Action research in designing and implementing courses of English for Legal Purposes

Abstract

English for Legal Purposes (ELP) appears to be gaining popularity and acquiring a new dimension in many countries. An increasing number of legal professionals (i.e. law students and legal practitioners) consider their General English satisfactory but desire to learn the language of their professional domain, as they believe it will bring them improved job prospects in the future. There are some aspects of ELP teaching that can be both a hindrance and a challenge for ELP teachers. These include the lack of curricula for teaching Legal English at tertiary level institutions and the restricted number of teaching resources and guidelines with reference to teaching Legal English available on the market. This article draws on the outcomes of a three-year research project, which was undertaken to design, implement, and evaluate an ELP programme for adult professionals. The research project was conducted among 293 legal professionals in Poland and took the form of an action research model - a research tool that is not often exploited by scholars despite its unquestionable value.