Corpus

Hong Kong Learner Corpus of Legal Academic Writing in English

As part of the needs analysis for this project, we compiled a corpus of assignments written by undergraduate Hong Kong law students, called the Hong Kong Learner Corpus of Legal Academic Writing in English, or HKLCLAWE. Some of the key features of the corpus are:

535 assignments;
398 different student writers, mostly second language writers;
Most student writers enrolled in LLB or JD at one of the three law schools in Hong Kong;
Texts in five genres: case note, essay, judgment, problem question, and submission to legislature.

The texts have been converted into .txt files, systematically cleaned, and identifying information has been removed. Background information on writers has been collected in anonymized form and includes: year of study, gender, year of birth, first language, other languages, place of secondary education, medium of instruction in secondary education. In addition, based on grades awarded, the assignments have been classified as either ‘Distinction’ or ‘Merit’.

Requesting a copy

The corpus can be shared with researchers in applied linguistics, language and law, and legal education, for research purposes only. Those who would like to consult the corpus may use the Contact Us form in order to request a copy of the texts and associated writers’ background information. Please describe your interest and your purpose in using the corpus when you do so and note that the corpus is provided for research only and may not be further circulated.