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Academic English for Professionals in Russian Legal System
The coursebook is designed for undergraduate law students specializing in the following spheres of law: Russian law, International Law, Comparative Law, whose native language is other than English. The Level of English before starting the course is supposed to be not lower than B1-B2 according to the CEFR. The book is aimed at developing academic and professional English skills. In in other words, prospective students are supposed to learn the English language used in special contexts (academic and professional). Thus, the primary objective is not to explain the system of law (either domestic or foreign), but to teach students to critically analyze the material related to it and to communicate at the university level and inside the profession, where students need to be prepared to listen to lectures in English, read academic and legal texts, produce different types of texts (paragraph, summary, essay, case brief), do research and present its result (in oral and written form).
To achieve its objectives the book puts stress on academic, professional and communicative skills. The academic component is realized through mastering critical thinking skills, search for information skills, note-taking skills, comparing and contrasting skills. The professional component is realized through case studies, reading legal texts, genre writing. In accordance with students’ academic and research needs the book is provided with specific vocabulary for Russian legal realia and activities to practice it. Communicative skills are developed through pairwork, groupwork and teamwork activities. The illustrative examples have mostly been taken from the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English.
The book can be used both in class and individually. It can be suggested as an additional course book for first or second year students.
