An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorGreenbaum, Lesley Anneen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBangeni, Abongween_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-11-29T17:25:15Z
dc.date.available2014-11-29T17:25:15Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.description.abstractCriticisms in the media and in the law professions about the writing skills of law graduates have drawn attention to the challenges that novice law students experience in acquiring these skills at the foundation level. Our research project attempts to understand the nature of these challenges from multiple perspectives: firstly, by sourcing students' understandings of their challenges with legal writing through semi-structured interviews, followed by a close textual analysis of samples of their writing, as well as through feedback from teaching staff. In this paper, we present the findings of our textual analysis of their writing. We illustrate how their difficulties with legal writing manifest at the levels of content, concept and lexico-grammar and how the students' struggles with legal concepts had implications for their overall engagement with the content of the subject matter. At the level of content, students exhibited problems with the appropriate presentation of subject matter, achieving precision in their writing and showing evidence of an appreciation of what counts as tacit knowledge within the discipline, while at the lexico-grammatical level they struggled with tense, preposition and article use. The paper concludes by recommending some strategies for responding to these challenges while taking into account their resource implications.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationGreenbaum, L. A., & Bangeni, A. (2013). An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law. <i>Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9823en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationGreenbaum, Lesley Anne, and Abongwe Bangeni "An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law." <i>Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning</i> (2013) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9823en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGreenbaum, L., Bangeni, A. 2013. An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law. Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0259-2312en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Greenbaum, Lesley Anne AU - Bangeni, Abongwe AB - Criticisms in the media and in the law professions about the writing skills of law graduates have drawn attention to the challenges that novice law students experience in acquiring these skills at the foundation level. Our research project attempts to understand the nature of these challenges from multiple perspectives: firstly, by sourcing students' understandings of their challenges with legal writing through semi-structured interviews, followed by a close textual analysis of samples of their writing, as well as through feedback from teaching staff. In this paper, we present the findings of our textual analysis of their writing. We illustrate how their difficulties with legal writing manifest at the levels of content, concept and lexico-grammar and how the students' struggles with legal concepts had implications for their overall engagement with the content of the subject matter. At the level of content, students exhibited problems with the appropriate presentation of subject matter, achieving precision in their writing and showing evidence of an appreciation of what counts as tacit knowledge within the discipline, while at the lexico-grammatical level they struggled with tense, preposition and article use. The paper concludes by recommending some strategies for responding to these challenges while taking into account their resource implications. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning KW - textual practices KW - legal writing KW - novice law students LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 SM - 0259-2312 T1 - An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law TI - An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9823 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/9823
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationGreenbaum LA, Bangeni A. An analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in law. Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning. 2013; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9823.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentAcademic Development Programme (ADP)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyCentre for Higher Education Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.sourcePer Linguam: A Journal of Language Learningen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.5785/29-2-147en_ZA
dc.subjecttextual practicesen_ZA
dc.subjectlegal writingen_ZA
dc.subjectnovice law studentsen_ZA
dc.titleAn analysis of the textual practices of undergraduate and postgraduate novice writers in lawen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
CHED_article_LawNoviceWriters_Greenbaum_2013.pdf
Size:
364.26 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles