Metacognitive scaffolding in teaching English for law students

Abstract

Metacognitive support in foreign language classes for law students is considered as a potentially effective pedagogical technology that fosters students’ ability to self-manage their learning process. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of introducing metacognitive elements into English lessons for law students through a comparative analysis of students’ level of metacognitive awareness before and after the experimental period. The article presents the results of an empirical study involving 30 students, equally divided into two groups (control and experimental). Students’ metacognitive awareness was measured twice: at the beginning and the end of the experiment by an author-developed questionnaire consisting of 15 questions in three blocks. Statistical processing of the results was performed in Excel. For 14 weeks, students in the experimental group completed tasks aimed at developing planning, monitoring, and self-evaluation skills. The results of the experiment showed an increase in the level of metacognitive awareness of students in the experimental group by an average of 21,5%. The practical significance and novelty of the study is in the validation of metacognitive educational technologies in the class of Legal English. The practical tasks can be used to design educational programmes and teaching materials aimed at developing students’ skills in independent information work, critical thinking, and self-regulation.

Keywords

• Legal English
• evaluation
• legal education
• metacognitive awareness
• metacognitive scaffolding
• monitoring