La Ensenanza del ingles Juridico – Spanish Essay
This essay is going to deal with the most frequent problems in the design of English courses for students of law, the solutions found by the author, Anabel Borja Albi, and the results of the adopted focus. Anabel
designed the syllabus focusing on the main principles of ESP-English for Special Purposes. It is a syllabus for the
students of law at Jaume I University divided into three half-yearly courses. The large number of students per class is absolutely discouraging -nearly ninety. As a
consequence, the lessons are given in huge lecture rooms with fixed furniture and microphones, which are not the most appropriate conditions for teaching neither
for learning.
Firstly, the analysis of learner needs using questionnaires at the very beginning of the course turned out to be unsuitable since the students were afraid
of the level and felt incapable of facing ESP courses. Concerning this fact, the syllabus has to deal not only with the academic aspects ( the students should
be able to understand judicial texts in order to investigate and face their professional future) but also with the professional ones ( English for
Business is a course of major importance since a huge percentage of
students would work in multinationals or firms related to external
trade). As a result of this analysis of learner needs, many objectives should be
posed.
As a measure to tackle these problems this author proposes some
objectives such as getting the students familiar with the language related to
law gradually in order to encourage them to increase their knowledge in some ESP
courses related to law. Another objective is explaining the students how to use the
language related to law in English in order to understand authentic legal
documents -in this respect, ESP and EAP ( English for Academic Purposes) would be
linked. Moreover, introducing specific vocabulary gradually and making the students
connect these new lexical items with daily life situations in order to make easier their
learning. And last but not least, helping the students with the acquisition of some
basic communicative skills to function effectively in their target situation-business.
These objectives must be taken into account in the syllabus design.
Concerning the syllabus design, we are dealing with ESP courses, in this case
English for Law. The specific content is a factor of major importance in the syllabus
since it encourages the students to undertake this course and introduces not only
linguistic issues but also communicative and practical ones. As an introduction the
course tries to arouse curiosity. Then, the first and second semester introduce
some vocabulary related to law using realia. Abstract judicial concepts are
utterly avoided in these semesters -the lecturer will give priority to concepts
which students are more familiar with. Themes are related to work, contracts,
firms, etc. Every lesson deals with a legal concept that can present a practical
application. Finally, the last semester is quite different -concepts concerning English
for Business are introduced. In this semester the course is much more focused on
communication. Learners will have acquire more autonomy which will alow them to
investigate. Afterwards, they make oral presentations in class which will generate a
discussion among all students.
To sum up, the syllabus design of a course of English for Law tackles many
problems. The high number of students in the lecture room, the bad
conditions and an inappropriate methodology complicate the learning. The analysis
of learner needs, the objectives and the syllabus design constitute the base of this
study. Do not forget any of these points if you want to be successful in your syllabus design.