Methods of teaching law: the lecture method

1. The methods at a glance

No method is best for every purpose. The choice depends on the aim of the course (knowledge, analysis, skills, values), the size of the class, the stage of the students, and the resources. A good course combines methods.

2. The lecture method: meaning and history

The lecture is an oral presentation by the teacher of an organised body of knowledge to a group of students. It is the oldest university method. In the medieval universities of Bologna and Paris, where Roman law was revived, the teacher read and explained the texts of the Corpus Juris Civilis and students copied them; the word comes from the Latin lectura, a reading. The lecture remains the dominant method in the civil-law systems of continental Europe, where law is taught as a systematic body of principle from codes.

In India the lecture came with the colonial law classes, delivered by part-time practitioners in the evenings. It is still the main method in most affiliated law colleges, partly by tradition and partly because classes are large.

3. Merits

• Economy: one teacher can reach a large class, which matters where classes have a hundred or more students.
• Structure: a good lecture gives a map of a subject, showing how its parts connect, which a student reading cases cannot easily build alone.
• Coverage: a syllabus can be completed in the time available.
• Up-to-date synthesis: a teacher can present recent statutes and judgments before textbooks catch up, as with the new criminal laws from 1 July 2024.
• Inspiration: a gifted lecturer conveys enthusiasm and a way of thinking, not only information.
• Suited to beginners, who need concepts before they can analyse cases.

4. Defects

• Passivity: students listen and take notes; there is little thinking on their part. Attention falls off after the first part of a long lecture.
• Rote learning: lecture notes become the material memorised for examinations; the primary sources are not read.
• One-way communication: the teacher does not know whether students have understood.
• No skill development: it does not train students to read a judgment, argue, draft or advise.
• Dependence on the teacher: a poor lecturer, or one who dictates notes, makes the method useless.
• Unsuited to values and attitudes, which are learnt by experience.

5. Making the lecture work

1. Plan: state the objectives; limit the content to a few main points.
2. Structure: introduction (what and why), body (points in logical order), conclusion (summary and link to the next class).
3. Interaction: pause for questions; pose a problem midway; ask students to apply a rule to a short set of facts. The “interactive lecture” combines the lecture with features of the Socratic and problem methods.
4. Materials: give a reading list of cases and statutes; circulate an outline so that students listen instead of transcribing.
5. Examples: use recent cases and local facts.
6. Visual aids: diagrams of statutory schemes; slides used sparingly.
7. Assessment: short tests and assignments that require reading beyond the lecture.

6. Supplements: tutorial and seminar

Tutorial. A small group or individual meeting in which students present written work and discuss it with a tutor. It is the basis of the Oxford and Cambridge system. It gives individual attention and develops writing and argument, but it is costly in teacher time.

Seminar. A group of students, each of whom researches and presents a topic, which is then discussed under the teacher’s guidance. It trains research, presentation and critical discussion, and is the standard method in LL.M. courses. Its weakness is that students who are not presenting may not prepare; the remedy is to require every member to submit a short response paper.

Moot court and simulation. Students argue a hypothetical appeal or conduct a mock trial. Moot Court Exercise is a compulsory clinical paper under the BCI’s Rules of Legal Education, 2008.

7. Choosing a method: learning outcomes

Educational theory offers a test for choosing among methods. Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives (1956, later revised) arranges learning from remembering and understanding, through applying and analysing, to evaluating and creating. The lecture serves the lower levels well; the case and Socratic methods serve analysis; the problem method serves application; the seminar, the dissertation and the clinic serve evaluation and creation. A teacher who states the intended outcome of each class can then choose the method that fits it. This is also the basis of outcome-based education, which accreditation bodies such as the National Assessment and Accreditation Council increasingly expect.

How this is examined

For a survey question, reproduce the table and give two merits and two defects of each method, ending with the need for a mixed method. For a question on the lecture alone, give its history, six merits, six defects, the debate, and the ways of making it work.