Main Approaches of Business English Teaching to Future Lawyers: A Case Study of Ukrainian Higher Institutions

Oksana P. Bykonia, Iryna V. Borysenko, Tamila L. Gruba, Iurii L. Mosenkis, Dmytro O. Chystiak

Abstract


The paper examines the difficulties teachers and students face while teaching and learning Business English in Ukrainian higher institutions; identifies and evaluates the problems of teaching English to future lawyers; determines the main methods and methodological approaches in teaching English for Specific Purposes and Business English to future lawyers. The authors describe a project recently piloted at the Academy of the State Penitentiary Service (Chernihiv, Ukraine) in which law students participated in the attitude survey toward learning the English language. In this study, feedback and quantitative methods were used to analyse the data of surveys. The teachers’ and students’ responses to survey questions were examined. The results showed a shift from a teacher-centred to a student-centred approach in university teaching and student preferences in learning English. The study calls for the enhancement of teaching the essential professional skills in English that students need to succeed in making their pathway choices and enable continuous growth throughout a legal career. Research findings are discussed with due regard to the surveyed students’ needs and personality-oriented principles in legal education. The results indicate a need for methodological innovations that will support meaningful learning and boost the students’ and cadets’ productivity and efficiency of teaching and learning process. Despite the experimental group involving only the cadets and students majoring in "Law" and "Law enforcement", this methodology could be applied to teaching Business English and English for Specific Purposes to a number of other specialities, in particular Economics, Psychology, Business, and International Relations.

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.6.3


Keywords


approaches; methods; Business English; English for Specific Purposes; teaching future lawyers; student-centred learning

Full Text:

PDF

References


Belcher, D. (2017). Recent developments in ESP theory and research: Enhancing critical reflection and learner autonomy through technology and other means. In N. Stojković, M. Tošić, & V. Nejković (Eds.), Synergies of English for Specific Purposes and Language Learning Technologies (pp. 2-19). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Bieliauskaitė, J. (2014). On the way to professionalism – the promotion of law students’ academic integrity. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 4229-4234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.922

Bilová, S. (2016). Case briefs in legal English classes. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, 45(58), 7-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2016-0012

Diachkova, Y. O. (2014). The criteria of assessment of the level of formation of the professional English speaking skills of the future lawyers. Science and Education a New Dimension. Pedagogy and Psychology, 8, 62-66.

Druzhchenko, T. (2018). Teaching English monologic oral production to law students: differentiated approach. Ðrs Linguodidacticae, 2(1), 76-82.

Hall, B., & Howard, K. (2008). A synergistic approach: conducting mixed methods research with typological and systemic design considerations. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(3), 248-269.

Harper, J., & Windodo, H. P. (2018). 10 On the design of a global law English course for university freshmen: a blending of EGP and ESP. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 2018, p. 173-190.

Harvey, M. (2000). A beginner's course in legal translation: the case of culture-bound terms. Retrieved from http://www.tradulex.com/Actes2000/harvey.pdf

Kurbakova, S. (2015). Cognitive aspect of intercultural communication. Journal of Language and Education, 1(3), 52-62.

Lehtonen, T. (2017). “You will certainly learn English much faster at work than from a textbook.†– Law students learning English beyond the language classroom. System, 68, 50-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.06.013

Nagovitsyn, R., Saltykova, M., & Maksimova, M. (2018). A synergistic approach to the promotion of foreign students’ socialization and adaptation to the educational environment of higher educational institutions. Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin, 8(6), 7-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.15293/2226-3365.1806.01

Northcott, J. (2009). Teaching legal English: Context and cases. In D. Belcher (Ed.), English for specific purposes: Theory and practice (pp. 165-185). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Northcott, J., & Brown, G. (2006). Legal translator training partnership between teachers of English for legal purposes and legal specialists. English for Specific Purposes, 25, 358-375.

Nunan, D. (1991). Communicative tasks and the language curriculum. TESOL Quarterly, 25(2), 279-295.

Popova, N. O., & Petrova, O. B. (2017). English for law university students at the epoch of global cultural and professional communication. Oberih, 138, 237-246.

Popovska, S., & Pirsl, D. (2017). ESP teacher’s transforming profile. In N. Stojković, M. Tošić, & V. Nejković (Eds.), Synergies of English for Specific Purposes and Language Learning Technologies (pp. 152-164). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Raosoft. (n/d). Sample size Calculator. Retrieved from http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html

Richards, J. C. (2006). Communicative language teaching today. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2014). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Ridge, E. (1992). Communicative language teaching: Time for review? Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 21, 95-108. https://doi.org/10.5842/21-0-533

Savignon, S. J. (1987). Communicative language teaching. Theory into Practice, 26(4), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405848709543281

Sayitova, K. H. (2020). The role of personality-oriented approach in the process of education. Theoretical and applied science, 3(83), 190-192.

Selama, S. A. (2018). Autonomous learning in an ESP context: students' attitudes, readiness and efforts: A case study. Cahiers de Linguistique et Didactique, 1(7), 177-200.

Sereda, A. (2017). Cognitive-discourse approach as a methodology for the analysis of intercultural communication. The Journal of V. N. Karazin National University. Series: Theory of Culture and Philosophy of Science, 57, 48-52.

Stefanowicz-Kocoł, A., & Djordjevic, D. (2017). Changing needs of the ESP students. In N. Stojković, M. Tošić, & V. Nejković (Eds.), Synergies of English for Specific Purposes and Language Learning Technologies (pp. 20-22). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Stojković, N., Tošić, M., & Nejković, V. (Eds.). (2017). Synergies of English for Specific Purposes and Language Learning Technologies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Swan, M. (1985). A critical look at the Communicative Approach (1). ELT Journal, 39(1), 2-12. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/39.1.2

The Law Society. (2018). Future skills for law. Retrieved from https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/research-trends/horizon-scanning/future-skills-for-law/

Valeev, A. A., & Kondratyeva, I. G. (2015). Axiological Approach to the Development of Students’ Intercultural Competences by Foreign Language Means. Procedia, Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191, 361-365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.377

Yaroshenko, O. (2019). On the necessity of implementing the differentiation approach to teaching foreign languages at higher educational institutions. Pedagogy of formation of creative personality in higher and secondary schools, 64(2), 161-167.

Zenya, L. (2011). Theoretical and methodological bases of future teachers’ preparation for teaching of foreign languages to students of profile school. Horlivka, Ukraine: State Pedagogical Institute.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 1694-2116

p-ISSN: 1694-2493