[lg policy] Need for overhaul in the way Maltese, English are taught

[Harold Schiffman]

Need for overhaul in the way Maltese, English are taught

Evarist Bartolo

At least 44 per cent of our fifth formers are not competent in English
and Maltese after 12 years of schooling and so their whole educational
achievement is threatened. At least 44 per cent of our fifth formers
are not competent in English and Maltese after 12 years of schooling
and so their whole educational achievement is threatened. Because we
are officially a bilingual society, Maltese and English are taught in
our schools as if they were two native languages that our children
acquired automatically through schooling and socialisation.

But thousands of Maltese children are being brought up in families and
educated in schools where English is not used regularly. We also have
thousands of children whose first language at home, in the school and
in their community, is not Maltese. But we have a one-size-fits-all
language policy for all our children and schools. As this policy
ignores our reality, it has not worked and is still not working. On
average, only 56 per cent of our students walk away with passes in the
Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) in English language and Maltese.
This failure to achieve competence and proficiency in English and
Maltese also explains why only 60 per cent of our students are
continuing to study after the age of 16.

At least 44 per cent of our fifth formers still do not manage to
become competent in English language and Maltese after 12 years of
schooling, and without a good grasp of these languages, their whole
educational achievement is threatened. SEC and Junior Lyceum examiners
still refer to poor spelling, weak grasp of grammar and syntax, poor
reading habits and lack of imagination and creativity in their reports
on students’ performance in English language and Maltese SEC and
Junior Lyceum examinations.

To change all this, we need to design appropriate curricula,
examinations, syllabi, content and pedagogical methods in the teaching
and learning of English and Maltese. The Maltese SEC and Matsec
examination needs to be split into two different papers: language and
literature. Our students should be given the option to choose one of
these papers and a pass in the Maltese language SEC and Matsec exam
should be enough to qualify them for a course at the University of
Malta.

Steps should be taken to modernise the teaching of Maltese and choose
content that is more relevant to the young people being schooled now.
Forcing thousands of our teenagers to cover a Maltese SEC syllabus
that is closer to a pre-industrial Malta 80 years ago than to their
daily lives makes them hate Maltese literature and gives them the
sensation that Maltese is a strange and remote language. We have very
good contemporary writers who are creating literature that is very
relevant for young people growing up today. However, this literature
is being kept away from our schools.

Teaching material and methods have been developed to help foreigners
learn Maltese but our schools do not make any use of these
experiences. The same goes for the teaching of English, where the
success we have achieved in teaching the language to over a million
foreigners has not been transferred to our schools to teach our own
youngsters. We should use the know-how and experience we have built in
the sector of the teaching of English as a foreign language to improve
the teaching of Maltese and English in our primary and secondary
schools.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101024/education/need-for-overhaul-in-the-way-maltese-english-are-taught


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