Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

In contemporary legal, institutional, and security-oriented environments, language increasingly functions not only as a medium of communication but also as evidence, the interpretation of which may influence legal reasoning, institutional decision-making, intelligence assessment, and strategic analysis. The expansion of digital communication, anonymous and threatening texts, disputed authorship, cyber discourse, and propaganda narratives has revealed the limitations of purely intuitive or exclusively legal approaches to textual interpretation. Against this background, forensic linguistics has become an increasingly relevant applied linguistic discipline concerned with the systematic analysis of language in legal and evidential contexts. The paper presents a pilot interdisciplinary and bilingual model for integrating selected elements of forensic linguistics into legal foreign language education, specifically within Legal English and Legal German instruction. The model was implemented as a preliminary instructional experience rather than as a full-scale empirical study. At the beginning of the semester, an orientation questionnaire was administered to 88 students in order to identify their expectations, perceived difficulties, and learning needs in relation to legal foreign language education and language-related legal analysis. Of these students, 58 were enrolled in Legal English and 30 in Legal German. During the following three months, selected forensic linguistic topics were introduced as separate instructional modules within both courses. The most important feature of the model was its interdisciplinary design. Case materials were provided by specialists from the Faculty of Law and were based on real legal and quasi-legal situations, with full protection of anonymity and confidentiality. Linguists adapted these materials into terminology-based, discourse-analytical, and case-based learning tasks. After three months of instruction, students’ knowledge of legal terminology and their ability to analyze language-related legal materials were reassessed on the basis of the topics covered. The pilot experience suggests that forensic linguistic modules can strengthen students’ terminological competence, increase their motivation, and develop their awareness of language as evidence. The paper argues that such a model can serve as a sustainable transitional step toward establishing forensic linguistics as an independent interdisciplinary university course with relevance for legal, institutional, and military-educational contexts.