engleski

Authentic materials - a must for successfull LLP teaching

Since language for legal purposes (LLP), as a specific type of LSP, is highly conditioned and shaped by the legal system in which it is created, it is intertwined with content knowledge to a greater degree than most other LSPs. This interconnection between language and law has significant implications for the process of legal language instruction and acquisition. Therefore, successful teaching of language for legal purposes (LLP) requires a specific methodological approach, content-based instruction (CBI), in which language teaching is not explicit and it happens through content processing (cf. Briton et al., 1989 ; Crandall 1999 ; Richards and Rogers, 2001). Such a teaching approach is especially productive when combined with authentic materials, “real life texts“ (Wallace, 1992) that “fulfil some social purpose in the language community” (Peacock, 1997), by which LLP students are better prepared for successful professional communication in real life situations in the field of law. This paper aims to demonstrate how the use of authentic materials, that, in contrast to the materials produced for pedagogical purposes, bring genuine professional and communicational context into the classroom, can enhance legal language acquisition. As the teaching experience has revealed, authentic legal texts of various genres have a twofold function in LLP courses. On the one hand, they help deepen the understanding of specialized legal content, legal concepts, procedures and institutes. On the other hand, it further scaffolds the language learning process by improving the knowledge and awareness of distinguishing nuances of meaning in specialized terminology, and by facilitating the recognition of text genres, their typical structures and language patterns. In order to illustrate the use of authentic texts in LLP courses the paper provides examples from English and German LLP classes for future lawyers and public administration experts at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb.

authentic materials, language for legal purposes, content-based instruction (CBI), legal concepts, specialized terminology, legal content, legal text genres

nije evidentirano