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Language Learning in Higher Education

Journal of the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS)

Editor-in-Chief: Szczuka-Dorna, Liliana / O’Rourke, Breffni

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Developing law students’ communicative-linguistic competence: Analysis of eight Spanish legal textbooks from a sociopragmatic perspective

Joseba Ezeiza Ramos
  • University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Law, Basque Language and Communication Department, Manuel Lardizabal Ib. 2, San Sebastian, 20018, Spain
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Published Online: 2015-04-30 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2015-0007

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Abstract

This article presents a study carried out on eight Spanish legal textbooks in order to draw up an inventory of educational resources available to support the development of law students’ communicative competence, taking into account the law degree curricula at Spanish universities (Ezeiza Ramos forthcoming a, forthcoming b). The analysis was carried out by using a sociopragmatic approach to teaching language with specific purposes (Bhatia 2002a, 2002b, 2004, 2008, 2010), which postulates that the acquisition of specialist communicative competence requires a tactical space in which obtaining discursive knowledge in its double (social and textual) dimension and learning about the subject itself are combined, thus taking into account the nature of relevant professional practice itself. Applied in the legal sciences area, this perspective takes the form of a pedagogical model based on three main axes (Candlin & Bhatia 1998, quoted in Bhatia et al. 2004): a) practice contexts; b) text genres; and c) strategic skills. From this starting point, I analysed: a) the learning and language use contexts offered in the textbooks studied; b) the text genres which educational materials are based on; and c) the dimensions of competence development (behaviours, knowing “that” and know-how) the materials can be used with. This allowed me to identify a wide range of ideas and resources which, after appropriate adaptation, can be used to support the development of communicative competence in L1, L2 and FL learning contexts.

Keywords: LSP (languages for specific purposes); legal communication; legal language; communicative competence; ESHE (European Space for Higher Education).

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About the article

Joseba Ezeiza Ramos

Joseba Ezeiza Ramos holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics (Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language) from Nebrija University, Madrid (Spain), and an MA in Terminology from Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (Spain). He is currently a lecturer in the Basque Language and Communication Department of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and teaches legal language and communication in both the Law and Criminology degree programmes. He also coordinates the “IusKom – Language, Communication and Law” innovation team, whose main aim is to research the development of professional communication competences in the legal area.

Published Online: 2015-04-30

Published in Print: 2015-05-01

Citation Information: Language Learning in Higher Education, Volume 5, Issue 1, Pages 125–155, ISSN (Online) 2191-6128, ISSN (Print) 2191-611X, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2015-0007.

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