2023-2024 / LANG0031-1

Dutch, Standard and legal language

Duration

90h Th

Number of credits

 Bachelor in law6 crédits 

Lecturer

Liliane Gehlen, Pierre Geron

Language(s) of instruction

Dutch language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is intended for first-year law students and aims at providing them with the basics of legal Dutch while enhancing their command of general Dutch. 

- Reading general and legal texts
- General and legal vocabulary
- Oral skills
- Listening skills (videos)
- Consolidation of grammatical structures

CEFRL levels of the course:

  • listening (B2)
  • reading (C1)
  • speaking (B2)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The main objectives of this course are:

  • to improve the students' ability to read and understand texts about legal issues, such as (legal) journals, legislation and other legal documents.
  • to enhance their speaking skills through role playing, discussions and debates on the issues studied in class.
  • to improve their listening comprehension of legal and everyday Dutch through listening tasks on topics discussed in class.
  • to learn how to use relevant vocabulary and grammar tools. 
To achieve these objectives, students will have to revise and/or develop their grammar and vocabulary, as well as other practical language skills.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

The class is taught in Dutch from the start and the different texts and articles studied in class are not meant for beginners. This couse is meant for students with a prerequisite B1 level of Dutch as described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Reading, oral and listening activities.
Learning a foreign language takes regular training. Coming to class, preparing for and engaging in learning activities are key to successful learning.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

This 90-hour course is taught all year round:

  • 1st term: 4h/week
  • 2nd term: 2h/week
Students will make sure to prepare the texts and exercises on a weekly basis at home as indicated by the teacher.

Recommended or required readings

- "Nederlands voor rechtenstudenten"
Liliane Gehlen - Pierre Geron
Available online (on MyULiège & eCampus)

- Grammaticaoefeningen | Eerste Bachelor in de Rechten
Liliane Gehlen
Available online (on MyULiège & eCampus)

- "Leesmap"/Readings File
Liliane Gehlen - Pierre Geron
Will be released online (on MyULiège & eCampus) in due course.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam AND oral exam

- Remote

oral exam


Additional information:

 1. A mid-year exam will be held in january. It counts for 20% of the final mark.

The written assessment will test the following points:

- The grammar modules revised in the first term;
- The general and legal vocabulary seen in the first term;
- The student's understanding of a text related to the subjects covered in the first term.

Students will be granted full credit for june and september IF he /she has earned a minimum score of 10/20. Please note that marks lower than 10/20 (even 9,99/20) are NOT rounded up.

2. Final exam consisting of 2 compulsary assessments

      2.1 Written exam in 3 parts (= 40% of the final mark):

Part 1: Listening comprehension 

Part 2: 'Code': grammar and (general and legal) vocabulary studied revised in class and at home

Part 3: Reading comprehension (= sight text)


      2.2 Oral exam in 2 steps (= 40% of the final mark):

Step 1: will be about the articles students have chosen and prepared in the readings file. Students should not only be able to summarize and discuss the contents of the articles they selected but also to make links with all the topics studied throughout the year. The readings fill will include specific guidelines as to how to deal with this part of the oral exam.

Step 2 : the different topics dealt with throughout the year will be the main focus of attention in this part of the exam.

The oral exam will assess not only the students' speaking skills (their ability to get a message across fluently and correctly), but also their use of the vocabulary exercised in class. The accuracy of the contents will also be looked at.

Remark : On top of steps 1 and 2 from the oral exam, 2nd-year students  whose curriculum includes the so-called 'Supplément en langue seconde' will present a literature search on one or two subjects related to Belgian law. The results of this search will be gathered in a portfolio which be due on April 19th at the latest. All the documents must be written in Dutch.

All parts of the final exam are compulsory in june and september. 
Students who do not take both the written and the oral parts of the exam will be assigned a mark of 0. (No partial exemption will be granted, except for the mid-year exam; see above). The same rule applies to the second exam session, which means that students who failed the exam in June will have to resit both parts of the exam.

If covid regulations do not allow in-person assessments, the  examination will consist of an oral examination organized by videoconference.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Lectures will resume: see Celcat

Contacts

Teachers:

- Liliane Gehlen (l.gehlen@uliege.be)

- Pierre Geron (Pierre.Geron@uliege.be)

Association of one or more MOOCs