lam responsible for planning my own legal English

(3) P P om 5 5 96 | 4.29 | 698learning

(24) I feel self-conscious making presentations in front

96 | 3.88 | 785

of other students in legal English lessons

(25) I know how to memorize all legal terms effectively | 96 | 3.07 | 813

(27) I have the ability to write a legal memo accurately | 96 | 2.42 | 560

(28) I could finish every legal reading tasks without

96 | 2.94 | 682others’ instructions

(29) I apply my legal vocabulary learning skill to

improve legal listening skill by clarifying and| 96 | 2.81 | 531paraphrasing ambiguous terms

(31) I like to ask the teacher critical questions 96 | 4.39 | 486

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