Main Approaches of Business English Teaching to Future Lawyers: A Case Study of Ukrainian Higher Institutions

Abstract

The paper examines the difficulties teachers and students face while teaching and learning Business English in Ukrainian higher institutions; identifies and evaluates the problems of teaching English to future lawyers; determines the main methods and methodological approaches in teaching English for Specific Purposes and Business English to future lawyers. The authors describe a project recently piloted at the Academy of the State Penitentiary Service (Chernihiv, Ukraine) in which law students participated in the attitude survey toward learning the English language. In this study, feedback and quantitative methods were used to analyse the data of surveys. The teachers’ and students’ responses to survey questions were examined. The results showed a shift from a teacher-centred to a student-centred approach in university teaching and student preferences in learning English. The study calls for the enhancement of teaching the essential professional skills in English that students need to succeed in making their pathway choices and enable continuous growth throughout a legal career. Research findings are discussed with due regard to the surveyed students’ needs and personality-oriented principles in legal education. The results indicate a need for methodological innovations that will support meaningful learning and boost the students’ and cadets’ productivity and efficiency of teaching and learning process. Despite the experimental group involving only the cadets and students majoring in "Law" and "Law enforcement", this methodology could be applied to teaching Business English and English for Specific Purposes to a number of other specialities, in particular Economics, Psychology, Business, and International Relations.