Indonesian Research Journal on Education
Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026): Irje 2026

Legal Case Summaries as Content-Based Instruction Material to Improve Law Students’ Reading Comprehension

Orun, Putri Anugraheli Ramba (Unknown)
Jannah, Miftahul (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
27 Dec 2025

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of legal case summaries as content-based instruction (CBI) materials in enhancing the reading comprehension skills of law students in the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Conducted using a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design, the research involved 30 second-semester law students at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Hukum Biak-Papua. Over a four-week period, students were taught using simplified legal case summaries integrated into English reading instruction. A total of 20 multiple-choice items were used to assess reading comprehension before and after the intervention. The findings revealed a significant improvement in students’ average scores, from 47.33 in the pre-test to 60.33 in the post-test. A paired sample t-test produced a t-value of 6.94 and a p-value < 0.001, confirming the statistical significance of the improvement. These results support the integration of field-specific content in language teaching, in line with CBI and ESP principles, while also demonstrating how simplified legal materials help manage cognitive load, as explained by Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). Practically, this instructional approach provides ESP lecturers with a relevant and effective model for teaching Legal English in higher education settings.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

irje

Publisher

Subject

Religion Arts Humanities Chemistry Education Energy Environmental Science Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Library & Information Science Materials Science & Nanotechnology Mathematics Physics Social Sciences Other

Description

Indonesian Research Journal on Education is intended as a medium for scientific studies of research results, thoughts, and critical-analytic studies regarding research in the field of education and learning. This is part of the spirit of disseminating knowledge resulting from research and thoughts ...