Teaching English as a foreign language to law students based on content and language integrated learning approach

Abstract

Students of all majors at Russian universities have to take a foreign language class. According to the Federal state educational standards for higher education, teaching a foreign language for professional communication to students of non-linguistic majors should be directed to their further specialization. However, the complexity of content selection for language teaching for professional purposes is that within many majors there are separate specializations. These specializations regulate and limit the future professional activities of university graduates. Analysis of the course curricula for “Foreign Language for Professional Communication” shows that in most schools the content of this course is the same for students of the same major, despite the differences in specialization. Obviously, this does not fully meet students’ professional interests and needs. Content and Language Integrated Learning Approach aims to intertwine the study of the target language and the professional content. In this paper, the authors consider the features of the content of teaching writing skills to law students, who chose three different areas of specialization: state law, criminal law and civil law. The authors develop the list of relevant written documents for students, studying three areas of specialization, in accordance with the specifics of their future professional activities.