<div dir="ltr"><h1>[WATCH] Education minister says different languages enrich the country</h1>
<h2><p>Council of Europe study shows that Malta provides a very
positive context for multilingualism and that strengthening one language
should never come at the expense of another</p></h2>
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<div class="">Martina Borg </div> <div class="">11 May 2015, 12:33pm</div>
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<div class="">Education Minister Evarist Bartolo • Photo by Ray Attard</div>
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<div class="">Council of Europe study shows that Malta provides a very positive context for multilingualism • Video by Ray Attard</div>
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At the launch of the Language Education Policy Profile
earlier today, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that languages
were the basis of learning and that an effective language policy would
aim to strengthen all the languages learned without taking away from any
one of them.
<br><br>
“I believe thatstrengthening one language should never come
at the detriment of the other,” Bartolo said explaining that the new
language education policy would aim to address this issue without
imposing a one-size fits all attitude.
<br><br>
This view was confirmed by the study carried out by Council
of Europe experts at the request of the Ministry of Education. The
study, entitled the Language Education Policy Profile outlined the
country’s current linguistic position and possible developments of
language education in the future.
<br><br>
Chair of the Maltese Language Policy in Education Committee
Charles Mifsud also explained that the study had involved various stages
including the production of a country report by the relevant
authorities, a week’s study visit by a group of experts from the various
member states of the Council of Europe.
<br><br>
“The visits started in February 2014, and then again in June
and November of 2014, as well as earlier this year, where the group of
experts, made up of Elidir King from the UK, Jean-Claude Beacco from
France, Marisa Cavalli from Val d’Aosta and Philia Thalgott as a
representative of the Council of Europe. The visits saw the experts
visit various schools on the island and also talk to various educators
and stakeholders on the subject,” Mifsud said.
<br><br>
He added that the visits had revealed a strong willingness
to strengthen language learning, but that there was not one single
solution to be employed throughout the country.
<br><br>
“The study is aimed merely as a self-evaluation and it does
not offer a definitive list of potential decisions,” said Rapporteur
Elidir King.
<br><br>
Discussing the results of the study, King said that one of
the most universal issues in the country was how to manage bilingualism,
code switching and the new phenomenon presented by migrant languages.
<br><br>
King commented that the issue of code switching, whereby
Maltese people tend to switch from one language to another, could be
used as an asset rather than the liability it is currently treated as.
<br><br>
“Code switching can be used by educators to consolidate
certain explanations that may be problematic to students,” Bartolo added
to the observation.
<br><br>
Referring to the issue of migrant languages, King said that
this was a relatively new issue around the world, but that countries
like Malta could stand to gain a lot from learning world languages that
were enjoying an increased presence in the country like Arabic or
Chinese.
<br><br>
The study revealed that some of the main issues that needed
to be addressed where the general perception that standards in language
learning were dropping, the languages of schooling as well as gaps in
teacher training programmes.
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