Difficulties in legal english reading comprehension faced by law khó khăn trong việc Đọc hiểu tài liệu chuyên ngành môn tiếng anh pháp lý góc nhìn từ sinh viên Đại học
INTRODUCTION
Statement of the research problem
English for Specific purposes (ESP) has been developing and becoming increasingly prominent in EFL teaching since the early 1960s Some of the driving factors behind this growth include the development of science and technology, together with English becoming an international language, and the rising number of international students studying abroad in English-speaking countries (Dudley-Evans &
St John, 1998) ESP, according to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998, cited in Gatehouse 2001), is generally developed for intermediate or advanced students and likely to be suitable for adult learners, whether at a tertiary level institution or in a professional context
In the context of Vietnam, ESP serves as a tool to meet learners‟ later professional requirements, which has led to a higher need for ESP courses According to Hutchinson & Water (1987), ESP courses are tailored to serve the learning needs of students The main difference between General English and ESP is how the four core language skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) are treated in these two divisions of English training However, university students in Vietnam are having challenges in ESP learning, especially in ESP reading comprehension This is also the case for Law-majored students in Vietnam Law-majored students are equipped with ESP knowledge through the exposure of a great volume of academic materials in English; nevertheless, many of them fail to gain such information owing to difficulties in interpreting such readings.
Aims & Questions
The research is conducted with the aim of exploring what targeted participants perceive as challenges in reading Legal English materials, as well as their suggested
2 solutions to cope with those problems Our study attempts to come up with the answers to the following questions:
1 What are possible difficulties in Legal English reading comprehension that Law-majored students face as perceived by students?
2 What can be done to resolve the problems as perceived by students?
Scopes
The study is going to investigate the perception of juniors and seniors who are pursuing Bachelor Honors Degree in Hanoi Law University and have previously studied Legal English as one of their compulsory subjects in the second year in Law school regarding difficulties in Legal English reading comprehension and offer some suggested solutions.
Significance of the study
The researcher expects that this study will serve as a model for future research in the field of ESP education, and specifically in the area of reading comprehension Increased awareness of the difficulties that Law students encounter when reading materials in their ESP course will lead to their greater recognition of the importance of modifying reading materials as well as instructional methods for teaching reading strategies by researchers, course designers, and material developers The findings of this study will also encourage lecturers to collect data from students' feedback after each Legal English course and to carefully consider the feedback received in order to adjust reading materials and implement appropriate teaching strategies in the future courses that they will be able to offer Once finished, it is planned that the research and its conclusions would be used as a guide for professors at Hanoi Law University in updating and refining their Legal English course once it has been completed.
Methodology of the study
The study was meant to employ a predominantly qualitative approach in order to address the research questions and accomplish the research objectives In terms of data collection instruments, questionnaires and informal interviews were fully utilized, with an emphasis on the interviews to elicit detailed information about the difficulties they encountered and the strategies they used to overcome those difficulties in comprehending the reading texts in their ESP coursebooks The questionnaire was
3 distributed to 77 volunteer students in order to elicit information on the difficulties they had when comprehending the reading materials for their ESP course Concerning the interviews, the researcher conducted semi-structured one-on-one sessions with 8 students in order to clarify some of the more unclear topics raised in the questionnaire responses The current research used data acquired via student questionnaires and interviews with students as the major source of data, with a general technique of content analysis being used.
Organization of the paper
The research content consists of five chapters in the main text
Chapter 1: An overview of the research, including the research topic and justification, research questions, scope, and significance
Chapter 2: Literature Review, which examines significant literature on Legal English and ESP reading in Law and provides background information on the Legal English course at HLU, which serves as the context for this research
Chapter 3: Methodology supports the study's research methodologies and demonstrates the steps for selecting samples, collecting data, and analyzing it
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion focuses on evaluating the data obtained, reporting data analysis results, and discussing the research questions in tandem with the literature from Chapter 2
Chapter 5: Conclusion highlights the primary findings and emphasizes study limits, as well as practical implications for future research
Following this chapter are the References and Appendix
LITERATURE REVIEW
Key concepts
A method to language acquisition focused on the needs of the learner, as defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), is ESP (p 19) "Work or study-related needs" rather than "personal or general interest" should be the focus of ESP courses (Basturkmen, 2010, p 3) According to Richards (2001), ESP's ultimate goal is to improve students' ability to communicate effectively in the workplace With ESP, you can learn a specialized language for a certain purpose, and that is a big part of what makes it so appealing (Nguyen, 2017)
In contrast to previous researchers, Basturkmen (2006, p.18) emphasized that ESP serves a dual purpose: it helps students improve their language abilities while also acquiring the specialized competences and knowledge they need to succeed in a particular field of study The content of the course and the language aspects of ESP are intertwined in ESP
ESP is a learner-centered strategy that encourages students by addressing their specific language learning demands, despite the fact that various experts' definitions disagree (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans & St Johns, 1998; Ibrahim,
ESP can be categorized as English for Academic purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) (Strevens, 1977; Dudley Evans & St John, 1998) Education institutions that demand English as a language of instruction (EAP) teach EAP instead of English as a second language (EOP) (Strevens, 1977)
Differences between these two ESP domains are depicted in the following Robinson (1991) tree diagram
Figure 1 ESP classification by experience (Robinson, 1991, taken from Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998)
The diagram above shows how the classification of an ESP course as EAP or EOP has a significant impact on its content According to Dudley-Evans and St John
(1998), the categorization of ESP into EAP and EOP is crucial because they will determine the degree of specificity that is suited to the course” However, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) claimed that there is “not a clear-cut distinction” between EAP and EOP because there are individuals who work and pursue their studies at the same time Furthermore, “it is also likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the student takes up or returns to a job”
The following tree diagram illustrates another division of ESP into EAP and EOP based on the discipline and professional area:
Figure 2 ESP Classification by professional areas
(Robinson, 1991, taken from Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998)
From the information on the graph, the research can identify the type of ESP course which is taught to students of Law major in HLU In particular, this course belongs to the branch of English for Legal Purpose, which is a type of English for Academic Purposes
Senses (sight, sound, touch, etc.) are used to recognize and interpret events, objects, and stimuli in perception (Richards & Schmidt, 2013, p 427) This term may be generally interpreted as the capacity to apply multiple senses to perceive and grasp things happening around them
It is worth assessing students' perspectives about their difficulties in reading comprehension in the LE course For this reason, it is important in the classroom that teachers and students pay attention to the role perceptions played in attitude-behavior consistency Perceptions of students can have an impact on their motives, attitudes, and strategies for learning a language (Richards & Lockhart, 1994) They allow students to reflect on their learning process and to bring forward ideas to increase their performance (Hong, Ridzuan, & Kuek, 2003; Sidhu, 2003)
Students' views can also be investigated to identify the requirements of students to improve education programmes Teachers must have a more sophisticated grasp of their students' perspectives in order to better inform classroom practice (Harmer,
Reading, according to Anthony, is important because it gives students the language and information they will need in their fields
In Vietnam, for the most part, students are going to get the exposure to ESP reading materials when they enter collegewhere they pursue their major At the university level, success is mostly determined by pre-college characteristics, such as mastery of some key academic abilities (Tinto, 1993) Reading, writing, critical thinking, oral presentation, and media literacy are among them The truth is that most first-year students struggle with academic reading, particularly since university-level reading differs significantly from high school reading As a result, most students use non-university ways to read academic literature, resulting in a superficial reading style (Hermida, 2009)
According to many investigations, the reasons learners struggle with ESP texts include a lack of both reading strategies and appropriate reading techniques (Dreyer & Nel, 2003) and unfamiliarity with English use (Allen & Widdowson, 1978)
1.4 Reading skills in Legal English
Legal English has long been the domain of lawyers from English-speaking nations with shared common law traditions (particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) These days, it has become a global phenomenon due to the growth of English as the main language of international commerce and its function as a legal language inside the European Union (Yemelyanova, et al.) Reading can be considered as one of the core skills that law students need to acquire Law students are expected to consume a range of documents during their formal legal training and legal apprenticeship, including legislation, court opinions, journals, casebooks, textbooks, and law publications, to mention a few (Ariffin, 2014) Students who can read judicial opinions effectively and efficiently are more successful in their studies, according to Christensen (2006) in her study "Legal
Reading and Success in Law School: An Empirical Study." McKinney (2005) stated that reading comprehension is a crucial, indispensable skill that may make or ruin a prospective lawyer's academic career Professor Ruth Ann McKinney summed up the value of legal reading for first-year law students this way:
“Law students-and lawyers-who read law well are getting something from their reading that is not shared by those who read law less proficiently Starting with the first days of class, what law students understand about the reading process itself has a major impact on how they read their assignments How they read their assignments determines what they are able to get from those cases and statutes, what they are able to bring to class discussions and take from class discussions, and-ultimately-what they are able to learn for exams.”
Some students, however, enter law school with poor reading abilities or with undergraduate skills that do not translate into strong reading skills in law (Grise‟
The rise and fall of global businesses and their allied professions have had an effect on the expansion and decrease of ESP practice and research Legal English is not an exception ESP practice in this field has been bolstered by the rise of globalization, which has made English the language of choice for worldwide business and law There is a wide range of meanings given to the term Legal English (LE), and ESP practitioners have typically eschewed it in favor of the phrase English for Legal Purposes (ELP) English for Academic Legal Purposes, English for Occupational Legal Purposes, and EGLP (English for General Legal Purposes) are some of the acronyms that have been coined in order to represent distinct subsets such as EALP (English for Academic Legal Purposes), EOLP (English for Occupational Legal Purposes) and EGLP (English for General Legal Purposes) According to Northcott
(2019), L2 law students and practitioners need English language training to be able to work in academic and professional settings where English is required
1.5.1 Legal English as a technical language
Legal English has historically caused a great deal of confusion and difficulty for both laypeople and law students due to its distinctive structure
Review of related studies in international/ Vietnamese contexts
Various studies in ESP have been discovered in the setting of Vietnam (e.g.,
Ha, 2011; Nguyen, Pham, & Nguyen, 2016) Nguyen et al (2016) recently performed a study among a large sample of senior law students at a university in Vietnam to examine the impact of using reading via ESP materials within the criteria of the communicative method According to the findings, reading ESP materials pushed students to enhance their vocabulary and understanding of their own topic of study, as well as encouraged them to utilize English in everyday circumstances
In another recent study investigating the difficulties of ESP (English for specific purposes) reading comprehension experienced by English-major students at a Vietnamese institution (Thao & Tham, 2018) The findings revealed that students had little difficulty coping with reading ESP texts; nonetheless, it was occasionally observed that two common areas of difficulty in ESP reading comprehension students were confronted with were new vocabulary and previous knowledge of topic issues This study also demonstrated that students did not have many struggles with text coverage, organizational structure, and language employed in ESP reading materials
The most recent study of significant sources of difficulties that an ESP instructor may confront conducted in 2021 (Ma & Nguyen, 2021) has proposed an action plan for legal English teachers who deal with legal word translation in their job The study provides a detailed description of the legal language in terms of its distinctive natures to the root problems hindering students‟ comprehension of legal texts The authors also found out several major issues in translating English-Vietnamese legal terminologies, which can be a useful source for this paper due to the fact that translation encourages students to read attentively and accurately at the word, phrase, and text levels (Van Els et al 1984) When it comes to dealing with legal word translation in the course of their employment, the findings of this study also advised a plan of action for legal English teachers to follow There are three main problems with the interpretation of legal terminologies stated in the paper namely, different legal systems, linguistic difficulties, and cultural problems
Regarding the cultural problems, the findings of a study published by the University of Murcia in Spain on "the role of culture and knowledge in the creation and interpretation of legal texts: Legal English and Legal Spain" revealed that greater awareness of cross-cultural differences is a necessary tool for the comprehension of the underlying differences in these legal discourses, which may result in a more accurate application and interpretation of their legal texts
However, there has not been much research that investigated the issues of ESP reading comprehension in general in Vietnam‟s legal education context, and for the Law-majored students who first started their legal courses in law school in particular.
Relevant theories and frameworks
3.1 Different legal systems and laws
The world's legal systems may be categorized into five broad groups based on factors including historical development, legal precedents, and court procedures These include civil law, common law, customary law, religious law, and mixed legal systems (Ma & Nguyen, 2021) Common law and civil law are the two primary legal systems that deal with English and Vietnamese, respectively, in this research In the Middle Ages, English common law was widely used in British-influenced countries, and it has since spread around the globe
Civil law, derived from Roman law, arose in Europe and has been used in European colonies Legal precedents and judgements are the primary sources of Common Law's legislative texts, which is why it is sometimes known as "case law."
In contrast, the primary sources of law in the Civil law system are comprehensively codified written legislation
There are distinct legal systems in different countries due to the fact that law is
"culturally and jurisdictionally specific," according to Cao (2007) Translating legal materials from one language to another involves more than simply copying and pasting legal documents into another language
Legal language, despite being referred to as technical language, is not a widely used language 'but one that is linked to a national legal system' (Weisflog, 1987) A
14 legal language is confined to the culture and legal systems it serves, unlike the language of pure sciences that share a common technical language across the globe According to Sarcevic (1997), "each national law forms a legal system with its own terminological apparatus, subject to its culture, society, and jurisdiction."
Cultural barriers could also be a common issue making it more challenging for students to grasp the legal text In the case of the Common Law system, this cultural barrier is more pronounced In contrast to the Common Law system, which relies on precedents, cases, and customary rules of conduct as its principal sources of law, the Civil Law system is based primarily on written legal norms, codes, and legislation
Snow (2010) defined reading comprehension as the process of generating and extracting ideas from the printed material when interacting with it She also stated that a solid match of reader skills, text difficulty, and task specification is critical to the effectiveness of a comprehension engagement Vocabulary and background knowledge are extremely crucial for readers The needs of various texts (e.g., fiction vs nonfiction), different societies, and different fields define tasks differently (Snow,
2010) Because the objective of reading is to gather information for particular or personal reasons, reading comprehension includes comprehending, decoding, and building meaning from a text, as well as reading through a process
RAND (2002), a reading research group, shares the same perspective, defining reading comprehension as “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” They also suggest that reading comprehension evolves with readers' maturity and cognitive development Also, experience, challenging readings, and useful instructions might influence the process (RAND, 2002) Despite this, they say that the reading process has three essential aspects (figure 3): the reader, the text to be grasped, and the action that includes understanding The social-cultural background influences all factors The ExpandedReader-Text-Activity-Context model (figure 4) of Alvermann and Moje
(2013) shows the dynamic nature of this interaction (figure 3)
Figure 3 A Heuristic for Thinking About Reading Comprehension
Figure 4 Expanded Reader-Text-Activity-Context model
The RAND (2002) model and the enhanced version proposed by Alvermann and Moje (2013) provide a deeper understanding of the reading process, which is
16 useful in constructing survey and interview questions
Many researchers (e.g., Eskey, 2002; Gascoigne, 2005; Khalaji & Vafaeeseresht, 2012) have claimed that reading comprehension is a complicated process to which many techniques, such as top-down, bottom-up, and interactive, are employed The top-down approach requires learners to use their knowledge of the genre to predict what will be in the text (British Council, 2006), whereas the bottom- up approach requires readers to recognize a variety of linguistic signals (e.g., letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases, etc.) and use their linguistic data-processing mechanism to impose some sort of order on these signals (Brown, 2001) Because it is stated that neither bottom-up nor top-down approaches can adequately represent the reading process, the interactive method integrates interactions between readers and text with bottom-up and top-down aspects (e.g., Aebersold & Field, 1997; Gascoigne,
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Overall research design/ approach
This study applied a mixed-method (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003) design, in which both quantitative and qualitative data are collected, analyzed, and mixed at some stages of the research process within a single study, for a more comprehensive understanding of the problem (Creswell, 2002)
The justification for blending methodologies is that neither quantitative nor qualitative approach is sufficient to capture the patterns and intricacies of the problems Quantitative and qualitative methodologies complement each other and provide for a more thorough examination when utilized together (Green, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989, Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998)
This study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, which consists of two separate phases, which is one of the most prevalent mixed methods designs in educational research (Creswell, 2002, 2003; Creswell et al., 2003) Gathering and analyzing quantitative data was the first step in this approach This was followed by the gathering and analysis of qualitative data in the next step The second, qualitative phase of the research is aimed to build on (or link to) the findings of the first quantitative phase This was when participants were selected for case study analysis and interview questions were developed based on the findings of statistical testing.
Context of the study
2.1 Description of the course Legal English
According to the academic curriculum of High-Quality Training Program, HLU, LE course was designed for students majoring in Law at a fast-track program, where students have to study their law specializations in full English Students of this course had to attend a course which was Advanced English so that they might be well-
18 prepared in terms of English proficiency to study LE Two semesters are required to complete this course, which is divided into Legal English 1 and Legal English 2
Questionnaire responses are going to be collected from the targeted participants
- juniors and seniors who are pursuing Bachelor‟s Honors Degree, at HLU The total number of responses is estimated at around 80-100 responses according to the juniors and seniors students list obtained from the website of faculty
All the students joining in the study have joined the LE course as one of their compulsory subjects in their Sophomore year Different from students in other faculties of HLU, students pursuing the Bachelor Honors Program are required to study their specialized subjects in English, which they will start at the beginning of the third year Hence, Legal English will equip them with a sufficient amount of fundamental knowledge related to International Legal English as well as language points (grammar, vocabulary, language skills: Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing) so that they can be well-prepared before getting exposed to their specialized subjects
Participants taking part in the survey were reported to have their English proficiency ranging from beginners to advanced users (Figure 5)
Figure 5 Participants’ English levels in survey
Regarding the interviewees‟ English level, researchers filtered out 4 students who were intermediate users (B1 level) and 4 students who were advanced (C1-C2 level)
Table 2 Participants’ level of English in the semi-interviews
In this Legal English course, the official source of learning material is the course book "Professional English in Use Law".
Data collection
Due to the context of the pandemic, all of the universities in Hanoi were shut down during the time of collecting data The researcher had to carry out the data collection online Questionnaires were sent online to the participants for them to finish in Google form
In the qualitative phase, there were statistical discrepancies between groups, people who scored at extreme levels, or surprising results that need to be explained further by the researcher In order to better understood these results, the researcher obtained qualitative data from those participants by inviting them for semi-structured interviews Online interviews were carried out in Vietnamese and documented for further analysis
While refining a defined questionnaire and interview protocols, the researcher submitted consent letters to all 8 students to seek their involvement in this study
After students completed the consent forms, surveys were distributed in online versions to all students The pandemic Covid-19 caused obstacles in reaching participants Consequently, the data collection period included the months of February and March
Among them, six students from 8 courses were chosen based on their English competency to join in the follow-up interviews Before being allowed to participate in the interview, they were sent a letter inviting them and a consent form asking for their approval Then, the researcher contacted them to schedule interviews Eight students joined 20-to-30-minute online interviews
Two research instruments (questionnaire and semi-structured interview) were employed to collect data In order to answer the study topics, the researcher chose to conduct both a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews in order to get insight into learners' experiences and perceptions of their difficulties with reading comprehension of materials for Legal English
3.1.2 Reasons for choosing the questionnaire
Due to the following three factors, it was determined that the questionnaire would be a viable instrument for this study Initial responses were collected from 77 respondents in order to obtain information from such a wide number of participants as possible through the use of a questionnaire (Mackey & Gass, 2005) Another advantage of using a questionnaire is that it is regarded as a safe "guarantee of anonymity" (Brown, 2001, p.7), which aids the researcher in solving not only individuals' sensitive concerns but also helps to maintain the secrecy of the opinions of the participants The third advantage of using questionnaires in this study was that questionnaire administration may be done online with a soft-copy or personally with a hardcopy, depending on the situation
The questionnaire for students, which was adapted from Tran and Duong
(2018) questionnaire with some adjustments to be appropriate with the context and the characteristics of the survey participants The researcher chose to adapt the survey questionnaire of Trang and Duong (2018) because it comprehensively considers the potential problems of reading comprehension Moreover, the questionnaire showed its validity and reliability in the results that they concluded in their study after collecting and analyzing the data from their questionnaire When the pilot version of the survey was distributed to three voluntary students, the researcher realized that there were certain parts that were unnecessary and did not serve any purpose of addressing the
21 research questions As a result, the researcher finalized the complete survey with some adjustments
The questionnaire for students, which was adapted from the Tran and Duong
(2018) questionnaire with some modifications to make it more suited for the context and characteristics of the survey participants, was developed by the survey participants themselves The survey questionnaire developed by Trang and Duong (2018) was chosen by the researcher for adaptation because it takes into account all of the potential challenges with reading comprehension Furthermore, the findings of their study, which was based on the data collected and analyzed from their questionnaire, demonstrated the validity and reliability of the questionnaire In fact, after administering a preliminary version of the survey to three willing participants, the researcher found that many sections were unnecessary and did not contribute to the investigation's goals As a consequence, the researcher was able to finish the entire survey with some adjustments
In terms of the questionnaire structure, it is divided into two major sections: the background and the content The former consists of questions regarding the pupils' personal information There are 22 questions on a five-point Likert-like scale in the latter, which Brown (2001, p.41) believes is "useful for obtaining respondents' thoughts about diverse language-related topics" and is "easy for participants to pick vaid replies." A sort of scale based on the basic frequency (i.e never - rarely - sometimes - usually - always) was used, with each level being assigned a number from
1 to 5, and participants were asked to pick the level that best reflected their experience on the scale
Due to the students' limited language skills, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese to ensure that there were no misunderstandings throughout the questionnaire's processing The completed form of the survey questionnaire is included in Appendix 2
Part 2 Students‟ difficulties in reading comprehension in the ESP course
Part 3 Reading strategies for difficulties in reading comprehension in the ESP course
Part 4 Ending (Appreciation words for completing the survey)
Table 3 Content of the survey 3.1.4 Procedure
To avoid any misunderstandings, the questionnaire was previously sent to three volunteer responders as well as to the supervisor for feedback; the results were then taken into account while formulating the final version After revising the survey, the researcher distributed the URL link of the google docs to the online survey to students who had previously agreed to engage in the research at the start of the second semester Respondents had recently finished the first semester's ESP course; as a result, the survey's results were more reliable, since respondents' hands-on experiences with the course were still fresh
Following the collection of 77 responses from willing participants, the data was examined to identify any gaps that may be explored further during the interview
The researcher opted to use interviews as a second data collecting tool in addition to the questionnaire because of the numerous advantages they offer in terms of obtaining in-depth information According to Guilfloye and Hill (2002), a small number of interviews is not a negative because the goal of sampling is not to approach numerous individuals, but rather to gather relevant and adequate data from a small number of people More importantly, this method is particularly useful for deciphering and providing insights into complex phenomena, as well as allowing for flexibility when things go wrong (Dornyei, 2007, p.39) Moreover, this method is particularly
23 useful when the information provided in the survey was "vague, incomplete, off-topic, or not specific enough" (Mackey&Gass, 2005, p.173) As a result, the researcher adopted the interview approach in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the viewpoints of eight students on reading comprehension challenges in ESP and reading methods to overcome such problems
In contrast to the questionnaire, which consisted mostly of closed-ended questions, all interviews were semi-structured and included open-ended questions since it was expected that this format would allow the interviewer to exercise a great deal of flexibility At the same time, interviewees were encouraged to be honest about their experiences and were given sufficient power to influence the interview process
In addition, all interviews were done in Vietnamese in order to eliminate any misunderstandings amongst participants
The interview was conducted in order to have a better understanding of the responses acquired through the questionnaire Students' survey questions were divided into three main sections: difficulties that students encounter when processing ESP materials provided in the coursebook, the causes of those difficulties, and strategies that students used to overcome those difficulties in interpreting the meaning of the texts The interview questions were divided into three main sections in correspondence with the survey questions for students In addition, depending on the responses of the interviews to the major questions, the researchers conducted follow-up questions in order to clarify certain confusing areas in the answers given by the participants
Data collection procedure
The procedure of collecting data consisted of three main phases, each of which was conducted according to a tentative timeline as followed
Piloting the question with supervisors and the three students
Modify the questionnaire after piloting
Distributing online questionnaire to the students and collecting responses
Preparing interview questions and schedule the interviews ẵ week
Conducting the interviews with students
Transcribing the interviews‟ recordings ẵ week
Table 4 Timeline for data collection procedure
In Table 4, it can be seen that it took the researcher two weeks to prepare for the data collecting instrument, which included creating a survey questionnaire for students and piloting the initial version of the questionnaire, among other things The researcher went over the document several times, making changes to the logical arrangement, phrasing, and content
After providing the final version of the questionnaire digitally to the students during Phase 2, a total of 77 responses were gathered at the conclusion of the third week, which concluded the study Additional to this, after carefully reviewing the findings of the questionnaire, a set of guiding questions for the interview and a timetable for the interviewing process were devised Following the completion of the questionnaire, a follow-up interview with eight students who provided unique responses was undertaken as soon as the core findings of the questionnaire were obtained Furthermore, with the consent of the respondents, all interviews were recorded, with aid from the researchers throughout the data processing process afterwards.
Data analysis procedure
In terms of analyzing data, descriptive statistics were analyzed and generated into tables and charts using SPSS Any possibly interesting pattern arising was noted by the researcher to schedule follow-up interviews The results of the analysis process are illustrated in the forms of the graphs and tables to make it easier for readers to follow Answers to open-ended questions were manually categorized
Ethical consideration
This investigation is subject to stringent ethical guidelines Each and every participant must be fully informed of the study objectives before giving their agreement to take part in the research The general information about the study was provided by the researcher when contacting the participants, and it was also mentioned at the start of the questionnaire by the research assistant The interviewee had been provided a consent form in advance of the interview Additionally, the participants were informed that their involvement in the research would be completely voluntary Because they chose to participate in the study, it was assumed that they had elected to participate in the survey It was also mentioned in the questionnaire that the information and responses provided by participants to the survey and interview would be handled as confidential and would only be used for the purposes of the study As previously stated, the identities of the participants remain anonymous throughout the study and their names are substituted with pseudonyms whenever possible
Furthermore, subjects were neither harmed nor forced in any way during the course of the study procedure.
Data analysis
This study will provide two sorts of data: quantitative data and qualitative data The quantitative ones will be evaluated using descriptive statistics using SPSS from close-ended items in surveys The latter, gathered via interviews, will be studied utilizing a content analysis technique, i.e., through three steps: familiarizing and organizing, coding and recoding, and summarizing and interpreting
Regarding quantitative data, the data gathered from the survey was classified according to the following questions to ease the synthesis Since descriptive data would be included in the findings, responses from questionnaires were processed numerically via Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics 20) (IBM SPSS Statistics 20) To get exact quantitative information regarding the common perceptions among students, the researcher calculated mean (the average score) and standard deviation (a measure of the dispersal or range of scores) (Cohen et al., 2018) These statistics then were displayed in the shapes of graphs or charts so that the researcher could simply report and discuss Findings gathered from this phase serve as a basis for the planning of the future phases
In terms of qualitative data, all interview records were first transcribed Then, the researchers examined each transcript to underline broad concepts and crucial elements For each transcript, notes would be evaluated to detect common patterns which were then coded into a brief word or phrase in English All topics were written on a separate document for illustration Afterwards, qualitative data analysis was conducted to compare and interpret the outcomes of the previous phases and reinforce the overall results In this way, students' perspective on their own difficulties and useful strategies to overcome such obstacles might be elicited
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Research question 1: What are possible difficulties in Legal English reading
In general, all 77 students who responded to the questionnaire said that they had some trouble comprehending the reading materials in their Legal course However, as seen in the questionnaire (appendix 2), there were both similar and distinctive responses to each of the four categories of reading comprehension difficulties
Table 5 Areas of difficulties in ESP reading comprehension
Areas of difficulties in ESP reading comprehension n = 77
4 Motivation (self motivation, coursebook, teaching method)
Table 5 shows that vocabulary (M=2.9, SD=0.86) and background knowledge
(M=2.7, SD=0.77) were the two most significant barriers to students' ESP reading comprehension, with motivation (M=2.6, SD=0.91) and grammar (M=2.4, SD=0.92) following closely behind
With respect to the qualitative data gathered from the interviews., it was discovered that 6 out of 8 students claimed that vocabulary was a bigger challenge
28 while reading the Legal English materials than grammar It was unanimously recognized that their lack of background knowledge such as Legal context was another key factor impeding their ability to properly process the Legal materials
1.1 Difficulties in the area of vocabulary
Table 6 Difficulties in the area of vocabulary
1 The terminology was strange to me
2 I could not guess the meaning of unknown words or phrases
3 I think I did not have enough vocabulary to understand a text
Specifically, in respect of the first category of unknown words which consists of 3 items (Table 6), it was sometimes true that students who were unfamiliar with terminology (item 1: M=3.25, SD=0,67) could not “guess the meaning of the unknown words or phrases” (item 2: M=2.88, SD=0.78), and did not “have enough vocabulary to understand a text (item 3: M=2.78, SD=1.14)
When it came to the follow-up interviews, participants stated that there were three primary groupings of vocabulary that made it difficult for them to grasp the materials they were reading The first one consisted of a collection of unusual terms that were beyond their lexical supply However, only 4 out of 8 students with Intermediate (B1 level) language proficiency complained about these problems It was discovered that four students who self-identified as being in the Upper Intermediate - Advanced (B2 - C1 level) in English did not experience the same difficulty as the other students since they already possessed quite a substantial lexical resource However, all 8 students had the same difficulties in processing the texts out of the
29 strange Legal terminologies that they encountered for the first time This was owing to the fact that Legal English was the very first course in which they were introduced to knowledge of their area (Law), and as a result, their understanding of legal vocabulary was restricted at the time of the course It was also difficult for students to grasp information when they were presented with known vocabularies but with unfamiliar meanings when they were placed in legal situations
Figure 6 Types of vocabularies that impeded students’ reading comprehension as perceived by interviewees
1.2 Difficulties in the area of background knowledge
Table 7 of the category of background knowledge showed that participants sometimes could not understand the general meaning of the text because they did not grasp the context (item 9: M=2.68, SD=0,87) They also self-reported that they sometimes “did not understand much about the content of the reading texts” due to their limited background knowledge of the topics of the reading texts (item 10: M=2.82, SD=0.89)
Type s of vocab ular ie s that imp ede d stude nt s’ rea di ng comp re hen si on
Familiar English words with unknown usages/meanings in Legal context
Concerning qualitative data, all 8 students found their background knowledge as one of the major culprits making the materials challenging to understand 3 of them stated that the coursebook features the context of the British system of law which can be drastically different from the legal system in Vietnam As a result, students would need to previously review the related context as the background knowledge (such as legal context, cultural context, ) in order to have a better understanding of what they were reading
Table 7 Difficulties in the area of background knowledge
I COULD NOT generalize the meaning of the text because I did not understand the context
I did not understand much about the content of the reading texts because of my limited background knowledge of the topics of the reading texts
1.3 Difficulties in the area of grammar
The category of grammar has 4 items, and it was noticed that students rarely have trouble with identifying pronouns and reference words in the text (item 7: M=2.18, SD=0.94), (item 8: M=2.22, SD=0.97) The same pattern can be seen in item
5 (M=2,48, SD=0.97), which means students did not have difficulties with understanding any strange usage/meaning of linking words in the reading texts However, it was sometimes true that students found it difficult to understand the main idea of the text due to the complex structures (item 4: M=2.55, SD=0.83) Plus, even if they knew every word and phrase contained in the texts, it was still challenging for them to grasp the main idea
Only 2 out of 8 students complained that grammar was the greatest contributor to their difficulties in processing the texts The big problem with grammar was multi- clause sentences with unclearly separated sentence components Participants stated that legal English uses uncommon or even ancient ways of expressing concepts, as well as well-known grammatical structures in unusual contexts For example, one interviewee set an example a grammatical structure used in an unusual context:
“ You may recall from your beginner-level English lessons that the modal verb „shall' is used to convey the speaker's intentions (I shall go to the library tomorrow" or the obligations of another person (as in 'You shall go to work tomorrow') However, the majority of English speakers have never precisely adhered to these grammatical norms, and in current daily English, the word 'will' is more prevalent in all practical contexts In legal writings and documents, on the other hand, this grammatical norm must be strictly obeyed, and they frequently employ the word shall' in their texts.”
Table 8 Difficulties in the area of grammar
4 I find it hard to grasp the main idea of the text because of the complex
5 The usage/meani ng of linking words in the reading texts was different from what I have learnt
6 I CANNOT grasp the main idea of the text although I understood every word and phrase contained in it
7 I felt confused to determine pronouns in the sentences
8 I felt confused to determine the reference words
1.4 Difficulties in the area of motivation
Table 9 Difficulties in the area of motivation (self-motivation, coursebook, teaching methodology)
I thought this ESP material was not useful to me
12 The coursebook did not contain useful topics to encourage my reading
14 Teachers‟ instructions on ESP lessons were confusing
I did not want to reread it
The next area of difficulties in motivations as seen in Table 9 demonstrates that students rarely considered the coursebook as useless to them (item 11 M=2.29, SD=0.87) It can be seen from the table that all items from 12,13 to 14 sometimes contributed to the motivational obstacles students encountered Students reported that the coursebook occasionally lacked interesting topics to engage their interest in reading (item 12: M=2.64, SD=0.79) Other frequent reasons for their demotivation while reading were the tediousness of the lessons (item 13: M=2.91, SD=0.95) and teachers' occasional failure to lecture pupils on ESP lessons (item 14: M=2.77, SD=0.99) Additionally, it is sometimes true that when a text got tough to read, participants didn‟t want to go back and read it again (item 15: M=2.69, SD=0.95)
As reported in the interviews, in terms of the coursebook, 4 out of 8 students thought that the material did not reflect the authentic legal materials they would have to process later on when they practice law When these students entered their junior year, these students had engaged in several Law competitions which required them to consume a large quantity of legal materials in English, which they perceived much harder compared to the texts in the coursebook Hence, the coursebook did not properly prepare them for those ESP readings they needed to handle later By extension, the practicality of the knowledge learnt from the coursebook was low for them because they could not apply them in the context of the Vietnamese system of law There were also participants who found the comprehension exercises in the book relatively dry to them
However, 3 participants still found the course material useful for students whose English proficiency was under C1 level This is because, in order to dig deeper into the field of Legal English, students need to reach a particular English competency The coursebook, in that sense, does a good job in providing them with a foundational language and basic legal knowledge
Regarding teacher‟s teaching methodologies and instruction, all 8 participants found the lessons boring and their teachers‟ instruction confusing The most common method teachers employed was translation, which involved having students individually translate the English text into Vietnamese and then teachers would correct their translation after that 6 out of 8 students complained that this method was so tedious and tiring that they lost motivation in reading the materials Apart from that, teachers strictly stick to the coursebook‟s activities without any adaptation, which might fail to make the lessons more engaging for students Another significant problem was that teachers of this ESP course were reported by participants to lack a considerable amount of Legal knowledge, which made it hard for them to thoroughly explain to students some particular information related to Law For example, student B stated that most of the professors teaching this course when being asked to explain to their students about some particular legal contexts would give out quite unclear instructions Consequently, teachers did not have enough credibility in terms of legal knowledge as perceived by students
Research question 2: What can be done to resolve the problems as perceived
Some reading methods were recognized and used by the students themselves in their LE course, notably in the areas of vocabulary and background knowledge where students had difficulty comprehending the material
When it came to overcoming the obstacles with vocabulary, the most often employed methods were using dictionaries and glossaries to help decipher legal jargon (items 17 and 16 both had M=3.6 and SD=0.73) The Black's Law Dictionary was suggested by four students A,B,C, and D who were more proficient in the English language than the other interviewees Students A elaborated: "I tended to pay attention to the frequency with which a phrase is used in legal papers I read And I will note down all the terminologies with the highest frequency of usage” Students C and D also attempted to apply the terminology they learned from texts in their legal writing in an effort to expand their legal lexical resource Finally, because the discourse markers have such a significant impact on the overall meaning of the sentences, all of the students were reported to sometimes highlight and check the meaning and usage of unusual connections
Table 10 shows that students occasionally employed English references to grasp the text's topic (item 19: M=3.4, SD= 0.90) Fewer students (item 18: M=3.2, SD=0.96) had the habit of grasping the legal contexts by referring to references in Vietnamese According to students E and F, they usually read the Vietnamese materials first in order to better understand the legal situations , in some cases, some particular legal topics are not available in Vietnamese, so they have to resort to reading and processing the context in full English According to their own self-report, students
A, B, and C tended to utilize English references more frequently while trying to grasp various legal situations, particularly when such settings dealt with the law systems of foreign jurisdictions
It is clear from Table 10 that most students do not use a grammar book to help them understand the tenses and grammar structures used in the text (items 21:M=2.4, SD=1.15)
Table 10 Strategies to resolve the problems in reading comprehension
(dictionaries, glossaries, etc.) to understand legal terms
17 Processing information in both English and Vietnamese
18 Using references in Vietnamese to understand the topic of the text
19 Using references in English to understand the topic of the text
20 Paraphrasing ideas to better understand the topic and content of the passage
37 grammar book) to help me understand tenses, grammatical structures used in the text
22 Highlighting and checking the meaning and usage of strange CONNECTIONS
Apart from these above mentioned materials, there are a few other sources that participants reported having been utilizing to increase their ESP reading comprehension (figure 7)
Figure 7 Other sources of ESP reading materials proposed by interview participants
3 out of 8 students in the interviews claimed that they actively participated in Law contests (such as simulated litigation, mock trial, Moot, ) in which they were expected to consume a substantial quantity of ESP reading However, this involvement would demand contestants‟ advanced level of English (around B2-C2 competency), as perceived by the 3 students who used this method
Interviewees were asked about three distinct components of their strategies: their self-support, help from others (friends, seniors, academic groups, etc.), and support from their teachers All interviewees were reported to enlist the help from their friends when they struggled to figure the problems themselves 3 of them who had active participation in some legal competitions had more chances to connect with their mentors (or seniors) of the same competitions or academic clubs whose consultation can be a great help to them Contrary to this, no students stated that they often sought support from their teachers in Legal English There are two main reasons for this according to the interviewees‟ answers Firstly, students did not find their teachers‟ advice a reliable and valid source of legal information due to the fact that teachers teaching the course are primarily EFL teachers who have not had a formal education of Law previously As a result, teachers can guide students on their language learning but would fail to elaborate on some particular legal situations when their knowledge in this field is being challenged Another reason students mentioned was that they did not have connection with their course‟s lecturers as they had with their friends or seniors of the same major Hence, it would be more convenient and comfortable to ask for their help rather than the teachers‟ When being asked about expectations on teachers of this course, all students hoped that teachers should put more time and effort in researching legal contexts of the lessons so that they could give students‟ better answers to their questions concerning legal knowledge They also expected their teachers would employ more creative and intriguing teaching methodologies apart from translation to increase student engagement in the lessons as well as to upgrade their learning experience as a whole.
Discussion
In the previous section, the findings of students‟ perception of their own challenges in ESP reading comprehension and their approaches to overcome such
39 hurdles have been provided in connection with the two questions In this part, extensive comments on such study results are offered by linking the findings to previous studies in the literature
3.1 The challenges students faced when reading Legal English texts
In response to the first question, there were two significant factors which hindered students from comprehending ESP reading texts, namely insufficient technical vocabulary and background knowledge of law (ESP subject matter) The finding is aligned with the results of the study conducted by Thao & Tran (2018) who concluded that students often had difficulties in dealing with ESP reading texts because of inadequate ESP vocabularies and limited background knowledge of the ESP subjects
In terms of problems with vocabulary, students had not been exposed to legal terms before getting into this course, which caused them some problems in processing a particular legal text Hence, even students with a fair amount of English vocabulary can still struggle to process a legal document due Additionally, students can also find it challenging to comprehend legal texts when they deal with common English words but used with different meanings in legal situations Another group of vocabulary that challenges students‟ comprehension when they read is simply the uncommon words beyond their lexical resources This problem might be caused by some students‟ inadequate level of English before they entered the course According to the description of the book “Professional English in Use: Law”, the book suits students who are upper-intermediate to advanced English users (Professional English in Use
Law | Professional English in Use Law, n.d.) However, prior to the course enrollment, students only had one semester of English training through their course Advanced English Previously, students who are qualified to study the High Quality Program only need to have their English score in university entrance exam ranging from 8 to 9
According to an opinion article from vietnamexpress on the high school English exam 2021, the English high school graduation exam is quite easy, students can have as many scores as 9-10 This test is used for two purposes: high school graduation and university admission A common sense is that the subject must ensure the appropriate differentiation, the score range must have a reasonable slope to be capable of
40 classifying students well, creating favorable conditions for university admission However, many students consider the topic quite easy, can get 9-10 points, even students who do not use this subject for university admission can get 7-8 points (Https://Vnexpress.Net/Thay-Gi-Tu-de-Thi-Tieng-Anh-Thpt-2021-qua-de-
4307534.Html, n.d.) As a result, there is not any specific level of English applied for students when entering this program of HLU, and later on, this course of Legal English The one-semester course can hardly prepare students for legal courses in English later on All of the students in the interview reported that they still needed to work on their English proficiency day by day to catch up on the Legalese they encountered in Legal English texts
Additionally, unclear teacher instruction was another worth- mentioning challenge students had to deal with when reading ESP texts, in addition to the previously described categories Specifically, their lack of legal knowledge and relatively dry or inappropriate teaching methodology were the two primary problems of teachers of this course as perceived by students
In terms of the course materials, participants in the survey and interviews sometimes lost their motivation to read because the coursebook does not contain the topics of their interests One possible reason could be its low level of practicality because it represents the British law system, which students can not apply to the area of Vietnamese law system in their future career For those who are advanced English users, otherwise, found the book too easy and texts in the books might be outdated from the authentic legal documents they need to deal with later on
Orts (2015) conducted research that supported the findings about issues with background knowledge when it comes to legal english Law is firmly formed on the basis of legal knowledge, and both legal knowledge and legal culture conform to the way in which legal writings are created and understood (Orts Llopis, n.d.).As a result, one cannot completely comprehend a legal document unless one has a comprehensive understanding of the legal contexts included within that document
3.2 Strategies to solve the problems
There are three main aspects that should be concentrated on regarding strategies, namely students‟ process of reading ESP materials, teacher‟s training as
41 well as the teaching methodologies they apply to the ESP lessons and students‟ English entry level
According to the findings, the most common ways students used to tackle the problems when reading legal texts were to process information in both English and Vietnamese as well as to use references in both Vietnamese, and understand the topic of the text In other words, students had the tendency to translate the legal terms as well as the legal concepts from English to their mother tongue to better understand them
One way to better student‟s ESP comprehension is to diversify ESP reading materials Most students start studying LE by reading foreign books and textbooks, and immediately feel like they are stuck in a dead end due to lack of words, and do not understand the legal system as well as the legal way of thinking of Common Law It is suggested by students in the interviews who were more academically successful that foreign textbooks are not the only thing to help them study LE
As it is suggested from an article published by Vietnam Legal Education and Career Forum on the basic issues concerning Legal English, students should start with laws, contracts, legal documents in English used in Vietnam Students can learn quickly and effectively by reading legal theses and law dissertations (in English) written by Vietnamese students and PhD students studying abroad, which can be found on the internet As Vietnamese law is the basis of the majority of theses and dissertations, students will be able to grasp and interpret legal terms if they have a good understanding of Vietnamese law ([ENGLISH FOR LAW] Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Luật: Những vấn đề cơ bản, 2020)
The researcher believes that focusing on teaching methodology as well as the ESP teacher’s training as a whole would greatly help improve students‟ reading comprehension of ESP materials This is due to the fact that teachers also contributed largely to the problems in the area of vocabulary and background knowledge in students (2 most common problems detected from students‟ perceptions)
Translation was also a common pedagogical method that the teachers of this course employed in Legal English classrooms, according to the qualitative data There were complaints from students that sometimes their teacher‟s translation can be
42 confusing to them It is true that translating legal documents may be a challenging feat even for professors, much less second-year law students