Foundation in Law students’ reading awareness of the case law genre

Background: A text of different genre might pose a different problem to students and different genre requires different approach in understanding and comprehending it. Developing the expertise in reading legal texts at an early stage of learning will be very beneficial to the students of law. This study examines the level of pre-university/foundation in law students’ awareness for the case law genre, and the aim of this study is to investigate the extent of awareness of the case law genre among the foundation in law students. Methods: Five students who were pursuing their study in the foundation/pre-university level were selected as the subjects in this study. Qualitative data were obtained through the think-aloud procedure and questionnaire which was administered after the think-aloud procedure. The transcription of each student’s verbal reports was scrutinised for evidence of genre awareness while the answers given in the questionnaire were used to support the findings of the study. Genre analysis of 4-Move structure was used to identify the students’ level of awareness. Results: The findings indicate that the students were aware of the case law genre. However, they displayed a mixed-level of awareness. Conclusion: It is hoped that this study can provide some insights into the reading behaviour of law students especially when reading case law. Knowing and understanding the case law structure is integral for law students, and analysing students understanding of reading case law can help both the students and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) educators.

Experiment in creating professionally oriented materials for teaching English to international law students

The study presents results of many years of research and analysis into the process of creating core textbooks and teaching materials aimed at developing linguistic, communicative and professional competences inherent in the future professional activities of International Law students. When creating language learning materials with a focus on a particular profession (e.g. English for Law Students), it is important to proceed from the nature and specific content of day-to-day activities surrounding the future job of a student. Detailed analysis of legal documents and professional activities that International Law students may be involved in in the future allows to gauge the necessary level of English grammar and vocabulary that needs to be attained. The process also points out what specific language and communication skills (e.g. negotiation, persuasion, etc.) as well as professional competencies may be required. Since core textbook for learning English written by native speakers are very generic and, naturally, do not aim at achieving the level of English language, communication and professional skills required by those specializing in International Law, we find it of vital importance to create a series of very niche textbooks for achieving these goals. The present study allows us to determine the structure and content of core textbooks and to create a system of grammar and lexical exercises as well communication tasks aimed at acquiring specific grammar and conversational skills within a short period of time. Of particular mention here too is mastering debating skills, which is paramount for International Law students. This again can only be achieved by creating very narrowly focused materials that will introduce these skills gradually.

Gamification, Learning, and the Acquisition of 21st Century Skills Amongst Malaysian Law Students

The diversification of pedagogic tools remains essential for a fruitful learning experience among the Gen Z students by embedding technology such as gamification in learning. Recent literature has discussed the acquisition of 21st century skills and the educational challenges generally faced by Asian students due to their cultural traits. Against this background, the findings of this study open reflections relating to the benefit of gamification in acquiring 21st century skills. The objective of this chapter is to identify whether gamification is a suitable pedagogic tool among Malaysian law students in order to support the acquisition of 21st century skills. The respondents are from Year 1 and Year 2 of a three-year Bachelor of Laws degree with the majority being Malaysian students. The data collected showed that gamification helps in the acquisition of 21st century skills. Evidently, it showed that gamification can be a suitable alternative pedagogic tool to support the students to learn skills such as critical thinking, creativity, innovation, leadership, or communication.

Семантична структура терміна «дитина» в законодавчих текстах і професійна компетентність студентів-правників: aсоціативно-семантичний аспект

Semantic Structure of the Term “Child” in Legislative Texts and Professional Competence of Law Students: Associative-Semantic Aspect This article presents the principles of reconstruction of the semantic struc­ture of the concepts of legal discourse and the methodology of evaluation of the results by involving a professionally oriented audience. The procedure was applied on the example of semantic structuring of the term “child” according to texts of international and Ukrainian legislation in the field of child protec­tion. The article concretises and deepens the idea of the conceptual meaning of the term “child”, which combines common language (non-professional) and professionally oriented idea about reality. The associative-semantic experi­ment held for the purposes of the study set three areas of work: (1) checking the level of students’ knowledge of provisions on the rights of the child; (2) checking the knowledge of key legal terms in this domain and the ability to use them in legal proceedings; (3) teaching students to differentiate correctly between legal and general vocabulary in a given field. It was also established that the semantic structure of the term “child” in legislative texts is determined by associative subcomponents – semantic microfields “child and life”, “child and protection”, “child and health”, “child and family”, “child and freedom”, “child and dignity”, “child and development”, “child and work”, “child and well-being”, “child and crime”, “child and war”, the verbalisers of which are syntactic nominations of the child and the corresponding stereotypical state­ments that mean a right of the child. Struktura semantyczna terminu „dziecko” w tekstach prawnych a kompetencje zawodowe studentów prawa: Aspekt asocjacyjno-semantyczny Niniejszy artykuł przedstawia zasady rekonstrukcji struktury semantycznej pojęć dyskursu prawniczego oraz metodologię oceny jej wyników przy udziale odbiorców ukierunkowanych zawodowo. Procedurę zastosowano na przykładzie struktury semantycznej terminu „dziecko” zgodnie z tekstami ustawodawstwa międzynarodowego i ukraińskiego w zakresie ochrony dziecka. Artykuł kon­kretyzuje i pogłębia koncepcję pojęciowego znaczenia terminu „dziecko”, który łączy w sobie potoczne i zorientowane zawodowo wyobrażenie o rzeczywistości. Przeprowadzony na potrzeby badania eksperyment asocjacyjno-semantyczny wyznaczył trzy kierunki pracy: (1) sprawdzenie poziomu znajomości przez studentów przepisów dotyczących praw dziecka; (2) sprawdzenie obeznania z kluczowymi terminami prawnymi w tym zakresie i umiejętności posługiwania się nimi w postępowaniu prawnym; (3) wdrożenie studentów do prawidłowej dyferencjacji słownictwa prawniczego i ogólnego w danym zakresie. Ustalono również, że strukturę semantyczną terminu „dziecko” w tekstach prawnych wyznaczają asocjacyjne subkomponenty – mikropola semantyczne „dziecko i życie”, „dziecko i ochrona”, „dziecko i zdrowie”, „dziecko i rodzina”, „dziecko i wolność, „dziecko i godność”, „dziecko i rozwój”, „dziecko i praca”, „dziecko i dobrostan”, „dziecko i przestępczość”, „dziecko i wojna”, których werbaliza­torami są nominacje syntaktyczne dziecka i odpowiadające im stereotypowe stwierdzenia, które oznaczają prawo dziecka.

Clinical Legal Education in Belarus: Practice-Oriented Pedagogy for Socially Engaged Law Students

The paper analyzes the evolution and changes involving clinical legal education (CLE) in Belarus. The author tends to create a historical overview of the 22 years’ experience of clinical legal education in Belarus. It will be possible to answer some questions mostly based on the inside view and 12 years of clinical experience with goals to bring some inspiration in a global context and to leave a mark on history. It focused on the new role embraced by legal clinics in Belarus and contribution to the creation of a new formation of legal practitioners. Additionally, the author shares the technological insights about clinical legal education. Thinking about the future it is important to make an overview of achievements and opportunities of going forwards. There is a great number of opportunities to implement clinical methodology to both academic studies and professional training. The research problem addressed in this paper is to substantiate the most effective forms and methods of teaching law disciplines both in Russian and in English in a law school in the context of introduction of digital forms of learning into traditional educational environment of a law school. The author carries out an analytical review of law clinics in historical perspective and how the work of law clinics is implemented in both academic curricula and professional training in Belarus.

Online Simulations for Teaching Professional Legal Skills

Experiential learning approach in legal education is a global influential trend. Legal clinics is one of the most obvious examples of including experiential learning approach into the educational curriculum for law students. The main educational value of legal clinics is a providing training opportunity for students to apply their legal knowledge and skills in professional simulations like role plays of interviewing, counselling, negotiations, mock trials (first instance hearing) and moot courts (appeal hearing). These type of training programs allow law students to test their ability to client-oriented and problem-solving. The Russian legal clinics community has been actively developing since the mid of 1990s for more than 30 years. More than 100 Law Schools over Russia have own legal clinics. Clinicians overview their experience and share this experience between clinicians community. At the same time only relevantly small part of law students have access to effective training of legal skills because of various reasons, but mostly because of relevantly small number of legal educators who use the experiential-learning approach. Transition of experiential-learning best practices into online format is a good tool of scaling the number of students who could be trained in legal skills significantly. The paper describes the collection of unsupervised online learning modules devoted to legal skills, including case strategy, interviewing, counselling, legal writing and trial skills. These unsupervised online learning modules are developed based on modern instructional approaches to developing of online educational courses. The piloting of the unsupervised online learning modules demonstrates that these modules might be used as a supplementary educational tool and as a part of main educational curriculum for law students.

Downsizing Teaching: The Case for Seminars as the Backbone of Law Degrees

This article is aimed at contributing to the ongoing debate on the purpose of law school and the work of law teachers, calling for a scholarship-based approach to teaching, centred on culture, research and method and advocating for seminars to replace lectures as the core method of teaching delivery in law schools. The article addresses, under this perspective, the salient elements of legal education: the philosophy of a teacher, the function of lectures and seminars, the problem of the time necessary to gain the required preparation, the importance of reading and the role played by assessment in the economy of a law degree. It is argued that teaching delivery methods should be the subject of constant reflection, and that the drafting of law school curricula should aim at cultivating the intellectual abilities and curiosity of law students, focussing on their education rather than their mere instruction.

Legal policy and its effectiveness in the field of certain types of judicial proceedings

This scientific publication examines the problems associated with modern Russian legal policy and its effectiveness. In particular, the issues of both general theoretical legal nature and sectoral significance are analyzed, namely, the implementation of legal policy in the field of constitutional, criminal, civil, arbitration, administrative proceedings, as well as proceedings in cases of administrative offenses, including in the aspect of recent constitutional amendments. For researchers, teachers, postgraduates, law students, practitioners, as well as for anyone interested in modern problems of legal policy and its sectoral manifestations.