MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOI LAW UNIVERSITY DINH THI DOAN TRANG 442952 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN READING LEGAL ENGLISH DOCUMENTS -A CASE ST
LITERATURE RIEEVIEỀYM SH 90990 6
Popular types of legal English documents read by English majors
Figure 3 Popular types of legal English documents read by English majors.
As presented in Figure 3, the majority of students read codes and laws most often with the highest percentage at 40.9% Also the rate of other types like
“precedent/case law’, “contract and will”, and “constitution” made up significant proportions in the figure, which were 23.7%, 12.2% and 14.7%, respectively.
On the contrary, “international treaties/ conventions” was the least frequently read by legal English majors, with only 8.5% It can be supported by answers in the semi-structured interview, in particular, three of six interviewees claim that:
“T read code and law the most often” (Student 1).
“T read code the most often, and I also read laws and contracts if it helps me get better understood about legal issues that I have to deal with in my assignment” (Student 5).
“T read Legal English documents for studying purposes so what I read most often are code and laws, constitution, and contracts” (Student 6).
In short, the most frequent read legal documents among legal English maJored at HƯU are Codes and Laws, precedent or case law, Constitution, Contract andWill because of their course requirement.
Students’ viewpoint of the necessity of reading Legal English
Figure 4 7e respondent’s viewpoint of the importance of reading Legal
English documents Apparently, Figure 4 displays that there are more than half of the respondents believed that reading Legal English documents was important (51.6%) In contrast, it was followed by the choices, namely “not important’,
“slightly important’, and “moderately important” with 2.5%, 5.7%, and 1.6%, respectively Likewise, the option “very important” is considered the choice with a high percentage, making up exactly 38.5% (47) In particular, two interviewees stated that:
“In my opinion, reading documents in learning legal English is important Because in the phrase "legal English" has already included 2 parts:
"English" and "legal" Reading legal documents in English will help improve understanding of legal issues, then learning legal English will become easier ” (Student 2).
“Reading legal documents will help me improve my knowledge of legal vocabulary, legal structures as well as relevant information in the legal field At the same time, constant and regular access to legal documents in English will help me have a better and more effective reading habit, improve the quality of information gathered from reading as well as apply previous knowledge” (Student 4).
In a nutshell, a large number of students are aware of the necessity of reading Legal English documents in learning Legal English.
3.2 Difficulties in reading Legal English documents.
First and foremost, to perform a detailed analysis, the researcher tabulated the findings of the survey questionnaire and divided them into three tables These tables are named Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4 with difficulties from legal vocabulary barriers, legal grammar barriers and legal knowledge barriers, respectively Furthermore, before digging deeper into the parts of interpreting the treated data, the researcher will take the Mean score and Std Deviation into consideration It can be noticed from all the tables below that the Std Deviation of 15 Likert items ranging from 502 to 966 clearly shows a strong variation amongst learners' options Besides, based on the conversion of Mean scores into equivalent Descriptive values, fifteen statements were divided into three groups. Nine out of fifteen Likert items fall into the description response of “Agree”, namely 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 14 In addition, while only the fifteenth item is
“neutral”, the response “strongly agree” consists of five remain statements,namely 2, 5, 7, 11, and 13.
Table 2 Students’ difficulties from Legal vocabulary barriers
1 Legal documents contain common words, but I| 122 | 4.16 629 cannot guess their meaning in legal contexts.
2 Archaic words (e.g., aforesaid, beforementioned, | 122 | 4.23 668 hereinafter) are often used in legal context.
3 Nominalisation in Legal documents prevents me | 122 | 3.79 538 from understanding comprehensively.
4 It is too hard to understand legal jargon which is 122 | 3.53 717 range from near-slang to almost technically precise words.
5 I find it hard to understand adequately the Latin| 122 | 4.42 sine terms (e.g.,bona fide, casus fortuitous, caveat emptor, de facto) in the legal context.
6 I cannot guess the meaning of Legal terms| 122 | 3.89 623 (e.g.,tort, bailment, abatement).
The table 2 shows Legal vocabulary barriers confuse students in reading legal texts As noticed from this table, the outcomes demonstrate that 2 out of 6 difficulties were deemed to be truly challenging in reading Legal English documents The respondents found that Latin terms, and the frequent application of archaic words in Legal documents prevented them from understanding comprehensively, with the high mean value of 4.42 (SD=.723), and 4.23 (SD=.668), correspondingly Furthermore, common words with uncommon meanings, and legal terms stood on the next ranks of difficulties with the mean of 4.16 (SD=.629), and 3.89 (SD=.623) Meanwhile, the mean of score 3.79 (SD=.538), and 3.53 (SD=.717), which is slightly lower than that of the former, indicated that nominalization, and legal jargon also were obstacles to participants These aforementioned statistics can be explained that Legal English features which are represented clearly by legal English vocabulary were viewed as an obstacle for students in understanding legal text (Nhac, 2022).
Furthermore, such figures were later clarified by the interview, that participants spending less than 2 hours per week on reading legal English documents, they may find it challenging to comprehend legal texts Three of the senior mentioned this in the interview:
“In reading legal documents I have to face to Legal English terms that are difficult for me to get meaning of Latin terms.” (Student 1)
Or “Some legal terms have no equivalent interpretation in the Vietnamese legal system Especially in these documents, the legal professionals often use legal jargons, so it often takes me a long time to adequately understand the meaning of the text.” (Student 3)
Or “T think I have trouble with legal vocabulary There are many terms that are new, and difficult for me to understand Some common words are used with uncommon meanings In legal documents, there are also a lot of Latin words and linking words which make me confused” (Student 4).
Moreover, regarding the difficult rank of the three barriers of vocabulary, grammar and legal knowledge according to their influence on reading legal English texts, two out of six interviewees concurred that legal vocabulary was at the top rank of barriers influencing reading legal English texts (Student 1, 4-see appendix III).
It can be seen that these statics might be similar to the results of Nhac
(2022), which also indicated that the majority agree that archaic words were a problematic factor with scoring 4.29 out of 5 in the extent of difficulty.
In summary, there is no doubt that several English majors at Hanoi LawUniversity view these 6 abovementioned legal vocabulary aspects make LegalEnglish documents hard to understand Specifically, the biggest and most common arduousness encountered by English majors was Latin terms.
Table 3 Students’ difficulties from Legal grammar barriers
7 The sentences in legal context are long and| 122 | 4.50 617 complicated.
8 The passive voice is applied quite often 122 | 3.61 966
9 “Shall” is employed to express various meanings | 122 | 3.46 doe
10 The usage/meaning of the linking words in| 122 | 4.06 887 reading texts is different from general English.
11.1 felt confused to determine the replaced} 122 | 4.24 643 pronouns in the sentence.
In terms of the respondents’ difficulties from Legal grammar barriers, it can be witnessed that two out of five items received a noticeable mean value. The items /ong and complex sentences and determining the replaced pronouns in the sentence were viewed as impediment since they experienced mean scores of 4.50 (SD=.617) and 4.24 (SD=.643) Nevertheless, the three other Likert items, namely passive voice application, the usage of “shall”, and the different usage/meaning of the linking words stood on lower ranks of difficulty with the values of 3.61, 3.46, 4.06, correspondingly.
The abovementioned figures indicate that most English majors at HLU found that difficulties from legal grammar barriers confused them in reading legal texts Later interviews discover that in the total of six interviewees, two students coincided that the barriers which are from legal grammar areas were on the highest level of difficulty, they stressed that:
“T guess grammar is the biggest barrier, then the second is vocabulary,knowledge is at least There are a lot of compound and complex sentences,especially in some sentences with a huge number of pronouns It took me for hours and hours to understand the text” (Student 2)
“IT believe that the grammar is at the highest level, and then legal knowledge, vocabulary is at least Several complicate structures of sentences were used in legal texts, especially the passive voice” (Student 6)
These statistics and results are in line with Nhac (2022) which also indicated that English majors strongly agreed that long and complex sentences were the most difficult aspects among linguistic features of legal English.
To summarize, the most English majors at HLU found that syntactic features of legal English were obstacles in reading legal English documents It can be seen that the most difficult for legal English learner in grammar aspect was the complexity and length of sentences.
Table 4 Students’ difficulties from Legal knowledge barriers
12 I do not know much about the legal topic that 1} 122 | 3.37 502 read.
13 I do not know much about the differences} 122 | 4.35 618 between the Vietnamese legal system and other legal systems.
14 The curriculum does not provide many| 122 | 3.43 953 Vietnamese law subjects.
15 Lack of reference materials of comparison; 122 | 4.27 664 between Vietnamese legal system and other legal systems.
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3.3.1.1 Student’s attitude and motivation in reading legal English documents.
Table 5 Students’ attitude and motivation
16 I spend not enough time on reading legal| 122 | 4.12 635 documents.
17 I concern about the effectiveness of reading legal | 122 | 3.28 0l documents.
18 I think reading legal documents is not applicable | 122 | 3.01 563 in my future.
19 I think my legal English skills will be better if 1| 122 | 4.38 632 read legal English documents.
As exhibited in table 5, a large number of English majors at HLU admitted they spent not enough time reading legal documents, which is reflected by the mean value of 4.12 (SD=.635) Noticeably, it is strongly consented that juniors and seniors thought their legal English skills would be better if they read legal English documents with the highest mean score of 4.38 (SD=.632) Meanwhile, participants’ concerns about the efficiency of reading legal English documents and their belief in the application of reading these texts received lower mean values at 3.28 (SD=.591) and 3.01(SD=.563) To elaborate on these aforementioned opinions, it is revealed in the supplementary interview that “ For me, I find reading legal English documents hard to understand because I do not really care about its effectiveness” as student 6 stated Moreover, the difficulty may come from desire Student 5 emphasised that: “/t could be said that laziness and the lack of effective reading skills is the most negative factor on reading legal English documents effectiveness of students Laziness is students’ attitude and it may be caused by lacking reading motivation Besides, students rarely read so their reading skills cannot be improved’.
It can be seen that this finding is resemble to that of an in-depth case study conducted by Ariffin and Asraf (2014, p10-11), which found out students’ attitudes in reading legal cases through interview law students and lecturers. Researchers indicated that learners admitted that they had not made serious effort in reading Legal cases due to their laziness Furthermore, it seems to be in line with the findings of Nga and Tu (2021) that investigated that issues about students’ psychological causes, students’ attitude and motivation were also important factors affecting their reading skill.
To conclude, it is considered students’ negative attitude and shortage of desire as a factor leading to their difficulties in reading Legal English documents.
3 3.1.2 Student’s reading strategies in reading legal English documents
20 I do not apply reading strategies when I read 122 | 3.45 | 771
21 I have not found my effective reading strategies 122 | 3.13 | 745
22 I try to translate every word into Vietnamese 122 | 4.45 | 584
23 I do not divide the reading process into three steps: | 122 | 4.62 | 754 pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading.
When it comes to reading strategies which were adopted in reading legalEnglish documents, the results show that three out of four items of reading strategies impacting the English majors’ difficulties in reading legal documents received remarkable mean scores, differing from 3.13 to 4.62 There is no doubt that respondents did not read documents following pre-reading, while-reading,and post-reading and they rely on translation into their mother language to comprehend since the mean of values of these actions were 4.62 (SD= 754) and 4.45 (SD=.584) respectively Another noticeable point is that while the minor learners adopted reading strategies in reading, almost all juniors and seniors did not apply them, this is an interpretation of scoring 3.45 (SD=.771) The mean value of 3.13 (SD=.745) of item “J have not found my effective reading strategies” was at the neutral rank Elucidating their position, interviewees showed their points of view in the subsequent interview, as followed,
“From my point of view, there are some factors causing difficulties such as lack of effective reading strategies, or knowledge about reading topic.” (Student 4)
Or “It could be said that laziness and the lack of effective reading skills is the most negative factor on reading legal English documents effectiveness of students.” (Student 5)
Or “For me, I find reading legal English documents hard to understand because I do not really care about its effectiveness I think that I don’t read step by step is another reason Therefore, my reading skill is still poor.” (Student 6) This result is consistent with Nga and Tu (2021), whose research also indicated a similar viewpoint about the effect of lacking strategies on students’ reading skills In particular, they believed that it is hard for English majors to apply strategies appropriately to the exercise.
In brief, poor reading strategies was also recognized as a factor that has negative impact on student’s performance in reading legal English documents It is hard for them to comprehend legal English text as they did not separate the reading process clearly.
24 My teacher pays more attention to writing, 122 | 2.24 642 listening, speaking than reading skill in teaching legal English.
25 Teaching approaches inspire me to read legal 122 | 3.65 716 documents.
26 I find the legal reference materials given by my l3 | 3.17 687 teacher are not understandable.
Taking a quick look at table 7, two third statements about teaching approaches employed by teachers witnessed neutral level mean values It cannot be denied that the minority of English-majored juniors and seniors disagreed that their lecturer paid more attention to writing, listening, and speaking than reading skills in teaching legal English, with scoring 2.24 (SD=.642) Likewise, certain learners expressed an impartial opinion on the item J find the legal reference materials given by my teacher are not understandable as its mean value stood at 3.17 (SD=.687) Such impact of lecturers on reading legal English documents of English majors could also be seen from learners’ views.
“Lecturers play an important role in reading legal English texts of students Teachers are person providing reading materials, references for students Lecturers also make it easier for students to understand reading text by recommending for his/ her students some effective reading strategies.” (Student 3)
Or “Lecturer plays a crucial role in encouraging students to read legal documents Lecturer can provide legal documents that match students' reading comprehension Teachers are also the people who help students find effective reading strategies as well as help students answer questions when they can't find the answers on their own.” (Student 5)
Or “The lecturer is the person who provides me with legal documents that match my ability in order from easy to difficult Thus, my motivation to read has been enhanced through time by time ` (Student 6)
In short, being recognized as a vital character, legal English teachers and their teaching methods influence on their students interest in reading legal English texts.
Summarily, the causes of difficulties in reading legal English documents are readers’ lack of strategies and psychological factors in the combination with teaching approaches of teachers Furthermore, these arising arduous factors are intertwined The items with the 5-point Likert scale were developed in reference to the findings from two preceding studies (Ariffin and Asraf, 2014; Nga and Tu, 2021)
3.4 Solutions for improvement in reading legal English documents
Students’ procedures for enhancing the effectiveness of reading legal English documents are illustrated in tables 8, 9, 10, and 11 Each table shows participants’ actions to improve their capacity in aspects of legal English fields such as vocabulary, grammar, and legal knowledge, as well as their reading skills.
Overall, it can be seen from four tables that over two-third the Likert items are categorized into the value “agree” and “strongly agree”, while only three statements, namely 34, 38, and 39 are classified into the group “neutral”. Besides, the st Deviation varies from 562 to 845, which means that responses to the items are strong variation.
Strategies for enhancing legal VoCaDULALY ccc cccscasasssacscrseacscransees 48 3.4.2 Strategies for enhancing legal grammaf . + +-ô+++<s+++ 49 3.4.3 Strategies for improving legal knowledge . -ô<-x<<<ss++ 50 3.4.4 Strategies for reading comprehensive ab1ẽIty . -ô+++<<+s2 51
Table 8 Strategies for enhancing legal vocabulary.
27 reading reference materials (e.g dictionary, 122 |4.55 |.655 glossary) to help me understand the text.
28 paraphrasing (restating ideas in my own words) to | 122 |3.22 | 845 better understand the new words and terminologies.
29 recording vocabulary, similar expression after 122 |3.88 | 743 reading the
With regards to the respondents’ viewpoint of the strategies for developing their legal vocabulary, it can be noticed that all three procedures were widely adopted to overpower difficulties in reading legal English documents from legal grammar barriers In particular, almost respondents consented to reading reference materials (e.g dictionary, glossary) had helped them understand the text, which is reflected by the highest mean score of 4.55 (SD=.655) Likewise, the way of recording vocabulary, similar expression after reading the text also received a relatively high mean value at 3.88 (SD=.743) Nevertheless, the statements of paraphrasing (restating ideas in my own words) to better understand the new words and terminologies experienced lower mean scores of wide usage, 3.22 (SD=.845) Such useful practice could be approved by interviewees’ answers, one of the students mentioned this in the interview:
“I would find the relevant information about the legal issues that I don’t understand by googling it before asking my friends, teacher, and law experts I also recorded legal vocabulary follow on each topic, it’s collocations after reading By doing these, my effectiveness of reading legal English documents is improved.” (Student 6)
Briefly, to boost vocabulary about law fields, almost of participants used reference materials like dictionary, and legal English books glossary Therefore, they got the meanings of legal texts, their reading skill also were promoted.
3.4.2 Strategies for enhancing legal grammar
Table 9 Strategies for enhancing legal grammar.
30 reading grammar books in English and Vietnamese | 122 | 3.99 | 782 to get a better understanding of the usage of replaced pronoun, passive voice.
31 recording connections in complicated structured 122 | 4.29 | 733 sentences
32 practising writing complex and compound 122 | 4.38 | 613 sentences
Noticeably, it was found that Legal English majors at HLU perceived strategies for improving their legal grammar positively with a high mean score ranging 3.99 to 4.38 There is no doubt that the majority of participants overcome difficulties in reading legal English texts by practising writing complex and compound sentences, since it received a mean value of 4.38 (SD=.613) Another point to consider is that two other ways stood on the next ranks of popular usage with the mean score of 4.29 (SD=.733) and 3.99 (SD=.782) Such statistics were later clarified by the interview, that participants did not actively find grammar books to read in order to enhance their legal grammar, they may find other ways more useful A student of course 44 stressed that:
“T think I haven't really overcome the above difficulties, but at least I have improved my reading comprehension I have been trying to improve my legal
English grammar by taking full notes of difficult grammar structures and then drill those complex sentences to create favorable conditions when practicing reading these documents.” (Student 1)
In short, the most common way used by English majors to enhance their legal grammar was the practice of writing compound and complex sentences after recording those structures in the post-reading step.
3.4.3 Strategies for improving legal knowledge
Table 10 Strategies for improving legal knowledge.
33 reading reference materials about Vietnamese 122 | 4.17 828 Law and other legal systems in both Vietnamese and
English to get a better understanding of the topics in the reading text.
34 listening to News, especially those related to the 122 | 3.31 664 legal system, on daily basis.
35 attending court and listening to advocates making | 122 | 3.45 wed the submission.
36 working as an intern in law chambers 122 | 4.31 628
As can be seen from table 10, respondents perceived the methods for dealing with the lack of knowledge in the law fields certainly with a significant mean score ranging from 3.31 to 4.31 Almost all participants acknowledged that reading reference materials about Vietnamese and other legal systems in bothEnglish and Vietnamese and working in law chambers help them broaden their knowledge to comprehend legal English documents as the mean scores of these statements were 4.17 (SD=.828), 4.31 (SD=.628) respectively Furthermore, the item of attending court and listening to advocates making the submission was employed by certain target participants with the mean value of 3.45 (SD=.562).Meanwhile, the statement of /istening to News, especially those related to the legal system, on daily basis was practiced by the minority of respondents with lower scoring of 3.31 (SD=.664) Clarifying their position, interviewees showed their opinions in the subsequent interview, as followed,
“When reading, if I don't understand the reading text, I would read the relevant information of the issues in both English and Vietnamese to get better understand And then, I would ask friends and teacher when I come to class” (Student 2)
“Actually, when working in law firm, I read many documents about different legal systems in both Vietnamese and English So I know more about Vietnamese law as well as my horizon was broadened As a result, the efficient of my reading was improved” (Student 3)
It can be summarized that a high proportion of respondents worked as interns in law firms and read reference materials about law fields in both Vietnamese and English to enrich their legal knowledge.
3.4.4 Strategies for reading comprehensive ability
Table 11 Strategies for reading comprehension ability
37 conducting the reading process follow up three 122 |4.14 |.618 steps: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading.
38 applying reading strategies which I find effective |} 122 |3.24 | 792
39 asking myself questions about the content of the |122 |3.06 | 733 text after reading.
40 Selecting appropriate reference material whichis | 122 |4.25 | 594 understandable to read.
When it comes to strategies for reading comprehension abilities, it is witnessed that all four items received remarkable mean scores, varying from 3.06 to 4.25 The majority of respondents concurred that they had selected appropriate reference material which is understandable to read since the mean score of item
40 is highest at 4.25 (SD=.594) In addition, items 38, and 39 were evaluated at the lower mean values of extensive usage with 3.24 (SD=.792), and 3.06 (SD=.733), correspondingly Finally, having stood at a noticeable mean of 4.14 (SD=.618), the item of conducting the reading process follow up three steps: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading was believed to be widely used by English majors to overpower difficulties in reading legal English documents In the semi-structured interviews, two students consented that their reading effectiveness were improve by conducting procedures improving comprehension ability In particular, they said:
“I tend to choose easy-to-understand documents to read, after my vocabulary and understanding improved, I read more difficult materials I find it really effective, especially in the combination with recalling the content of the text after reading And the last is trying to find out my effective reading strategies and apply to my reading process.”’ (Student 4)
“IT improved my reading efficiency by choosing materials that match my reading comprehension I also try to read the title and subtitle carefully before skim and scan I also find that recording what I learnt after reading helps me improve my reading skills.” (Student 5)
It can be generalized that the most popular procedure employed by legal English learners to boost their comprehensive ability was to select materials that are appropriate for individual reading comprehension.
All in all, although certain participants felt that using strategies for improving vocabulary, grammar, and knowledge about law fields was not very helpful and there was no significant change when they learn, a great number of students get positive results after adopting these procedures, as explained above.
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On the grounds of the above findings and discussion, the current study has practical implications for supporting intentional Legal English documents reading.
First and foremost, to tackle students’ laziness, they need to clearly define their attitudes, goals, and motivations for reading Knowing the purpose and goals of reading legal texts, readers can look easily for the main ideas and details that support their reading comprehension For example, students can aim to learn different vocabulary related to the central topic like labour law, civil law, and commercial law that are closely related to legal English After building vocabulary with higher-level phrases, readers can increase the difficulty level of legal English documents Therefore, they might form a habit of reading legal documents in English.
Secondly, in terms of reading strategies, students need to set a clear plan for reading process In this respect, Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) stated that effective readers use strategies to understand what they read before, during, and after reading Specifically, before reading, they should use prior knowledge to think about the topic, make predictions about the probable meaning of the text,and preview the text by skimming and scanning to get a sense of the overall meaning; during reading, students need to monitor understanding by questioning,thinking about, and reflecting on the ideas and information in the text; after reading, readers ought to reflect upon the ideas and information in the text, and then relate what they have read to their own experiences and knowledge before clarifying their understanding of the text, and lastly is extending their understanding in critical and creative ways.
Moreover, it is critical for learners to enhance their knowledge of legal English (including legal English vocabulary, and grammar) In the first place, legal English majors need to develop vocabulary about law fields so as to strengthen their reading comprehension Indeed, English-majored juniors and seniors recorded new words after reading to enrich lexis, yet it is recommended that they use applications to learn legal English vocabulary actively outside of classroom such as Quizlet, or other tools For instance, after each session of Legal English, students ought to transfer all new terms to a set in Quizlet so as to create their own glossary of specialized vocabulary into distinctive topics for later revision In the second place, some English majors who had difficulties in dealing with legal grammar barriers ought to reinforce grammar knowledge to promote reading comprehension Each student may encourage herself and himself to watch video, listen to postcard or music in English on daily basis to address obstacles in relation to grammar.
Furthermore, through the results analyzed in the previous chapter, learners are required to improve their background knowledge of Law consisting of both the Vietnamese legal system and other legal systems Students should read more legal document in their mother tongue to improve their legal backgound knowledge It will be easier to comprehend and find the corresponding legal terms in legal English documents.
Based on the research findings, this study also provides certain ideas to legal English teachers for students’ difficulties in reading legal English documents The previous findings reveal that lecturers who play a crucial role in encouraging English majors to read legal English texts are considered contextual factors causing student’s difficulties in reading Regarding teaching methods, in addition to theoretical lessons, lecturers should regularly organize group work sessions, discuss, debate, and solve cases with foreign elements, using Legal English documents for students The more teaching fascinating the teacher’s teaching approaches are, the more motivated students feel to study reading subjects Secondly, teachers ought to have more measures to control reading activities so that English majors are less lazy For example, evaluating reading comprehension inside the classroom should compose three phrases including pre-reading activities, while-reading activities and post-reading activities. Moreover, lecturers need to encourage students to apply and be exposed to more legal documents in the process of learning legal English Last but not least, teachers need to provide legal English references with a greater variety of difficulty levels The appropriate reference materials which are easy for their learners to understand about the content make students feel more excited about reading legal English documents.
4.3 Suggestions for the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages
Primarily, for the purpose of raising awareness about the importance of reading legal documents in English in learning legal English, there should be more professional training programs for lecturers to develop their competencies and pedagogical methods, as well as more seminars for learners to gain deeper insight into the crucial impact of reading legal English documents on learning this major In addition, the Faculty should increase teaching periods of credits for reading skills In addition, building more legal reading materials in English at various levels from simple to difficult is necessary It is better for learners to get used to these documents, and not to be overwhelmed when they have to read difficult documents as their English reading skills and specialized knowledge are not good enough.
Throughout the chapter, valuable suggestions are made for learners,educators, and the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages to facilitate the acquisition of reading Legal English documents of the Legal English-majored juniors and seniors at HLU.
The purposes of this study are to survey 122 English majors’ difficulties and factors causing them as well as the solutions for these obstacles in reading legal English documents In order to achieve such aims, the data was gathered by an online questionnaire via Google Form and direct interview Subsequently, the results and statistics were analyzed via IBM SPSS and Microsoft Office Excel and displayed in figures and tables.
Firstly, the majority of Legal English-majored juniors and seniors (90%) agreed that reading legal English documents is “important” and “very important” However, the reality is that they spend little time on this learning activity, most of them only use about 2 hours per week reading In addition, the types of legal documents they most often read are codes and laws.
Secondly, the difficulties they face in reading legal English documents are originated from the linguistic features of legal English, and the barriers from legal knowledge Regarding the barriers of legal vocabulary and grammar, most major students admitted that it was difficult to make sense of legal English documents because of the use of Latin terms, archaic words, and common words with uncommon meanings combined with complex and long sentences. Furthermore, the lack of background knowledge in law, and the difference in Vietnamese and English legal systems as well as the references on this issue are also obstacles for students to read legal English texts.
Thirdly, students' difficulties in reading stem from both individual and contextual factors Concerning individual factors, it seems that students are lazy to read as their lack of positive attitude and motivation Besides, they have not found and applied effective reading strategies In terms of teacher-related factors, teaching methods and extra reference materials are too hard for learners to understand.
Last but not least, regarding effective methods to improve reading performance, the students claimed that applying vocabulary, grammar as well as knowledge related to the field of law enhancement strategies and procedures to boost comprehensive reading ability helped their reading skills were improved. Specifically, the majority of students agreed that one of the best ways to improve reading efficiency is to read references on grammar, Vietnamese law and other legal systems in both English and Vietnamese Besides, the recording of difficult vocabulary and structures after reading combined with the practice of writing complex, compound sentences also helps them to overcome the difficulties of lexical and legal grammar barriers In particular, a practical method that significantly improves legal knowledge applied by learners is working in a law office.
In the first place, the research serves as a bridge the Faculty and students in the teaching-learning process of reading skills By dint of the findings from the research, the Faculty and their teaching staff could get a much deeper understanding of the students’ difficulties in reading legal English texts so as to develop the most suitable methods or approaches to facilitate them to reach their ultimate goals of legal English reading acquisition.
In the second place, the research is meant to lay the foundation for subsequent studies on the reality of legal reading skills among Legal English- majored students through other research instruments such as tests, observations,and so forth As a result, the matters related to the problems in legal reading in learning legal English would be addressed efficiently, and the other workable methods to improve students’ reading efficiency would be devised.
3 Limitations and suggestions for further research
One of the most noticeable weaknesses of this study concerns its scope, within which it was only carried out in the HLU context with the participants of English majors from juniors to seniors The number of respondents in this research was 122 English majors with only 6 participants in the interview, which is considered rather limited This might not fully provide an objective opinion of Legal English-majored juniors and seniors at HLU as the researcher”s expectation Therefore, it is challenging to generalize and hypothesize the study’s findings to participants in another frame of reference To some extent, the analyzed results and statistics are not able to fully reflect the perspectives of a larger population.