Study Programmes 2016-2017
LANG3004-1  
Reading legal texts in German
Duration :
30h Th
Number of credits :
Bachelor in law3
Lecturer :
Françoise Carl, ISLV
Language(s) of instruction :
German language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents :
The aim of this course is to provide 3d year law students  with the reading comprehension strategies needed for understanding legal  documents, such as newspaper articles,  legal texts, as well as other law-related documents. It will cover a wide range of legal subjects and will focus on :


  • the acquisition of reading comprehension skills and strategies
  • syntactic and grammatical structures which are particularly relevant in a legal context
  • the acquisition of basic legal vocabulary
By the end of this course, students should have reached level B1+ / B2 of the CEFR.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit :
In order to meet the requirements for the final exam as defined by the Faculty of Law, students should, by the end of the class, be able to :


  • read and understand effectively legal documents, such as newspaper articles, legal texts, as well as other law-related documents of manageable difficulty.
  • translate appropriately extracts from legal texts or other law-related documents.
Students are allowed to use a a bilingual dictionary and/or legal dictionary.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
As a prerequiste for this course students should have sufficient ability to read general texts.
Ideally, their command of general German should correspond to CEFR-level B1.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
  •  Reading comprehension exercices of legal documents
  • Efficient and effective use of a dictionary
  • Study and acquisition of basic legal terms
  • Study of relevant language items (linking words, adverbs, prepositions, verbs, particles, particular sentence structures ...) with the aim of enabling students to understand legal texts better
  • Study of various grammatical structures that are relevant to both legal and general German
  • Various translation exercices
 
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
2 hours per week, second term
Students are supposed to prepare activities and exercises on a weekly basis as indicated by their teacher. Regular class attendance is mandatory.
Recommended or required readings :
  • Course book 'Reading Legal Texts in German"
Will be made available on Myulg in the coures of the year.
 


  • N. Schumacher, H. Bouillon, "Guide de grammaire allemande" (De Boeck, 2007) ISBN: 978-2-8041-5406-6
Assessment methods and criteria :
 Written exam of 2 hours. The exam will primarily assess students' reading comprehension abilities through various exercises. To a certain extent students' passive knowledge of important language items will also be tested  
 The exam will be based on various extracts (multiple choice questions and translation exercises). It will consist of two parts :








  • Part 1 will be based on the texts covered in class (10/20)
  •  Part 2 will be based on unfamiliar texts (10/20)
 
An  optional exemption exam ( for exact modalities see LANG 4004-1) will be organised for 2nd year students. It will coincide with the second session exam.
  Studets will be allowed to use a bilingual dictionary and/or legal dictionary. However, they are not allowed to use either electronic media or other written media, such as word lists or glossaries. In case of doubt, students should seek advice from their teacher in order to make sure that they have chosen an appropriate dictionary.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Françoise Carl (PhD)
fcarl@ulg.ac.be