Hafner PhD thesis
Designing, Implementing
and Evaluating an Online Resource for Professional Legal Communication
Skills
Please cite as:
Hafner, C. A. (2008). Designing, implementing and
evaluating an online resource for professional legal communication
skills. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Macquarie University,
Sydney.
Download
in pdf format
Abstract
The
ability to use language effectively is an essential part of legal
training and has been identified as an area of concern for Hong Kong
law students. In order to become proficient members of the legal
discourse community, law students must develop an understanding of
conventional writing forms, processes and practices as well as patterns
of legal reasoning and problem-solving. However, in general,
practitioners of legal education in Hong Kong tend to see language
skills development as falling outside their area of responsibility. As
a consequence, time and resources allocated to the important task of
enhancing English for legal purposes are minimal.
In
view of these constraints, it was felt that a computer-mediated online
resource integrated with existing law courses would most effectively
provide students with the language support that they needed. A small
team of legal academics and language professionals collaborated in the
development of the resource. The computer tools developed include: a
Microsoft Word add-on, with help files designed to guide students in
the writing process; an online concordancer with links to glossaries of
legal terminology and academic vocabulary, and further links to legal
and language dictionaries; and a genre-based web site with tasks, with
content developed by legal academics and language professionals.
A
number of issues arise in the development and implementation of such a
computer-mediated resource for teaching and learning. For example,
content must be designed to address gaps in students’
understanding of discourse community conventions (including form,
process and practice as mentioned above). In addition, technological
tools that clearly integrate with the students’ learning
process and facilitate that process should be provided. Further, it is
desirable that computer-mediated learning tools provide students with a
mix of both formal and informal learning opportunities, promote student
involvement and control, and provide students with space for planning
and evaluating learning experiences. It is also important that students
learn skills and strategies that will be of use to them once they move
on from the academic environment to the professional world of work.
This
thesis evaluates law students’ understanding of discourse
conventions in relation to professional legal genres, by comparing
student text and associated interviews with the text of established
legal professionals. The thesis also evaluates student online
behaviour, through a combination of large-scale logging of
students’ online activity and small-scale user tests,
observation, analysis of learner journals and interviews. Data
collected over a 2 year period are compared in order to ascertain what
kind of learning activities were perceived to be valuable to students
and why. Implications are drawn from this study and suggestions made
for changes in future practice.
Table
of contents
1
Introduction
2 The social and institutional context of legal practice and training
in Hong Kong
3 Teaching and learning professional legal communication: Theoretical
considerations for an online resource
4 Design of the LAWS resources
5 Genre analysis of barrister's opinion: Background and
methodology
6 Genre analysis of barrister's opinion:
Results
7 Monitoring learner behaviour in LAWS: Epistemological and
methodological issues
8 Monitoring learner behaviour in LAWS: Research
design
9 Monitoring online learning behaviour:
Results
10 Monitoring learners' corpus consultation behaviour:
Results
11 Conclusions and implications
If
you would like to know more, click
here to download a copy of the thesis in pdf format.