1002237 - LINGUA GIURIDICA INGLESE 3
Course Structure
The course seeks to develop students’ grammatical skills, vocabulary and the use of syntactic functions with reference to the specific language of law and academic English, and to provide a pragmatic tool for linguistic investigation and text analysis. The course also aims to provide students with the ability to understand a wide range of texts in English and to use the language flexibly and effectively in the academic and professional contexts, focusing in particular on the nuances of legal English.
Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.
Learning assessment may also be carried out on line, should the conditions require it.
Detailed Course Content
Knowledge and understanding: Students who attend classes assiduously and productively will gain knowledge about law in the United Kingdom and will learn how to understand the mechanics of the English language with respect to its specific cultural and professional context. They will learn how to dissect the language – morphology, lexis, idioms, syntax – of law; they will learn to distinguish bills from acts, law reports from other sources of law; they will learn to describe the court system, legal professions and other aspects of the British legal system (contract, tort, criminal law, business structures, ADR).
Applying knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to understand longer and fairly complex texts in English; to express themselves with a degree of fluency that makes interaction quite possible; to use the language flexibly and effectively in the social, academic and professional contexts (focusing in particular on the nuances of legal English); to present clear descriptions on the range of subjects covered during classes, explaining their viewpoint on topical issues and giving advantages and disadvantages of various options.
Textbook Information
1. Legal English: Sofia Parastatidou, Jacopo D'Andria Ursoleo, Kate Gralton. Legal English. Pearson Italia, 2021 (parti selezionate).
2. General English: Antonia Clare, JJ Wilson, Stephanie Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+. Students’ Book & Workbook (2nd Edition). Pearson Education Limited, 2015.
3. Academic English: David Porter. Check your Vocabulary for Academic English. London, A&C Black, 2007.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
| 1 | Introduction to the English Legal System: A historical overview | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 2,3,6 |
| 2 | The English Court System | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 4,5,7 |
| 3 | The Legal Profession | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 8,9,12 |
| 4 | The Language of Law | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 10,11,13 |
| 5 | Essential Elements of a Contract and Breach of Contract | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 18,19,22,26,27,29 |
| 6 | Tort of Negligence and other types of Tort | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 34-39 |
| 7 | Defences, Limitations, Remedies | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 40,41,44 |
| 8 | Sole Traders, Partnerships, Limited Liability Partnerships, Joint Ventures | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 50-61 |
| 9 | Companies, Directors, Shareholders, Corporate Insolvency | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 66-77 |
| 10 | Criminal Liability, Defences, Criminal Litigation | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 82-93 |
| 11 | History of Land Ownership in the UK | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 98,99,102 |
| 12 | Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, Civil Litigation | Parastatidou, D'Andria Ursoleo, Gralton. Legal English, pp. 130-141 |
| 13 | Exercises: fill in the gaps, choose the right/best word, finish the sentence, word substitution, make a collocation. | Porter. Check your Vocabulary for Academic English |
| 14 | Question forms, review of verb tenses, collocations with go, take, get, do, talking about yourself, interview advice | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 1) |
| 15 | Present perfect, past simple, prepositions, narrative tenses, telling a story, say/tell | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 2) |
| 16 | The future (plans, predictions), future time markers, idioms, dealing with misunderstandings | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 3) |
| 17 | must / have to / should, used to / would, adjectives, reaching agreement, business | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 4) |
| 18 | Comparatives / superlatives, technology, question tags, word building, polite requests | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 5) |
| 19 | Zero / first / second conditionals, -ing / -ed adjectives, multi-word verbs, verb-noun collocations, giving news, responding to news | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 6) |
| 20 | present perfect simple and continuous, verb phrases, present and past abilities, clarifying opinions | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 7) |
| 21 | articles and quantifiers, compound nouns, relative clauses, being a good guest, accepting apologies | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 8) |
| 22 | Third conditional, passive form, periods of time, collocations, expressing uncertainty, describing people | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 9) |
| 23 | reported speech, word building (prefixes), verb patterns, reporting verbs, giving advice, making generalisations | Clare, Wilson, Dimond-Bayir. SpeakOut B1+ (Unit 10) |