Beyond Evaluation: Reading Comprehension of Legal English
Reading authentic legal documents is often a complex task. Testing the reading comprehension of English language learners depends on evaluating multiple aspects of legal discourse, such as vocabulary, text structure, reasoning, discourse markers, details. This quantitative field study specifically e...
Gardado en:
| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/asp, |
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| Auteurs principaux: | , |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
ASp
2026
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| Sujets: | |
| Acceso en liña: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | Reading authentic legal documents is often a complex task. Testing the reading comprehension of English language learners depends on evaluating multiple aspects of legal discourse, such as vocabulary, text structure, reasoning, discourse markers, details. This quantitative field study specifically examines student understanding of three seminal United States Supreme Court Opinions. It affords special attention to the identification of organizational discourse markers known as steps or moves (Swales 1990). The results show that elements of vocabulary, text structure, reasoning, discourse markers of steps or moves, and details are all moderately correlated with overall comprehension. A reflection on test construction design and washback concludes this empirical study. |
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