2019-2020 / LANG0031-1

Dutch, Standard and legal language

Duration

90h Th

Number of credits

 Bachelor in law6 crédits  

Lecturer

Doris De Laet, ISLV

Language(s) of instruction

Dutch language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is intended for first-year law students and aims at providing them with the basics of legal Dutch while enhancing their command of general Dutch. 
-Reading general and legal texts -General and legal vocabulary -Oral skills -Listening skills (videos) -Consolidation of grammatical structures
CEFRL levels of the course: 

  • listening (B2)
  • reading (C1)
  • speaking (B2)
  • writing (B1)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The main objectives of this course are:

  • to improve the students' ability to read and understand texts about legal issues, such as (legal) periodicals, legislation and other law documents.
  • to strengthen their speaking skills through role playing, discussions and debates on the issues studied in class.
  • to improve their listening comprehension of legal and everyday Dutch through listening tasks on topics discussed in class.
  • to learn how to use relevant vocabulary and grammar tools. 
To achieve these objectives, students will have to revise and/or develop their grammar and vocabulary, as well as other practical language skills.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

The class is taught in Dutch from the start and the different texts and articles studied in class are not meant for beginners. This couse is meant for students with a prerequisite B1 level of Dutch as described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Reading, oral and listening activities. 

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

This 90-hour course is taught all year round:

  • 1st term: 4h/week
  • 2nd term: 2h/week
Students will make sure to prepare the texts and exercises on a weekly basis at home as indicated by the teacher.

Recommended or required readings

- "Nederlands voor rechtenstudenten" - Doris De Laet - version 2019-2020  Available online (Myulg) and at Intercopy 
- "Nederlands Niveau 1 en 2. Oefeningen bij de spraakkunst" L. Gehlen Available at Intercopy

- "Beknopte basiswoordenschat 1 - 2 - 3" L. Gehlen & C. Colin Available at Intercopy

Assessment methods and criteria

 1. A mid-year exam will be held in january. (2/20)
=Written assessment:

  • Syllabus "Beknopte Basiswoordenschat"
  • Certain grammar items  (to be specified)
  • Legal vocabulary (to be specified)
2. Final exam consisting of 2 compulsary assessments: 
      2.1 Written exam in 3 parts (12/20)
Part 1 (2/20): listening comprehension 
Part 2 (5/20): grammar, reading skills and vocabulary studied in class
Part 3 (5/20): reading comprehension: sight text

      2.2 Oral exam in 2 parts (6/20)
Part 1 (3p): Will bear on all topics studied during the year. 
part 2 (3)p:
- 1st-year students will present a text at least 1,5 pages long about a legal issue selected from a source of their choice. They will be required to hand in a copy of their text to their teacher during the week of March 18th.
- 2nd-year students will present a comparative study on Dutch and Belgian law based on a text file of minimum 10 pages that will have to be submitted during the week of March 18.  All articles (or legal texts) must be written in Dutch. 
The oral part will assess not only the students' oral skills, but also their use of the vocabulary exercised in class. 

Note:
Attendance is compulsory. 
Mid-year exam: The student will be granted full credit for june and september if he /she has earned a minimum score of 10/20
All parts of the final exam are compulsory in june and september.  Students who do not take both the written and the oral parts of the exam will be assigned a mark of 0. (No partial exemption will be granted, except for the mid-year exam; see above). The same rule applies to the second exam session, which means that students who failed the exam in June will have to resit both parts of the exam. 

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

A general introduction to the language courses will be organized on monday 16 september 11.30 in lecture hall 604 (Europe).
Lectures will resume on october 1st.

Contacts

Teacher:
Doris De Laet (D.DeLaet@ulg.ac.be)

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session

Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning

Online live course via Cisco Webex and Collaborate Blackboard during normal teaching hours. Contact by email.

Assessment subjects

 
Part 1: Syllabus "Nederlands voor rechtenstudenten: The examination will cover all the material, texts and videos on the following pages of the syllabus: 

  • 19 --> p. 58
  • 67 --> p. 107; p. 109--> 111 (except pages 85, 97, 98)
  • 117, 118
  • 135, 136
  • 153, 154
  • 159 --> 182
Part 2: Reading file
- 1st-year students will present 2 recent texts on a legal topic selected from a source of their choice. The combined length of the 2 texts will be minimum 3 pages. The 2 texts will relate to any legal subject.
- 2nd-year students will present: 1) a comparative study on Dutch and Belgian law based on a text file of minimum 10 pages that will have to be submitted during the week of March 18.  All articles (or legal texts) must be written in Dutch. 
2)  a text at least 1,5 pages long about a legal issue selected from a source of their choice  
The texts will be sent to the teacher by April 30

Assessment methods

The first session exam will consist of an oral exam. This exam will be organized by videoconference (Cisco Webex), book open.
The mark obtained in January will count for 2 points out of 20, only if it is to the advantage of the student. The final grade will be calculated with and without the January grade and the most favorable grade will be retained.
Part 1: questions on the syllabus. (60%)
Part 2: Questions on the reading file. (40%)
During the exam, students will be assessed on their ability to:

  • discern the main message and identify relevant details
  • summarize, structure, compare and contrast
  • express an opinion
  • define and explain key concepts
  • translate or paraphrase extracts from texts.
Particular attention will be paid to:
  • the richness and precision of the content
  • the use of grammar
  • language accuracy and fluency
  • the use of the legal vocabulary exercised during the year.

Contacts

Teacher:
Doris De Laet ( d.delaet@uliege.be )

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session

Assessment subjects

Same as for the 1st session.See commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session.

Assessment methods

Same as for de May -June session 2020. See commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session.
Detailed description see "Contenu et modalités examen de 2e session" under "support de cours"

Contacts

Teacher:
Doris De Laet (D.DeLaet@ulg.ac.be)