Khóa luận tốt nghiệp: Investigating legal english major student’ autonomy in utilizing the internet resources for legal english learning in the age of industry 4.0

The findings illuminate the obstacles which students encounter, and propose recommendations to enhance their leaming experience This research contributes valuable insights to educators a

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN LAN NHI

453250

INVESTIGATING LEGAL ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENT’ AUTONOMY IN UTILIZING THE

INTERNET RESOURCES FOR LEGAL ENGLISH

LEARNING IN THE AGE OF INDUSTRY 4.0

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NGUYEN LAN NHI

453250

INVESTIGATING LEGAL ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENT’ AUTONOMY IN UTILIZING THE

INTERNET RESOURCES FOR LEGAL ENGLISH

LEARNING IN THE AGE OF INDUSTRY 4.0

NGHIEN CỨU VE TÍNH TU CHU CUA SINH VIÊN NGANH NGON NGU ANH TRONG VIỆC KHAITHAC NGUON TAI NGUYEN INTERNET PHUC VU CHO VIEC HOC TIENG ANH

PHAP LY TRONG THOI DAI CONG NGHIEP 4.0

Major: Legal English

STUDENT DECLARATION

Thereby state that I Nguyen Lan Nhi — ID 453250, 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 im the

Itbrany

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in

the iibrany should be accessible jor the purposes of study and research in

accordance with the normal conditions established by the itbrartan for the

care, loan or reproduction ofthe paper

‘Supervisor's confirmation Researcher's signature

‘Vu Van Tuan, PhD ‘Nguyen Lan Nii

ii

Completing a thesis is not a solitary endeavor I am grateful for the

support, encouragement, feedback, and comfort provided by numerous

individuals who deserve recognition

‘The researcher extends heartfelt appreciation to the generous and

individuals whose invaluable assistance and support have transformed abstract,

and complex ideas into the tangible work presented here, While countless

others have contributed to this research, space and time constraints permit the

acknowledgment of only a select few Nevertheless, their contributions are

deeply cherished and will forever remain etched in the researcher's memory

and heart

Aboveall, I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to Dr Vu Van Tuan, my

supervisor, for his steadfast support and mentorship during the course of this

research His invaluable guidance, astute insights, and constructive feedback

have playeda pivotal role in shaping this dissertation Iam deeply appreciative

of his patience, generosity, and unwavering encouragement throughout this

joumey

T would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the faculty members and

staff at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Law University Their

unwavering dedication to the pursuit of Imowledge through teaching and

research has served as a constant source of inspiration for me Throughout my

academic joumey, their support, guidance, and encouragement have been

invaluable, shaping my growth and development as a student

Furthermore, Iam deeply appreciative of the unwavering love, support,

and encouragement provided by my family Their belief in my abilities has

been the driving force behind my academic achievements, and Iam profoundly

grateful for their unwavering presence in my life

iii

Last but certainly not least, I extend my heartfelt thanks to my friends

and classmates, whose companionship have been a source of strength and

‘motivation throughout my studies Their encouragement, assistance, and

support have made the academic joumey more enjoyable and rewarding

In conclusion, Iam indebted to all those who have supported me on this

graduation thesis Without their guidance, encouragement, and unwavering

belief in my abilities, completing this graduation thesis would not have been

possible

iv

Inthe age of Industry 4 0, the utilization of Internet resources for leamning has

become increasingly prevalent, particularly in the field of legal English

education This study delvesinto the realm ofleamer autonomy among students

‘majoring in legal English at Hanoi Law University, focusing specifically on

their utilization of intemet resources for legal-English leaming Through a

mixed-methods approach involving surveys and interviews, data were gathered

from 71 representative students enrolled in K46 and K47 courses The study

investigated students’ perceptions, challenges, and strategies\related to

‘autonomous legal English learning The findings illuminate the obstacles which

students encounter, and propose recommendations to enhance their leaming

experience This research contributes valuable insights to educators and

policymakers in the field of legal English education, providing guidance for

optimizing the use of intemet resources in fostering leamer autonomy in legal

English leaning Thisresearch isalso helpful for teachers, leamers, and anyone

involved in legal English education, giving them ideas on how to use the

Intemet to help students leam better on their own,

1 Rationale for study

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

2.1, Aims of the study

2.2 Objectives of the study

3 Research Questions

4 Scope of the Study

5) Significance of the Study

6 Methodology

7 Structure of the Study

PART II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Legal English

1.1 The overview of legal English

1.2 Legal English in learning and teaching process

2.2 Research question restated

CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DICUSSION

3.1 Demographic information of the respondents

3.3 Theanalysis of challenges encountered by students while learning

‘egal English online through self-study methods

3.3) The analysis of toolsimethods to improve leamer autonomy in

studying legal English online

3.4 The analysis of the online tools and resources deemed most

'beneficial for leaming legal English

3.5 The analysis of the satisfaction of students with the availability of

online resources for legal English leaning

3.6, The analysis of students’ semi-structured interviews regarding

their experiences with leaming legal English online

3.7 The analysis on the engagement of students in online discussions

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1: Projfies ofthe respondents involving tn the study 19

Table 2: Difficuities students may face when studying legal ”

English online without supervisor

Table 3: Tools/methods to traprove the anfonomy in learning legal 26

English online

Table 4: Most beneficial tools for students when learning legal 30

English online

Table 5: The satisfaction of the availability of online resources ` 31

Table 6: Stowmarized analysis of students’ semi-structured 33

interviews (manipulated by NVivo)

Table 7: Table of Participation Assessment Hà

ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HLU Hanoi Law University

ESP English for Specific Purposes

GE General English

EAP English for Academic Purposes

LMS ‘Leaming Management System

PART I INTRODUCTION

This part provides the context of the research by explaining the rationale,

aims of the study, research questions, significance, and scope of the study,

along with the structure of the paper

1 Rationale for study

In today’s modem society, the Internet is considered an indispensable

part of human life In the age of Industry 4.0, online resources are much more

influential in assisting students to promote their self-study abilities in different

subjects such as learning foreign languages, especially English In other words,

the utilization of online resources enables students to improve their

autonomous leaming activities (Bui & Vu, 2018) Many researchers (e.g, Vu,

2018; Almarwaey, 2017) have investigated the accessibility and ability to use

social networking sites in utilizing Intemet resources for English leaming of

the students The results have indicated that the level of English language

leaming autonomy of leamers seems to be positive at the high level and

students tend to show their abilities to do well if they are given opportunities to

encourage their use of intemet resources for their autonomous learning

purposes Although there are many studies (e g, Bui & Vu, 2018; Molnar &

Fields, 2004, Vu & Hoang, 2020) conducting research on leamer autonomy in

exploiting the Intemet resources, English for specific purposes (ESP) in

different fields suchas business, commerce, foreign trade, medical services, or

particularly legal English study have not been given proper attention

‘After examining numerous articles, Dryden (2023) states “Autonomy

is an individual's capacity for self-determination or self-governance” Thus,

1eemer autonomy can be defined as self-study - a method of learning where

leamers take charge of their studying outside of the classroom, without

supervision, This allows students to take control of how, what, when, and

where they leem, and manage the speed and timing of their learning

1

Furthermore, leamers can assess what information they need, find the

resources to supplement their learning, and complete assessments at their

own pace

Leamers with the self-study leaming method have a chance to focus

‘more on areas that interest them the most or that they understand better

‘Moreover, this 1eeming method helps leamers reduce the feelings of frustration

oranaiety they may undergo withina classroom setting Leamer autonomy also

plays an important role in improving student's insights into language learning

‘These days, with the ongoing development of Intemet applications, Learning

Management Systems (LMS) (¢g, Moodle, ATutor, Moodle, Blackboard,

Google Classroom, Canvas by Instructure) come with adequate tools that allow

students to be vigilant of their assessment performance with insightful data and

instant notifications about test scores after finishing their tests and these

facilities avail mostly free of charge Besides, in addition to helping students

focus on their favourite areas and giving students an insight into language

1eaming, self-study is also creating an opportunity for leamers to try things out,

handling problems from different perspectives, and taking initiative in their

time management Because self-study or autonomy requires a lifelong process

and contains lots of struggles while leaming, leamers not only have high

accessibility with the self-study method, but they also actively engage with

whatever they want to achieve and develop a sense of accountability to comply

with personal rules to become experts in a particular field

In the long-term process of promoting leamer autonomy in studying

legal English, it is necessary for legal English major students to benefit from

online resources As claimed by Vu and Hoang (2020), students develop the

habit of autonomous language 1 ming using Internet resources for their

learning, they are likely to be more successful in the era of Industry 4.0

Kemp (2023) asserts that the Intemet facilities in Vietnam can meet the

demand ofaccessingall sources that can support English leamers even those

who have little chances to use English frequently In addition, the resources

that leemers can exploit for legal English learning on the Intemet are

virtually limited The Internet can be used for educational purposes in many

ways, including research, online courses, collaborative learning, virtual

tours, language leaming, test preparation, and time management and

organization For instance, students can use the Internet to research and read

the works that have already been done according to their areas of research,

and they can use it for building relationships These days, with the

development and convenience of online learning platforms, students can

create relationships with educationists around the world through online

applications or websites in just one click, which enables them to havea wider

knowledge about the research areas, discuss things from different

perspectives, and connect with foreigners

Leaming legal English requires students’ patience, perseverance, and

eagemess to leamas Legal English leamersare expected to have the knowledge

and deep understanding of its terms or their meaning in a particular context

Since English legalese is mown for its professionalism, complexity, and

vagueness for leamers in general, autonomy is believed to be one of the

efficient ways to improve the Legal English leaming level In the same vein,

Jasmina and Biljana (2014) are typically the two scholars conducting a study

on the autonomy of students in the use of digital resources in a legal English

course They conclude that if the students are gradually instructed on how to

search and use online resources more and more independently, they would leam

how to select the proper sources and use them autonomously in their writing

‘They claim that the obstacles students must face when using the Intemet as a

‘main tool for studying legal English are the shortage of their strategies on how

to search and use the Intemet in the most efficient ways As a result, students

tend to surrender their responsibilities to their teachers, which often leads to

3

their demotivation of autonomous performance Legal English is considered

difficult to understand even for native speakers because 0fits archaic linguistic

features Therefore, students may experience such difficulties in leaming legal

English when there is no supervisor or particular instruction As mentioned

before, legal English has its own linguistic features, which possibly causes a

misunderstanding in legal terms for leamers The main reasons are English

legal terms based on context, understandings, and cultures, and there is no such

thing as called “universal legal language” Butler (2013) articulates that most

teachers of legal English are language teachers, not legal experts

Consequently, students and teachers may encounter plenty of challenges in

1eaming and teaching legal English

Although leamer autonomy in acquiring legal English is a remarkable

research field for many people, there is still a lack of empirical studies on this

aspect in terms of legal English study So far, legal English is still challenging

for both lay people and experts on law due to its complexity Because of that,

this study aimed to investigate the general view of leamer autonomy of legal

English major students on utilizing Internet resources for legal English learning

in order to clarify how legal English major students can take advantage of

Intemet resources to improve their leaming On account of this, school

administrators, teachers, students, and those who are concemed about the

application of the Intemet for leaming can have a deeper insight into the

practical use of Intemet resources for educational purposes and what challenges

students must confront when using the self-study methods for legal English

Jeaming in the age of Industry 4.0

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

The study examines the legal English major student's autonomy for

studying under these aims

- To investigate the ability and accessibility of legal English major

students in utilizing the Internet resources for studying

- To discover the student's difficulties and propose solutions

2.2 Objectives of the stuiy

- To conduct a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to

identify what difficulties students are facingand how they improve their leamer

autonomy in learning legal English

- To analyze the primary data and compare the factors that most

significantly impact students' leaming of Legal English online through

self-study methods

3 Research questions

Generally, the study aimed to determine the challenges and solutions in

‘autonomous learning Legal English at Hanoi Law University with the intention

of laying the groundwork for suggesting effective strategies to enhance Legal

English proficiency

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1 What difficulties do legal English major students encounter while

utilizing internet resources for self-study language learning?

2 Which tools or methods are predominantly utilized by legal English

‘major students for autonomous leaning of legal English via the Intemet?

3 What strategies can legal English major students employ to enhance

their autonomy in learning legal English?

4 Scope of the study

‘The research investigates the perspectives of 71 legal English students

enrolled in K46 and K47 courses to identify challenges and suggest

enhancements for autonomous Legal English online learning

5 Significance of the study

‘The findings ofthis study would provide valuable insights and references

for ESP language educators, researchers, and leamers involving in ESP

language learning and teaching with an aim to improve the effectiveness of

autonomous leaming methods, particularly in legal English Additionally, these

findings may encourage educational institutions to adjust their curricula to meet

the growing demand for legal English proficiency among graduates

6 Methodology

The research utilized a mixed-methods approach, incorporating both

quantitative and qualitative methodologies, to categorize into the challenges

and leaming methodologies of legal English students’ engagement in online

legal English studies Data collection was conducted through two primary

methods: a researcher-designed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews

The questionnaire was crafted to elicit responses regarding respondents’

perceptions of the difficulties encountered during their legal English language

leaming process, while the semi-structured interviews provided a platform for

in-depth exploration of students' subjective viewpoints and experiences

The information collected was carefully analyzed to find important

insights By lookingat both statistics and people's perspectives, the study hoped

to find strong and trustworthy results, These findings would serve as the

foundation for drawing conclusions and formulating recommendations aimed

at improving the efficacy of online legal English teaching and leaming

methodologies

7 Structure of the study

‘The study comprises three main parts, organized as follows:

The first part, Introduction, consists of research’s rationale, aims,

research questions, scope, methodology, and the importance of the study are

put forward

The second part, Development, is subdivided into the following

categories

Chapter 1 The Literature Review, specifies theoretical foundation and

explores related research on autonomous leaming and the utilization of intemet

resources by Legal English Major students

Chapter 2 Methodology provides details of the data collection

instruments, procedures of data collection and procedures of data analysis —

conducted at HLU,

Chapter 3 Results and Discussion illustrate the detailed results of the

survey; in specific, students’ difficulties and their leaming methodsis analyzed

Chapter 4 Recommendations are put forward to tackle the challenges

impacting students' autonomous leaming of Legal English at Hanoi Law

University

The final section, Conclusion, provides a summary of the study's results

and highlights any limitations encountered during the research process

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

As previously mentioned, identifying efficient study methods is essential

for students leaming legal English This section delves into the theoretical

framework, focusing on leamer autonomy in studying legal English through

the utilization of the Intemet, as well as the challenges associated with it

1 Legal English

LL The overview of Legal English

Legal English has always been challenging to both teachers and students

because of its distinctive features It has been widely used by lawyers or Legal

professionals in their wore Although it is regarding challenging to leam, itis

important for anyone who works in the field of law Currently, there isa huge

number of resources available to help people leam legal English, including

textbooks, online resources, and dictionaries

According to some Legal English Blogs and Forums, there are some

features concerning legal English as follows

+ Legal English is not a separate language from English It is simply a

register of English that is used in a specific context,

+ Legal English is constantly evolving New words and phrases are added

to the language all the time, as the law changes and new legal concepts

are developed;

+ Legal English can vary depending on the jurisdiction For example, legal

English used in the United States may differ from legal English used in

the United Kingdom

12 Legal English in the learning process

12.1 Inlearning process

Leaming legal English can pose several challenges for students, as it

involves mastering a specialized form of languages that is used in the legal

profession In the opinion of Nhac (2022), the transfer of meaning and

interference between the source language and the target language in the legal

English field creates major obstacles for both teachers and leamers because it

is quite difficult to cope with lawand language simultaneously Unlike general

English, in legal English, the meaning of the word must fit the context which

is mentioned in the text In this case, students have to concentrate on not only

general English but also legal vocabulary and the understanding of the native

legal system

The main difficulty of legal English as a subject lies in the specific

language repertoire (Nhac, 2022) Legal English is full of terminology, rich

vocabulary, and collocations (Auära & David, 2011) Beinga law student, one

‘might comeacross various challenges Thisis because leamers haveto consider

many things while searching for the right instructors and the right platform to

prove their legal language (Hany, 2012)

2 Learner Autonomy

According to Srinivas (2019), who claims that

“English is the only language that is used in almost all fields, such as

science and technology, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, education, tourism,

entertainment, information and technology, business, trade and commerce, the

intemet, employment, to namea few Asa language, English attains the global

status and it is used to serve various purposes, p 7.”

This means leamers studying English are required some specific

qualities to improve their language Among them is leamer autonomy — an

important value which is expected to be present in any English language as it

1) In Duong’s (2021)

opinion, autonomy helps students develop self-awareness, self-efficacy, andcan have positive effects on their leaming (Duong,

motivation, which are crucial for successful language leaming, Furthermore,

teachers play a significant part in promoting leamer autonomy by providing

guidance and support Leamer autonomy also prepares students for the

changing educational landscape, where technology and online platforms serve

as significant factors Nevertheless, there is a lack of leaming and teaching

methods by both teachers and students depending on the effectiveness of

autonomy among students Many studies (Foen et al 2012, Smith et al 2018)

point out the benefits of leamer autonomy; nonetheless, they have not

investigated patently howto direct an individual’ sleaming methods However,

shifting the language instruction from teachers to students is not an easy task

in reality because of the influence of traditional teaching practices

Many scholars (e.g, Smith et al., 2018, Nuray, 2015; Yunus & Hur,

2020) have been attracted by the notion of leamer autonomy, which leads to

numerous studies on leaming methods over the last decade Having the same

opinion as Duong (2021), Liu (2015) defines autonomy as a construct

comprising three components: a sense of responsibility, engagement in leaming

activities, and perceived ability As such, leamers need to be prepared

effectively for their future careers It is true that if leamers have the ability to

‘manage their own leaming, they will be better prepared and accomplish

leaming with ease Within this context of education, the role of leamer

‘autonomy has become one of the prominent themes in teaching and learning

due to its influence on helping leamers reach their potential (Yunus & Hur,

2020) Additionally, leamer autonomy is a significant factor which might

impact the language leaming process It is important to point out that helping

leamers to become independent leamers is considered crucial in language

education However, according to Benson's opinion (2012), leamer autonomy

isa difficult principle for teachers to accept, largely because it encompasses the

idea either the ‘teacher’ fimction includes deciding content and methods of

leaming, or more generally, a ‘teacher’ isa person who “Imows best’ in regard

to student leeming It also appears to be a difficult principle within the

philosophy of autonomy itself, where constraints on behavioural autonomy are

often legitimized by considerations of ‘paternalism’ Researchers (Duong,

2021; Nuray, 2015) also found out that many approaches have been suggested

10

to foster leamer autonomy, such as encouraging leamers to plan and follow

their own leaming paths Leamer autonomy prepares students for the changing

educational landscape, where technology and online platforms play a

significant role

Overall, leamer autonomy empowers students to takce ownership of their

leaming journey and develop the necessary sills for lifelong language learning

along with the assistance of teachers/professionals

3 Internet utilization

‘As a growing trend in the world, intemet-based research has become

vital in one's daily life The intemet use by students has increased dramatically

in recent years and surfing the intemet has become an important part of general

student life (Mũjgan & Seda, 2015, p 895-904) The Intemet provides a wide

range of information which helps in increasing human knowledge

Besides, “The rationale for internet utilization for academic and research

purposes stems from the benefits derived, suchas free access to online joumals,

magazines, and other infomation resources It has been theorized (ie,

technology acceptance model) that the perceived usefulness or perceived utility

is the major rationale for the acceptance of technological devices such as the

Intemet,p 2.” (Oberiri & Timothy 2018) The present generation is also

well-updated with the frequent use of the Intemet for information and

communication in their daily life In this regard, the utilization of the Intemet

is not only considered one of the most efficient resources for students and

teachers for academic purposes but also improves the quality of education over

conventional teaching methods

Gurunathan (2017) articulates that Internet facilities in many universities

have increased because the usage of the Internet by students for a wide variety

of academic purposes also increases Besides academic purposes, the Intemet

plays an important role in communication for academic purposes and personal

uses In recent decades, research evidence has shown that the advances in

"

information technology and the development of computers have affected

student approaches to research and leaming in the contemporary higher

educational settings

‘An earlier study conducted by Joanne and Michael (2013) on students

from three universities across the US established that mobile computing device

usage provided opportunities for interaction, and collaboration, as well as

allowed them to engage in content creation and communication The study by

Gurunathan (2017) indicates the Intemet usage has increased due to computer

technology, and usage habits change accordingly A study by Rajab and Baqain

(2005) states that 72% of the students have access to computers at home

Contrary to Gurunathan’s study (2017), only 67.2% of students access

computers at home As well, students show interest in using the Intemet more

for their personal use than academic purposes, and also more for

communication than searching for information (Gurunathan, 2017) Ilo and

Ifjeh (2010) indicate that the quality of a students’ research and leaming are

largely dependent on the quality, quantity, and current Intemet resources,

which leads to a positive outcome for students in leaming legal English A

study by Oberiri and Timothy (2018) has supported that the Intemet utilization

is most prevalent among younger, educated individuals, in which people in

emerging and developing nations say that the increasing use of the internet has

been a good influence in the realms of education, personal relationships, and

the economy so far A study by Mojaye (2015) conducted among Nigerian

students, his study has identified the positive effects of mobile use for education

to include easy access to information, instructional usage, and personal

convenience In addition, using the Intemet on their mobile phones enables

them to search andaccessacademicinformation instantly (Philomina & Abiola,

2015)

Hence, itis essential for teachers to motivate students to use the Intemet

for more academic purposes Thus, there is a need for a study to investigate

n

how students in this region find ways to make use of the Internet to facilitate

their studies

3B

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter focuses on achieving the data collection by using research

methods and techniques The chapter presents the research design, restates

research questions, shares participant information, and serves as the research

roadmap This is followed by a discussion of the method used for collecting

data, and the data collection procedure and data analysis are clarified to get the

research results

2.1 Research design

‘The mixed-methods research focused on a cross-sectional analysis of

104 representative legal English major students enrolling in courses K46 and

K47 at Hanoi Law University (HLU) Although the study population comprised

approximately 315 Legal English major students at HLU, the constraints

related to time and budget prevented the researcher from interviewing the entire

population; therefore, a sample of 104 respondents was selected using simple

sampling method (Slovin's formula) The active Google form link was used to

implement the questionnaire, which was emailed to the participants’ addresses

within two weeks The study involved conducting semi-structured interviews

with 15 student participants over the phone Their consent was obtained and

recorded solely for the purpose of transcribing their responses for this research

Following that, the IBM SPSS v.25 application was utilized to analyze the

questionnaire data, while the NVivo application v.12 was employed to analyze

the interview recordings By integrating the outcomes from these two sources,

the researcher strengthened the validity of the research findings

2.2 Research question restated

To orient the study, the following questions should be clarified in order

to specify the autonomy in learning legal English of the legal English major

students at HLU

4

1 What difficulties do legal English major students encounter while

utilizing internet resources for self-study language learning?

3 Which tools or methods are predominantly utilized by legal English

‘major students for autonomous leaming of legal English via the Intemet?

3 What strategies can legal English major students employ to enhance

their autonomy in learning legal English?

23 Participants

The students who participated in the study were chosen from two

courses from Legal English major students at HLU, specifically courses K46

and K47 These courses include Advanced Legal English modulss 1 and 2 as

mandatory subjects Course K46 consisted of 122 undergraduate students,

while K47 comprised 193 sophomores To select samples from the large

population, the researcher utilized the random sampling technique and applied

Slovin's formula with a margin of error (e) set at £5% This approach ensured

the equivalent sampling from each course The sample size “n” can be found

by the following formula:

: N

Ee

n=number of samples

N-=total population

error margin / margin of error

The results showed that 77 Legal English major students out of 122

were chosen from courses K46, while K47 is 99 out of 193 participants Intotal,

176 individuals agreed to complete the survey questionnaire, anda group of 20

students agreed to participate in semi-structured interviews To conclude, the

research involved 196 legal English major students at HLU

2.4, Research instrument

15

The survey questionnaire consists of 36 statements, categorized into

two groups: one addressing the difficulties students may encounter when using

the Intemet for leaming Legal English, and the other offering suggestions for

improvement The researcher referred to documentary sources to investigate

the challenges faced by legal English leamers and potential solutions to

enhance their autonomy Subsequently, a number of common difficulties and

corresponding solutions were identified and presented in a table using a

five-point Likert scale For the question regarding the clarification of individual

difficulties, 17 statements were generated The participants were expected to

indicate (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree, and (5)

strongly agree for each statement In addition to inquiring about students’

leaming methods, the researcher also provided 19 typical statements outlining

strategies to enhance student autonomy Concurrently with administering the

questionnaire, 5 semi-structured questions were posed to 20 leamers, randomly

varying in number The questionnaires were initially developed intemally and

then forwarded to the supervisor, who specializes in Legal English, for content

validation The researcher kept the statements based on the confidence level

range (a= 0.77 ~ 0.96, Cronbach, 1951) The final survey included two survey

questionnaires The first questionnaire consists of 7 items, the second

questionnaire includes 5 items For semi-structured interviews with students, 5

interview questions for students were chosen Ultimately, the final versions

were retumed to the experts for another round of review and validation of

liability

2.5 Procedures of data collection

Following the necessary preparations and obtaining permission for the

research instruments, the study was conducted using a Google form online

survey questionnaire, which was sent randomly to the participants A phone

mumber is added in case respondents have any other questions The

16

questionnaire included clear instructions, outlined the study's objectives and

relevance, ensured anonymity, and allowed participants to withdraw from the

study if desired The responders were requested to retum the questionnaire

within two weeks of receiving the researcher's email Additionally, participants

who agreed to take part in the semi-structured interview provided their

responses privately, with each interview lasting approximately ten minutes

‘The required data was then processed by the applications NVivo v.12 for the

interview recordings and IBM SPSS v.25 for the questionnaire

Out of the total 176 participants in the recent survey, the researcher

selected 71 individuals with valid responses, forming the dataset utilized for

analysis and interpretation This included 51 students for the survey

questionnaires and 20 students for the semi-structured interview questions The

primary reason for this selection was the failure of some respondents to submit

their responses within the researcher's specified deadline, rendering their

submissions invalid

2.6 Data analysis

The data collected was organized, tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted

using descriptive statistics Specifically, frequency counts and percentages

were utilized to present the profile of the respondents Descriptive statistics

were also applied to address Likert-scale statements in order to determine

‘means and standard deviations relevant to the interval scales, such as: strongly

disagree/almost never (1.0 - 180), disagree/seldom (181 - 260),

neutral/sometimes (2.61 - 340), agree/frequently (3.41 - 4.20), and strongly

agreefalways (4.21 - 5.0) To ensure the reliability of the qualitative data, the

NVivo v 12 application was utilized to analyze the frequency of occurrence of

respondents! perspectives in the semi-structured interviews

2.7 Conclusion

a

This second chapter outlines the research design, research questions,

data collection instrument, participants' profile, data collection procedures, and

data analysis It concludes that a questionnaire is appropriate for data collection

within a quantitative study Statistical tools, such as the IBM SPSS application

V.25 and NVivo 12, were used for analyzing the collected data

In short, this chapter sets the stage for the next chapter to present the

study's results and prompt further discussion

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CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DICUSSION

This chapter presents an in-depth analysis of the data gathered from the

questionnaire survey The findings are meticulously scrutinized and discussed,

with comparisons drawn to previous studies to offer a nuanced and

comprehensive understanding of the topic at hand

3.1 Demographic information of the respondents

Table 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the demographic

characteristics of the respondents who participated in the study Among the

respondents, the respondents consist of 24 female students, representing 47.1%

of the total sample, while 22 respondents are male students, accounting for

43.1% Out of the respondents, 5 individuals chose not to reveal their genders

Regarding the specific courses they are all legal English major students, 32

students, corresponding to 62.7% of the total, are in K47 legal English major,

whereas 19 students, making up 37.3% of the sample, belong to the K46 legal

English major In total, 51 students provided valid responses for the research,

contributing to the dataset utilized for analysis and interpretation

Table 1 Projties of the respondents involving tn the study

K47 3 627

Total 51 100.0

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3.2 The analysis of challenges encountered by students while learning

Legal English online through self-study methods

Table 2 presents a comprehensive overview of the common challenges

encountered by students when studying legal English online

Asinterpreted in Table 2, all the challenges mentioned by the researcher

were evaluated by the students at the level of neutral/sometimes encountered

(2.61-3.40) This result indicates that students do not encounter any specific

challenge that predominantly appears in the process of studying legal English

online Among the challenges encountered by students when studying Legal

English, as depicted in Table 2 below, the most significant mean value is

attributed to the statement "Finding reliable legal English resources online can

be difficult," registering at 3.16 with a standard deviation of 606% This

indicates that one of the foremost difficulties faced by studentsis the challenge

of locating trustworthy materials for legal English leaming without the

guidance of an instructor The statement "Identifying and addressing gaps in

legal English knowledge without instructor guidance" and "Identifying credible

sources and avoiding misinformation in legal English materials" both received

a mean score of 314, with standard deviations of 832% and 820%

respectively, placing them in the second highest position in Table 2 This

indicates that students somehow perceive these aspects as significant

challenges in their legal English leaming joumey The first statement pertains

to recognizing areas of deficiency in understanding legal English concepts and

independently addressing them without teacher assistance The second

statement involves the critical task of điscerning reliable sources of information

for legal English study while avoiding misleading or inaccurate content

Students sometimes find it challenging to locate interactive and engaging legal

English leaming resources online, as evidenced by M'= 3.04 and SD = 0.731%

Additionally, they somewhat encounter difficulties in assessing their leaming