USING COURT DECISIONS IN PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

The article investigates the advantages and possibilities of using texts of court decisions in the process of teaching Ukrainian professional language to prospective law enforcement officers. Attention to the chosen topic is motivated by the need to continue improving the knowledge and skills of applicants for higher education in professional language, as well as to diversify the teacher’s arsenal with professional texts, which have been limitedly studied in the aspect of their language. It is determined that these particular legal texts have significant potential because of their accessibility for processing by the teacher and applicants, as well as their authentic nature, which in turn allows for effective work with non-adapted text and content. The availability of a wide range of forms is noted as another advantage, because it allows the teacher to select the necessary material for various linguistic observations. Also, the main areas of using texts of court decisions are characterized in the scientific exploration. First of all, their effectiveness is outlined in mastering stylistics, in particular, the dominant features of the official business style and its linguistic means, as well as emphasized on the expediency of linguistic observation of clericalisms, language stamps, clichés peculiar to the texts of the legal substyle. In addition, the specifics of using court decisions to improve the spelling literacy of applicants, to expand their knowledge of typical abbreviations are traced. The possibilities of using the texts of court decisions in the process of studying the lexical array of the specialty are demonstrated, in particular, their wide potential for studying professional terminology. Attention is paid to the necessity of editing lexical mistakes and technical errors in the texts of court decisions. Theoretical concepts are illustrated by the most typical examples selected from the texts of court decisions posted in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.