Faculty of Humanities School of Education 8900024a watsonp@clm.wits.ac.za / An understanding of how and what students learn is crucial to improving teaching and learning practices in universities. In the South African context, the need to achieve equity in outcome (success) gives this imperative a sharper urgency. This study investigates the development in student understandings of the concept ‘law’ during a semester of tertiary-level introductory legal study. The study begins from the understanding that ontogenetic development, in the Vygotskian sense, arises from interaction in the social domain, prior to becoming internalized as individual mental structure. The study is thus based on an understanding that the social domain plays a critical role in ontogenesis. In order to make the role of this domain evident, the study combines a Vygotskian frame, and a Vygotskian understanding of the role played by semiotic mediation in development, with a Discourse account of language. The work of Gee is used for this purpose. It is suggested that the two sets of theory are complementary, each providing a dimension that is comparatively lacking in the other. Additional literature is drawn on to further clarify the individual / social relation and it is suggested that the social domain influences individual development in at least two ways: first through the action of context, and how this acts to position text and individuals acting within it; and secondly through historical positioning: through the cultural model understandings brought to the task by the participants. From this theory is drawn a framework for analysis of the empirical data studied. This data included two essays written by students on the topic ‘What is Law’, the first at the beginning, and the second after six months, of introductory legal study. Additional data studied included the course-pack materials of the course, and transcripts of the lecture series. The primary question addressed in the research is: how can an account of first-year undergraduate students’ development of the concept ‘law’ in an introductory course on law be provided, such that the analysis enables an understanding of the role of the social domain in ontogenesis? Specific questions addressed in analysis included whether cultural model understandings, which differed between the different groups studied, were evident in initial student writings, and if so, whether these understandings might help or hinder concept development; what power relations were evident in the context, and how these could be expected to position students; and finally, what Discourse appropriate changes (development) could be read in student texts, and how this could be related both to contextual positioning and prior knowledge held. The findings of this study are specific to the study and cannot be extrapolated to different circumstances. However, at the empirical level the study suggests that factors likely to be associated with success in this context include Discourse familiarity, content foregrounding in prior knowledge structures, the development of authority in writing, and identity shifts towards an ‘insider’ position. Factors found to be associated with lack of success include conflicts of new knowledge with prior knowledge structures, a lack of recognition of the task constraints, a strong identification with a different community, and confusion resulting from contradictions in the mediation provided. These factors may help to understand differential performance in the context by students from different cultural backgrounds. At a broader level, the study suggests that the addition of a Discourse account to a Vygotskian understanding of development provides tools for analysis which are generative in contributing to understandings of how the social impacts on the individual in development. These tools make explicit the intractable nature of the content, form and values combination which functions in language to reproduce context, and through this positions individual development-in-context. This positioning does not act deterministically: through trajectory and choice, identity and individual positioning are a crucial construct in learning. Finally, the study provides evidence of the complexity of the interaction of this content, form, values combination in development: an analysis which focused on content alone would not have captured the richness of development which this method made evident

This dissertation explores verbal interactions in mock trial competitions at a US law school, in order to explore the ways that law students are taught the proper ways of speaking like advocates in adversarial speech settings. Learning to prevail in adversarial settings entails the use of conversational linguistic features whose primary function is pragmatic rather than referential. The proper use of these pragmatic markers enables lawyers to achieve desired effects in legal interaction and impression management, while maintaining intact the denotational content of their utterances. This dissertation examines in depth the feedback-mediated practices through which law students learn to use three prominent pragmatic markers in mock trials: tag questions, the declarative falling intonation, and using reported speech to cite legal authority. The metapragmatic discourses that constitute these practices socialize law students to use pragmatic markers in light of their ability to sway institutional decision-makers to favor their interpretation of the facts. The dissertation argues that these metapragmatic discourses articulate an institutional technology for the management of competing claims to propositional truth. How they justify the use of these pragmatic markers reveals, furthermore, that these technologies of truth are dialogic. Pragmatic markers allow legal advocates to project social voicing contrasts in adversarial settings, allowing them to associate the utterances of their courtroom rivals with the voice of dubious social characters, reducing the propositional value of their claims to truth. An analysis of metapragmatic discourses thus reveals the dialogic dimensions of the language of the law that relate language, agency, and power in the verbal constructions of institutional knowledge. It clarifies the ways that law students, as legal advocates, learn to incorporate broadly circulating ideologies of linguistic differentiation in their legal discourse.

Darbo tikslas - atskleisti teisinio ugdymo ypatumus tautinių mažumų mokyklose. Tyrimo objektas - tautinės mažumos mokyklos mokinių rašinių analizė teisinio ugdymo aspektu. Tikslui pasiekti vadovautasi moksline ir metodine literatūra, naudotas kokybinis tyrimo metodas – rašinių analizė. Darbo uždaviniai: 1) Išnagrinėti teisinio ugdymo ir tautinių mažumų sampratas; 2) Apžvelgti pagrindinius įstatymus, reglamentuojančius tautinių mažumų mokyklų teisinį švietimą; 3) Ištirti mokinių teisinį sąmoningumą rašto darbuose. Pirmoje dalyje išnagrinėtos ugdymo bei teisinio ugdymo sąvokos. Taip pat analizuojami teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys teisinį ugdymą. Antroje dalyje aptarta tautinių mažumų sąvoka ir išanalizuoti dokumentai, reglamentuojantys tautinių mažumų švietimą. Trečioje dalyje analizuojami mokinių rašiniai teisinio ugdymo aspektu. Darbą apibendrina išvados, teigiančios, kad tautinių mažumų mokiniai laiko save Lietuvos piliečiais. Jų pilietinė savimonė remiasi teisės normomis, galiojančiomis šalyje. / The aim of work – to reveal peculiarities of legal education at national minorities school. The object of this work – national minorities schoolchild’s analysis of an essay by legal education aspect. Scientific and methodical literature was going to reach the aim, was used a qualitative research – essays analysis. Tasks of the work: 1) To scrutinize the terms of legal education and national minorities; 2) To review the main laws which regulates the legal education of the school of national minorities; 3) To explore schoolchild’s consciousness at written work. The first part of this paper explore the terms of the education and legal education. Besides, will be analysed the legislation of legal education. The second part tries to scrutinize the term of national minority and to review the main laws which regulates the legal education of the school of national minorities. The third part explores an essays of schoolchild’s by legal education aspect. Conclusions of this work state that the national minorities schoolchild believe themselves as the citizens of Lithuania. Their civil self-consciousness is in conformity with the rules initiated in State.

The starting assumption of this thesis is that to fully understand legal practices – including legal reasoning – we need to get a grasp of the complex body of knowledge into which they are immersed. Legal studies have often assumed that legal knowledge can be reduced to the knowledge of legal rules. This research departs from this perspective and argues for an understanding of legal knowledge that includes the complex set of conceptual, procedural and affective considerations which shape legal practices in general, and legal reasoning in particular. Herein we argue that not only legal knowledge is wider than the knowledge of rules, but that there are also some aspects of legal practice that cannot be properly addressed by explicitly drafted legal rules. We purport to build such an account upon epistemologically-informed comparative legal perspectives and insights of the cognitive sciences, by way of discussing a particular factual problem. The case to be studied in this thesis is the apparent loss of certainty in Mexican legal practice, when legal professionals engage in precedent-based reasoning. The situation, which was first reported in 2006, has remained broadly unexplored, and by default has been reputed as a problem concerning the set of explicit rules that regulate the system of legal precedents in that national context. We argue that the situation cannot be fully comprehended and remedied if we exclusively focus on the dimension of legal rules, but that it would be better understood if we direct our attention to the deeper knowledge structures in which that practice is immersed. This thesis builds a case for a broadened approach to legal knowledge by unveiling the historically built knowledge structures in which the Mexican understanding of precedents is embedded. As we shall see, this particular framework has acted as a deterrent to precedent-based reasoning, as accounted by a set of theories of law and legal reasoning. By focusing on the several processes of legal change and the collateral epistemic revisions that Mexican legal professionals seem to be experiencing for the past decades, this thesis argues that changing deeply embedded knowledge structures is a difficult task that needs to be supported by revising the processes of knowledge construction, and most importantly legal education.

Law clinics have had a late start in Ghana, compared with similar initiatives in Canada. Although there have been consistent calls for the establishment of law clinics at various faculties of law across the country, development on the ground has been slow. Unlike Canada, no law school at present in Ghana has a law clinic that engages students in actual client representation. However, a comprehensive plan is now being introduced to provide legal aid and advice to the poor, and the Ghana Legal Aid Commission is taking steps to institute law clinics across the country’s faculties of law. Nevertheless, it is yet to be seen how this will be achieved. Drawing on the Canadian experience, this thesis examines the effectiveness of the law clinic method as an innovation that could be used to advance access to justice in Ghana. In so doing, a comparative legal analysis is conducted of approaches to the clinic method in Ghana and Canada, to identify ideal practices that could support the development of clinical initiatives in these countries. / Graduate

Thesis advisor: Celeste Wells / This thesis explores the ways in which physical and ideological spaces influence the experiences of women of color in law school and their subsequent perception of those spaces. Participants were interviewed and asked questions about their holistic experience in law school. The researcher applied Oyserman’s racial-ethnic self-schemas theory and Crenshaw’s intersectionality approach to analyze and interpret the findings of the data. Ultimately, it was concluded that women of color recognized their law school’s ability to prepare them to be lawyers but felt less so about their ability to navigate the professional legal industry as a woman of color. In addition, the thesis argues that the negative experiences of women of color go beyond imposter syndrome and other identity-based elements. Instead, it is more directly rooted in the spaces in law school, specifically related to the pedagogical model of the institution that clashes with identity-based experiences. Thus, the thesis suggests ways that law schools can better support women of color and a direction for future areas of study. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.

No / The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) which reported in June 2013 conceded that undergraduate law degrees are generally outside the remit of the review other than when there is a direct impact on the provision of legal services. On first glance therefore the review has few implications for those of us interested in delivering a liberal legal education and developing socio-legal approaches to law and legal study. However, on closer reading, the report contains a number of suggestions which, if taken up by the regulators, have significant potential to change law degrees, even if regulation remains “light touch”. This article explores those issues with a particular focus on the implications for liberal law degrees and socio-legal approaches to law teaching. In particular the article will explore issues around possible changes to foundation subjects; the creation of a framework of learning outcomes; the possible strengthening of legal writing and research in the curriculum and the opportunities offered for the introduction of more socio-legal material; and the trickle-down effect likely to be felt by providers of undergraduate law degrees of changes in regulation of legal services and as a result of student, employer and other stakeholder expectations.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / As individuals, we rely on the expertise of professionals to help us navigate the complex problems of modern life in areas such as medicine, accounting, social work, teaching, and the law. Although each profession has its own unique knowledge base, lexicon, and culture, they all share the need to keep members’ knowledge and skills current through continuing professional education. Driven by concerns like frequent law change, increasingly complex clients, and eroding public opinion, 46 states have instituted mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) requirements for attorneys. The Kansas Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Commission administers MCLE in the state of Kansas by monitoring attorney compliance and accrediting CLE programs. In this study, the researcher used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate two existing data sets--survey outputs and focus groups transcripts--that were captured during the Kansas CLE Commission’s Education Initiative. The 260 CLE providers completing the survey and 22 focus group members varied demographically by structure (for-profit, nonprofit) and size (number of employees or course offerings). Using quantitative statistical tools and qualitative grounded theory methods, the researcher identified the current program planning and design, delivery, and evaluation practices of CLE providers in Kansas and evaluated these practices against best practices for any learning effort, as established by CPE research and theory. Study findings indicated that most Kansas providers plan, deliver, and evaluate CLE programs using more traditional, didactic, update-oriented approaches. Most participants reported CLE curricula that were focused on keeping attorneys up-to-date, delivering classes in traditional formats using speaker presentations, and evaluating programs with Level 1 reaction methods. Only some evidence existed of providers determining attorney needs using methods such as competency models or performance evaluations, refining course delivery according to learning styles, or evaluating programs at higher levels. Still, evidence was found of providers using creative ways to incorporate some best practices into their programs, such as partnering with the other stakeholders in the Kansas MCLE space (attendees, employers, and regulators) to plan and evaluate programs. Similarly, some providers are finding new ways to incorporate more interactive learning methods into their classrooms such as discussion groups, Q&A sessions, panels, mock trials, and networking. This research also provided important insights into the contextual realities and limitations that influence MCLE provider capabilities, priorities, or choices. Cultural norms of the legal profession such as a preference for traditional educational experiences, fierce opposition to any form of testing, and a focus on billable hours affect which best practices the providers are able to implement. Likewise, the diversity that exists across learning events, law practices, and providers in this space creates challenges to implementing new practices consistently across all programs. Finally, the fragmented, multistakeholder ownership of all Kansas MCLE processes means that providers alone are not able to implement fully the recommended best practices without the help of employer partners. This study added to the general body of knowledge concerning CLE programs with contemporary research, a new focus on providers as the source of data, and a context-specific assessment of current best practices application.

Law schools are criticized for graduating students who lack the skills necessary to practice law. Legal research is a foundational ability necessary to support lawyering competency. The American Bar Association (ABA) establishes standards for legal education that include a requirement that each law student receive substantial instruction in legal skills, including legal research. Despite the recognized importance of legal research in legal education, there is no consensus of what to teach as part of a legal research course or even how to teach such a course. Legal educators struggle to address these issues. The practicing bar and judiciary have expressed concerns about law school graduates ability to conduct legal research. Studies have been conducted detailing the poor research ability of law students and their lack of skills. Although deficiencies in law student research skills have been identified, there is no agreement as to how to remediate these deficiencies. This dissertation suggests the legal research resources that should be taught in law schools by identifying the research resources used by practicing attorneys and comparing them to those resources currently included in legal research instruction at the 202 ABA-accredited law schools. Multiple data sources were used in this study. Practitioner resource information was based on data provided by practicing attorneys responding to the 2013 ABA Legal Technology Survey. Resources taught in ABA-accredited law schools were identified through three sources: a 2014 law school legal research survey sent to the 202 ABA-accredited law schools, a review of law school syllabi from ABA-accredited law school legal research and legal research and writing courses, and the Association of Legal Writing Directors 2013 annual survey of legal research and writing faculty. The combined data from these three sources were compared to the resources used by practicing lawyers identified in the annual national 2013 ABA Legal Technology Survey. This comparison of what is taught with what is used in practice identifies a deficiency in law school instruction in the research resources used by practicing attorneys. These survey results detail distinct areas of inadequate instruction in legal research resources and provide legal educators with detailed information necessary to develop a curriculum that will result in graduating students with practice-ready competencies.

O estudo objetivou identificar o afastamento entre a teoria e a prática no ensino do Direito, analisando problemas decorrentes para a aprendizagem do aluno num estudo de caso, considerando propostas curriculares de quarenta cursos de Direito. Observando a crise ontológica do próprio Direito e a necessidade da visão crítica para um pluralismo de seus paradigmas, procurou-se analisar as dificuldades enfrentadas pelo ensino do Direito desde a sua origem até a atualidade, sob um olhar direcionado às ações docentes, considerando os seus reflexos nas ações discentes. Reconhecendo a inexistência de uma formação pedagógica bem definida e sistematicamente realizada para o professor do ensino superior de modo geral, acrescentou-se, no caso do Direito, as relações entre a docência e as especificidades do meio jurídico. Sobre o afastamento entre a teoria e prática, o estudo mostrou, inicialmente, a estrutura organizacional do Curso de Direito a partir das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais fixadas para a área, com a concepção de eixos de formação fundamental, profissional e prática. Comparando-se matrizes curriculares de quarenta Cursos de Direito, afirmou-se um padrão de distribuição das disciplinas que concebem este afastamento teórico-prático em razão do estágio praticado nos últimos anos do Curso, e as dificuldades para a aplicação interdisciplinar pela visão compartimentada vivenciada para o ensino do Direito. Propondo-se explorar os discursos existentes a partir de manifestações discentes e docentes de cursos de Direito de uma universidade particular, a atenção focou vivências durante estágio de Direito Processual Civil e as suas relações com as disciplinas teóricas de Direito Processual Civil lecionadas no segundo e terceiros anos. Identificou-se o predomínio da exposição oral transitando por tais momentos, a menor utilização de procedimentos de ensino diversificados, bem como a prevalência da não valorização de atividades práticas durante a realização das aulas teóricas. Considerando a aprendizagem, procurou-se demonstrar a contribuição da Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa em Ausubel, para enriquecer a relação teórica e prática mesmo no contexto das aulas denominadas teóricas. À guisa de propostas para a diversificação de ações junto ao Curso de Direito, salientou-se a importância do papel docente na aprendizagem. A aula expositiva também foi revisitada, para reconhecê-la como procedimento possível de aprimoramento, na medida em que se promovam ações práticas para acompanhamento dos conteúdos teóricos. Por fim, apresentou-se a metodologia da Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas (ABP) como alternativa de reflexão para a transformação do ensino do Direito, estruturada numa formatação caracterizada pela concentração na ação discente e sua aprendizagem. / The purpose of this study is to identify the deviation between theoretical and practical Legal teaching and analyze the resulting issues towards the students in a study case, considering curriculum matrices of forty Law courses. By observing the ontological crisis of Law itself and the need for a critical view of the pluralism of its paradigms, difficulties faced in legal education since its beginning are analyzed in light of the teaching actions considering their repercussions on the students actions. Recognizing the lack of a well-defined and systematically conducted formation of the higher education professor in general, the relations, in Law, among teaching and the specificities of the legal means were added. On the deviation between theory and practice, this study shows, initially, the organization structure of Legal education under the National Curriculum Guidelines with framings for the axes of fundamental, professional and practical formation. The standard distribution of the subjects conceiving such theoretical-practical deviation as a result of the internship at the latter years of the course and the difficulties for the interdisciplinary application of the compartmentalized view experienced in Legal education were found by comparing the curriculum matrices of forty Law courses. In order to explore the existing speeches from the manifestations both students and professors in the Law courses of a private university, experiences throughout the internship of Civil Procedure and its relations with the theoretical subjects of Civil Procedure taught at year two and three were focused. Prevalence of oral exposition, lower use of diversified teaching procedures, and prevalence of non-appreciation of the practical activities conducted during theoretical classes were identified. Regarding learning, the contribution of the Meaningful Learning Theory in Ausubel was demonstrated to enrich the theoreticalpractical relation, even in a context of predominantly theoretical classes. By way of proposals regarding the diversification of the actions alongside the Law course, the importance of the professors role in learning was highlighted. Lectures were also revisited to recognize them as a possible improvement procedure as it promotes practical actions to follow theoretical contents. To finish, the Problem Based Learning (PBL) methodology was presented as an alternative thinking for the transformation of Legal education, structured and characterized with focus on student action and its learning.