From Legal Writing to Oral Advocacy: An ESP Needs Analysis of Professional Communication Competence among Final-Year Law Students in Pakistan

Abstract

The present quantitative needs analysis examined the needs of final-year LLB students (9th Semester; N = 56) in oral and written communication at the College of Law, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) in Pakistan. The study used descriptive statistics, Pearson bivariate correlations, paired-sample t-test to map the needs profile of students on the verge of joining the legal profession.  A 20-item five-point Likert-scale instrument utilized for data collection in four areas, which are Legal Writing Needs (Section I), Legal Genre and Accuracy Awareness (Section II), Curriculum Adequacy and Training Gap.  Findings show consistent high average scores in each of the four sections (overall M = 4.09, SD = 0.54), with the largest ones on items of career-anchoring: strong speaking skills are essential to becoming a lawyer (Q20: M = 4.55), writing skills are essential to the career of a lawyer (Q6: M = 4.50), and a course in specialised legal communication Section IV (Legal Speaking: M = 4.173) is marginally higher than Section I (Legal Writing: M = 4.149) but a paired-samples t-test shows that there is no significant difference between the two areas (t(55) = -0.448, p =.656), meaning that final-year students equally are in need in both domains at the same time Pearson correlations demonstrate that there are significant correlations between inter-domain, especially between Legal Writing and Legal Speaking (r =.810, p < .001) and Legal Writing and Legal Genre (r =.809, p <.001), which proves that oral and written legal communication competences are co-constituted and demand a curriculum response in a form of integrated form. The mean correlation of inter-items between all 20 items (r2 =.443) shows there is sufficient instrument consistency. Results suggest that a special Legal English Communication course must be introduced at the College of Law at GCUF based on the Pakistani legal genres, oral advocacy practice based on task, and scaffolding of legal writing.                

Keywords: Legal English, Speaking Needs, Writing Needs, ESP Needs Analysis, Final-Year Law Students, Pakistani Legal Education, Oral Advocacy, Legal Writing, Curriculum Gap