Study Programmes 2016-2017
LANG0051-1  
General and Legal English
Duration :
90h Th
Number of credits :
Bachelor in law6
Lecturer :
Frédéric Depas, Pierre Geron, Kevin Heyeres, Caroline Hougardy, ISLV, Estelle Oger
Language(s) of instruction :
English language
Organisation and examination :
All year long, with partial in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents :
This English course is intended for first-year law students and aims both at improving their command of general English and at providing them with the basics of legal English in reading, listening and speaking.
CEFRL levels of the course :
  • listening (B2)
  • reading (C1)
  • speaking (B2)
  • writing (B1)
Learning outcomes of the learning unit :
By the end of the term, students will have
  • developed their ability to read and understand legal texts such as legal periodicals, commercial legislation, legal correspondance and other commercial law documents.
  • increased their comprehension of spoken English when it is used to speak about legal topics in meetings, presentations, interviews, discussions, etc.
  • strengthened their speaking skills and become able to engage more effectively in a range of speaking situations typical of legal practice, such as client interviews, discussions with colleagues and contract negotiations.
  • learned how to use the necessary vocabulary and grammar tools .
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
The class is taught in English from the start and is not meant for beginners. Students should ideally have reached level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages before the start of the class.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
This 90-hour course is taught all year round in two-hour session, twice a week in the first term and once a week in the second term. To be able to keep up with the fast pace of the class, students will make sure to prepare actively and regularly at home the exercises from the book and other additional tasks as indicated by the teacher.
In the same way, students will be expected to revise their basic English grammar on their own.
Recommended or required readings :
The course book "English for Law Students" is available at Point de Vue, on Myulg and on eCampus.
Students are required to bring a paper version of the course book to class.
Students who wish to improve on their grammar are advised to get hold of the Grammaire Anglaise de Base (ISLV), Editions de l'ULg
Besides, students will need a good bilingual dictionary (English/French, French/English) such as The New Collins Robert French Dictionary or Oxford/Hachette.
They are also advised to get hold of a monolingual dictionary such as Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners or Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Some of these are also available free of charge on the libraries' website.
Assessment methods and criteria :
There will be a written exam in January and a final exam in June.  The final exam in June will be made up of a written and an oral part.
The written exam in January will test the grammar, vocabulary, and the texts seen in class during the first term. Students who passed the January exam will not have to resit that part of the exam in June/August.
The written exam in June will be composed of true or false and multiple-choice questions about listening and reading comprehension, and about the grammar and the vocabulary seen in class.
The oral exam (June) will assess not only the students' speaking skills, but also their use of the vocabulary and language functions exercised in class as well as the comprehension of texts seen in class.
Part of the oral exam will be about texts selected from a readings file.
The points that make up the final mark will be distributed as follows:








  • Written exam in January / resit in June or August : 5 points
  • Written exam in June : 5 points
  • Listening comprehension exam (June) : 2 points
  • Oral exam (June) : 8 points
NB: Students who do not take both the written and the oral parts of the exam will obtain a zero in total (No partial marks can be obtained). The same rule applies for the second session, which means that students who failed the exam in June will have to resit both the oral and the written parts of the exam in any case.  However, students who passed the exam in January or passed the January part of the exam in June do not need to retake that part in August.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
An information session about the language courses will take place on Monday September 19th at 10.00 AM in room 604 (Europe).
Students will have to sign up for one of the different groups during the information session on Monday, 19th September 2016.
Contacts :
Teachers:
Frederic DEPAS (F.Depas@ulg.ac.be)
Pierre GERON (P.Geron@ulg.ac.be)
Kevin HEYERES (K.Heyeres@ulg.ac.be)
Caroline IZEGRAR-HOUGARDY (C.Hougardy@ulg.ac.be) (coordinator)
Estelle OGER (Estelle.Oger@ulg.ac.be)
Items online :
English for Law Students - Course Book
This General and Legal English Course Book will be used in class during the first and second semester.