Legal discourse as a subject of study and teaching in the classroom in a foreign language specialty

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Abstract

The current state of the problem of studying and teaching foreign language legal discourse is presented. Various points of view on discourse as an interdisciplinary phenomenon are analyzed. Legal discourse is considered as a kind of institutional discourse. Communication of participants in legal discourse is carried out on the basis of a certain number of rules that govern their role and normative behavior. In their actions, there is coordination inherent in this form of communication and allowing the participants in legal discourse to be perceived as components of a single whole – a larger institutional system. A brief description of the functions of legal discourse is given – prescriptive, informative, argumental, declarative, regulatory, interpretive, cumulative, presentation, strategic and code. Such properties of legal discourse as performativity and intertextuality are discussed, and its components are described. The difference between legal texts, in which the discourse of law is implemented, from texts of other specialties is shown. They are created in the legal language as a type of language for special purposes and have intra- and external-text specificity. Legal texts, in spite of their genre variety, have a predominantly standard format. Such types of legal text as court decisions and regulations, powers of attorney and contracts, wills, etc., have a specific construction plan, are divided into parts in a certain way and are drawn up graphically. Discursive analysis is considered as the most acceptable method of studying and teaching a foreign language of law.

About the authors

E. R. Novikova

Derzhavin Tambov State University

Email: evalicci@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5585-9045

Research Worker of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication Laboratory

Russian Federation, 33 Internatsionalnaya St., Tambov 392000, Russian Federation

O. G. Polyakov

Derzhavin Tambov State University

Email: olegpo@rambler.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2841-6572

Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor, Head of Linguistics and Humanitarian Pedagogic Education Department

Russian Federation, 33 Internatsionalnaya St., Tambov 392000, Russian Federation

N. V. Hausmann-Ushkova

Derzhavin Tambov State University; Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Author for correspondence.
Email: nush2001@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4347-624X

Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor, Professor of Linguistics and Humanitarian Pedagogic Education Department; Lecturer of German as a Foreign Language

Russian Federation, 33 Internatsionalnaya St., Tambov 392000, Russian Federation; 8 Geschwister-Scholl-Straße, Weimar 99423, Germany

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