Freeland, S; Li, G; Young, A --- "Crossing the Language and Cultural Divide The Challenges of Educating Asian Law Students In a Globalising World" [2005] LegEdDig 60; (2005) 14(2) Legal Education Digest 17

Crossing the Language and Cultural Divide — The Challenges of Educating Asian Law Students in a Globalising World

S Freeland, G Li & A Young

[2005] LegEdDig 60; (2005) 14(2) Legal Education Digest 17

14 Legal Educ Rev 2, 2004, pp 219-238

Over recent years, large numbers of law students from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries have undertaken legal studies in overseas institutions. In Australia the growth in the number of Asian students undertaking degrees in law over the past decade has been staggering. This phenomenon gives rise to a number of important issues. The authors set out some of the important reasons why Asian students have seen it as necessary to seek to further their legal education in countries such as Australia. This involves an assessment of the type of skills required of those Asian students undertaking law in Australia and how the educative process should continue to evolve to meet these needs.

International events in recent times, such as the expansion of the World Trade Organisation, the Asian Economic Crisis and the September 11 attacks in the United States, have highlighted the need for co-operative and multilateral approaches to address issues of global concern. With the increased inter-dependence of states, it is imperative to develop co-operative and multilateral solutions to these issues. As a result, law students need to anticipate a more holistic and less state-centric view of law and legal regulation. States cannot seek to participate and benefit from the globalisation of trade and industry without also accepting other aspects of this globalisation process. All of this will have important ramifications for tomorrow’s Asian lawyers.

In order for the lawyers of Asia to play their proper part in designing and implementing appropriate legal norms for the changing geopolitical and economic environment on a global, regional and domestic scale, they must be cognisant of the broad spectrum of issues that this encompasses. It is for these reasons that the tendency for Asian students to undertake law studies in countries such as Australia will continue. Still, the diversity in educational background, ethnicity and motivation continues to plague foreign students’ ability to deal with the transition into an Australian or Anglo education system.

Even if foreign Asian students pass the prescribed English language requirements, it is difficult for academics to be certain that the correct or intended message is received during lectures and tutorials. Recent studies have found that more than half of the foreign Asian students surveyed had a weak command of the English language. As a result, simply keeping up with lectures and tutorials becomes a formidable task. The massive and rapid industrialisation process of Asian countries over the last three decades has exacerbated the demand for skilled labour, causing a tendency for their education system to be based on quantity, not quality. Thus, intensive learning styles and factory-like ‘rolling out’ of new graduates is considered to be a necessary policy to meet industrial demands. Asian students become prone to memorising vast amounts of information without any time for thought, analysis or critical thinking. Naturally, all of these developments raise questions as to how we should address the demands of these globalised Asian law students in Australia. This process, the experience and expertise of the educators and the makeup of the teaching curriculum must be adapted to reflect these challenges.

‘Traditional’ teaching through a lecture/seminar system may not be sufficient to serve the needs of tomorrow’s Asian lawyers. No doubt, many Australian universities attempt to facilitate some of these activities; however, more needs to be done. Australian law schools must recognise the need to engage faculty members from a diverse range of background experience, particularly those familiar with relevant disciplines and the region as a whole. This means that more resources need to be invested in formulating these specific teaching programs and training. The curriculum is the area where perhaps the most significant changes can be made on an ongoing basis.

Recent statistics have shown that three out of five foreign students choose to pursue information technology and business-related degrees, as there is a perception amongst these students and their parents that skills obtained from business degrees would provide them with the highest return for their investment. For foreign Asian students coming from rapidly industrialising economies, where business information is prevalent in their daily lives, there is an implied assumption that learning economics may not be too alienating, compared to law subjects whose content may be significantly different to their own legal system. Yet, many foreign Asian students still find economics a difficult subject to comprehend and study. Time-proven teaching methods, such as an interactive learning environment, are the most effective in encouraging students to learn and probe deeper into the topic. Equally important is the development of critical thinking, the deconstruction of the concepts and linking them to earlier topics covered. Catering to various learning patterns and methods is not easy to achieve. Often, many Asian students are left to fend for themselves. Even though many universities provide language support through the international student offices, they tend to only address specific aspects of the problem.

Law teachers in Australia may confront a similar but different set of challenges when teaching business law to Asian students. Several key factors that may help explain this include: (1) the Asian student’s attitude towards law as a subject matter; (2) the legal system in the student’s home country; (3) language and cultural barriers; (4) the approach, method and purpose of education; and (5) the scope of application from acquired knowledge.

Due to the need for a global approach to business and political interactions, Asian students, as well as local students, would need to appreciate business law, not as a compulsory subject but as a tool to facilitate the workings of international commerce and political relations. Drawing from the experience of the economics department, a possible strategy to improve Asian students’ interest in studying law as part of their business degrees is to include electives in Asian law subjects. Similar to the study of economics, Asian students might find studying law a tedious task, particularly for those who are weak in their command of the English language. Asian students with a weak English foundation continue to face a challenge in terms of communicating legal concepts and arguments, coupled with their inability to read the textbooks. More acute is the problem of Asian students’ lack of ability to develop arguments in their written assignments.

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) prides itself on its innovative thinking. Since 2000, the Faculty of Law has been running a special law program called ‘Mandarin International’ in Master of Laws and Master of Legal Studies. The UTS law faculty provided considerable resources to develop this course, as it had to be delivered in Mandarin. A Chinese version of the curriculum, readings and lecture framework had to be developed from the ground up.

After eight semesters experience of delivering the program, there are several lessons to be learned. The achievements of the program were: (1) to bridge some of the difficulties for Chinese students coming from a very different legal system; (2) achieving exponential growth in student enrolments; (3) developing a set of bilingual curricula and readings for an Australian degree consistent with other postgraduate programs; (4) many international law subjects were very well received and popular with the students, such as international business law, international banking and financial laws; and (5) the students’ performances were satisfactory in most of the subjects with an extremely low failure rate.

The lessons learnt were: (1) This is an innovative program running on a basic faculty academic and administrative infrastructure. In reality, it required a separate administrative structure, including bilingual administrative staff, curriculum development personnel and student liaison. (2) Due to the bilingual requirements, a large contingent of support staff was needed. The selection of personnel required extensive consideration. (3) The Chinese students from a very different legal system experienced a steep learning curve. Ideally, an orientation program would be implemented to introduce Australia’s legal attributes and the rationality of a common law system to the Chinese students. (4) The design of the course would be geared towards a more international perspective. (5) Assessment methods and criteria were difficult to design. Initially, the program allowed students to submit their assignments in either Chinese or English. (6) The cultural differences in an Australian-centred program were probably the most difficult to overcome. The lack of both critical thinking skills and the ability to develop arguments were the two main issues.

Australian education providers, particularly at the university level, have developed into a key export service industry over the last two decades. However, commercialisation does pose certain downsides if the courses are not well managed or designed. Law teachers might design a short orientation seminar course to orientate the students’ mindset about the Australian legal system and doctrines, so that keeping up with the local students is not too difficult. In addition, essential skills, such as note-taking, could be taught. Alternatively, a separate business law subject could be made available for Asian students with the emphasis on comparative legal structures in the context of globalisation.