Author: Glenda Crosling

Monash University

Keywords: Law Adjunct Program, commercial law, legal language, business, teaching initiative.

Article style and source: UltiBASE STAR Report

Contents

• Situation
• Target
• Activities
• Results

Situation

More specifically, the program aims for students to develop study strategies and an approach which enables them to 'unpack' the disciplinary discourse. Thus, students are positioned to identify the discipline's embedded assumptions and values which underpin their analysis and writing in the subject. As an adjunct, the program uses course content for these purposes and consequently the students understandings of the subject content are strengthened as study strategies and thinking style are discussed.

Initially, the program presents strategies for text and case reading and summarising. A major part of the program, however, focusses on application of disciplinary knowledge through students analysing typical writing tasks, practising writing responses, and comparing these responses with model responses. This approach is beneficial beyong Commercial Law. Students can extrapolate from the strategies presented in order to analyse other disciplinary contexts and organisational settings, and thus be well-placed to communicate appropriately in speaking and writing.

Target

In adjunct programs such as the Legal Language, assessing the program's impact on students' performance is problematic. However, because students voluntarily attend the program in addition to lectures and tutorials, attendance rates can be one gauge of its relevance. Qualitative, formative assessment can be made of students' understandings and difficulties as the program progresses; areas of difficulty can be addressed in successive sessions. Such information can also be communicated to subject staff for consideration in the mainstream teaching program. Summative assessments can be made by comparing the subject grades of students who attend four or more sessions of the program with the grades for the overall student cohort. Given that it is likely that less able students would be more likely to attend the adjunct program, this can provide some indication of the impact of the intervention.

Activities

Again as demonstrated in the text, the role of cases in the legal system and in legal arguments is explained as students note how legal principles arise from decisions in precedent cases. Students can then appreciate that the significant information in case summaries in the text is the material facts, the decision and reasons. Rather than providing a precis of the complete case, this is the information that should be included in case summaries. Such summaries will be incorporated in legal arguments that students develop in response to problem questions. They are also useful in preparation for the examination.

Analysis of problem questions from past exam papers begins with discussion of the writer's position, as established in the directions to the students; for example, & quot; Advise Fred of all relevant legal arguments arising & quot;. Through discussion, students can see that their position in analysing and writing the response is a legal advisor in the context of the adversarial legal system. Their written responses must therefore be structured to present the issues embedded in the problem and then both sides of the arguments arising from these issues. Finally, further replicating the court system, they need to judge the stronger argument which is likely to succeed if the case represented in the problem goes to court.

In the program, participating in groups, students analyse problem questions and plan and write responses. In discussion within the group, students can refine their subject understandings. After forming and writing their group responses to the problem, students can then compare their responses with a model provided by a subject lecturer. Used in a descriptive rather than a prescriptive manner, such models can be used by students to gauge if they have selected the appropriate issues in the problem, compare the structure of their legal arguments, and modify any misconceptions. For example, they may note the way cases are used as authority for law cited in the model and importantly, the way the facts from the problem question are analysed in terms of the law. Appropriate thought processes for analysing facts and developing legal arguments are thus apparent, and students can adapt this approach for other problem questions.

Results

Two classes are provided weekly to cater for demand, with some 150 students attending in the earlier stages of the semester. As can be expected, student attendance declines as students become more confident in their studies of the subject, although often new students begin to attend as they encounter difficulties with the subject. The special sessions attract about 200 students each.

Qualitative assessment; subject grades:

One way to assess objectively the impact of the program on attending students' performance in the subject is to compare the results of students who attend 4 or more of the voluntary classes against the overall results for the subject. In 1995, such an assessment revealed that, of the 26% of the studnts who attended the Legal Language program, the percentage of High Distinctions and Distinctions is similar to those for the total population of students undertaking the subject: .6% and 5% respectively for the Legal Language program, and .4% and 4.7% for the total population. However, for the group of students who attended the Legal Language program, a higher percentage scored Credit and Pass grades than for the overall student cohort: 27% and 55% respectively for the Legal Language group, compared with 21% and 49% for the total population of students. A lower percentage of students attending the Legal Language program failed than for the total population: 12% for Legal Language , 23% for the overall student population.

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