Do students know basic legal vocabulary? Gender and educational differences in Spain and Latin America

Miranda D.R.; Gómez P.O.; Ezpeleta A.M.; Báez A.B. · Investigaciones sobre Lectura (2024) · DOI: 10.24310/isl.19.2.2024.20987

Resumen

This study examines the knowledge of the fundamental legal terminology among university students in Spain and Latin America, with a particular focus on the influence of gender and academic discipline. A quantitative, cross-sectional, non-experimental design was employed, with data collected from 850 students at universities in Spain, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. The analysis employed Student’s t-tests and ANOVA to examine the influence of variables such as gender and academic area on knowledge of the legal lexicon. The findings indicated that males exhibited a notable superiority in their comprehension of technical terminology, exemplified by terms such as “exonerate” and “habeas corpus.” Conversely, females demonstrated a proclivity for practical terminology, as evidenced by their superior understanding of terms such as “tenant.” Similarly, students of law and economics exhibited the highest level of proficiency in legal lexis, in contrast to the lower scores observed in arts disciplines. These differences reflect both the influence of an individual’s educational background and possible cultural biases and prior exposure to specialised lexis. Social studies scores are low, while arts studies scores are below average. The study highlights the importance of integrating legal lexical learning into educational programmes to foster more inclusive and robust citizenship skills. Further research using longitudinal approaches and more representative samples is recommended to address the limitations of the design and context of this research.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos