First-language grammar in the classroom : from consciousness raising to learner autonomy

According to students grammar lessons are boring and tedious. If you ask them why they will tell you that almost all they do in grammar lessons is to study and to practice 'rules' (see Micallef 1995). When asked how they feel about learning 'grammar', Form 3 students at a Juniour Lyceum stated that grammar " ... tad-dwejjaq, fiha qabda regoli, u li fiha ma nifhmu xejn. Kollox trid tistudja bl-amment ghall-eiami" (it is tedious, full of rules that we do not understand. Everything has to be studied for the exam). When asked why they think they should learn grammar they replied that without it "ma niktbux Malti tajjeb u importanti ghax tkun fl-eiamf' (we cannot write Maltese correctly, and it is important for the exam). Form 1 students were also asked to give their opinion about grammar and grammar lessons. They think that they need to study grammar "biex nispellu tajjelf' (to spell correctly); and that grammar is" dik li toqghod taghmel hafna jien, int, huwa, hija. Konna ndum u nimlew pages fil-Year 6 biex ghamilna tal-junior!" (full of conjugations. We used to fill pages of them when we were preparing to sit for the 11 + examination). Little do they know that as native speakers they make constant use of grammar in their everyday communication!peer-reviewe

Exploring the acquisition of tense and aspect by adult foreign learners of Maltese

This article describes an initial analysis of the acquisition of Maltese as a foreign language by adult learners. It specifically looks at four verbal tense and aspect forms. Three intermediate-to-advanced level learners were asked to carry out a set of tasks, and the resulting data was compared to that produced by three adult native speakers of Maltese. The main finding was that on production tasks (unanalysed knowledge) the most commonly used tense/aspect by foreign learners is the ‘imperfett’ (unrestricted habitual aspect) which native speakers (NSs) use only half as much as the foreign learners (NNSs). On the other hand, native speakers use the ‘perfett’ (past tense) twice as much as the foreign users of Maltese. Another interesting finding is that on tasks that require analysed knowledge the main difference between NSs and NNSs was that the NNSs had greater difficulty with the progressive and the restricted habitual, but did not show significant variability with regard to the ‘perfett’ and ‘imperfett’. Thus, the results indicate that (i) there is a difference in the performance of NNSs in quantity rather than quality with regard to the ‘perfett’ and ‘imperfett’; and (ii) that on tasks requiring analysed knowledge NNSs have difficulty with regard to the progressive and restricted habitual forms.peer-reviewe

Interaction and approximation to the target language during Italian lessons in Malta

For many years it had been considered axiomatic that in the foreign language classroom exposure to the target language should be emphasized, and that the learners’ native language should be banned. However, in recent years, the analysis of classroom discourse has unravelled some essential pedagogical functions of the learners’ native language in foreign language teaching (Macaro, 2009). In line with this, the term ‘translanguaging’ has been introduced in the international literature with reference to the drawing on all of the linguistic resources that one has in order to ‘make sense’ (Garcia, 2009), and to improve language learning processes and outcomes (Lewis, Jones & Baker, 2012). Taking a sociocultural discourse analysis approach, this contribution shows how Maltese learners of Italian and their teachers interact bilingually to fulfil pedagogical requirements such as the assimilation of grammar points, explaining new vocabulary items, and shifting from formal to informal language. We give examples of how the teacher guides the learners in interaction toward target language approximation.peer-reviewe

Empathizing with Migrants: Multimodality and Partnership in Teachers’ Professional Development

The demographics of the Mediterranean islands like Malta have changed drastically in the last 10 years mainly due to migration flows from the south and east. During the scholastic year 2018-2019, Maltese schools had a 12% non-Maltese population overall, but in some coastal areas, this meant an 80% shift to a cohort of non-Maltese students. Teachers have been abruptly faced with the need to adopt multicultural and inclusive pedagogical approaches for which they did not feel they were fully equipped. This article describes the creation of a multimodal video production aimed at filling in this gap. It is based on the Partnership Studies philosophy, proposed and expounded by the anthropologist and social activist Riane Eisler, and on the Blue Option, a cooperative and proactive approach that looks at the “sea” as a space for encounter, understanding, and new intercultural awareness. The video has been tested with two groups of teachers in training, in order to investigate whether, and in what ways, it inspires student-teachers to express empathy with the migrants. Positive results have been extrapolated from the written reflections of the participants

Edina Krompák, Victor Fernández-Mallat, Stephen Meyer (Eds.) (2022) : Linguistic landscapes and educational spaces [book review]

This book belongs to the series by Multilingual Matters on ‘New Perspectives on Language and Education’, and it is one of my recent favourites. The topic of linguistic landscape and educational space has caught the attention of scholars in the last decade or so, and in my opinion, it is generating some very useful research that is accessible to teachers. It can help them become aware of their own schoolscape, and the messages that the schoolscape explicitly and implicitly gives. This book can also inspire them to adopt some very motivating tools in teaching. The linguistic landscape in general is documented, described and analysed in a variety of ways. The most well-known examples are the analyses of commercial and public signs that tell a story about the multilingualism in many cities around the world, while bringing to the fore examples of translanguaging, multimodality and linguistic ideology (e.g. Putz & Mundt, 2018). Other research focuses on graffiti, stickers, menus, brand names, banners, and more rarely on street names and house names (e.g. Camilleri Grima, 2020). Similarly, the schoolscape is a semiotic category, and it can reveal much about the symbolic value of language use in education. For instance, the article by Krompák, Camilleri Grima & Farrugia (2020) presents a comparative analysis of parts of the schoolscape in two primary schools, one in Malta and one in Switzerland. As a result of this analysis, a number of lessons are teased out for teacher education, such as, ways of acknowledging the linguistic and cultural diversity of the learners, the representation on the walls of language and of cross-curricular relations between subjects. [excerpt]N/

Implementing plurilingualism in the foreign language classroom

This article proposes a plurilingual methodology in the teaching of foreign languages with young and adult learners. The Council of Europe promotes pluralistic approaches for the benefit of all learners, many of whom, nowadays, would already be bi- / plurilingual when they join a foreign language course. Pluralistic methodologies respect and enhance the knowledge, attitudes and skills of learners who have experienced more than one language and culture, and have a heightened metalinguistic awareness, often as a result of having a migratory background. The aim of this paper is to describe a number of pluralistic activities that took place in Malta with three different age groups, and to highlight the objectives stated in the Council of Europe’s Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (Candelier et al. 2012b).peer-reviewe

Young children living bilingually in Malta

Malta presents a unique and interesting sociolinguistic scenario of widespread bilingualism in Maltese and English. Over 95% of the population are ethnic Maltese, learn and use Maltese in their everyday life as a first language, in parallel co-existence with English. In fact, over 85% of Maltese people are also fluent in English. This chapter takes a look at the bilingualism of Maltese children aged four to seven, and describes the ways in which the children interact bilingually in the home, at kindergarden and in public play areas across the two Maltese islands. All the studies reported here were conducted independently of each other in the last few years and theyhave produced remarkably similar results. Ineach instance a balanced use of each language was observed, such that it can be safely concluded that young Maltese children are already functioning bilingually by age 4-5. This is very similar to the situation found in primary and secondary schools, and in Maltese society in general.peer-reviewe

Globalization and education : what future for the Maltese-speaking child?

Il presente documento sostiene che la globalizzazione porta cambiamenti per quanto riguarda l’uso delle lingue nell’ambito dell’istruzione che richiamano l’attenzione. A Malta, come in altri Paesi, l’inglese diventa sempre pù frequente e importante ad ogni livello dell’istruzione ed è quindi possibile che stia producendo uno squilibrio nelle pratica bilingue del maltese e dell’inglese. Nelle scuole, a causa della presenza di allievi stranieri, si osservano segni del passaggio all’inglese come vettore dell’insegnamento a scapito del bambino parlante maltese. Inoltre l’accento posto in modo sempre più determinante sull’inglese nell’istruzione universitaria chiama a riflettere e ad agire in favore del maltese.A Malta il bilinguismo nell’istruzione è stato praticato in modo spontaneo. Tuttavia questo documento, prendendo in considerazione le iniziative recenti per la promozione dell’inglese nell’istruzione universitaria, senza che si possano registrare simili iniziative per promuovere il maltese, preconizza diverse misure di pianificazione linguistica mirata.peer-reviewe

The Maltese bilingual classroom : a microcosm of local society

This paper examines the relationship between language use in the Maltese bilingual classroom on the one hand, and in the societal context within which the classroom is embedded, on the other. The use of Maltese and English as media of instruction is a reflection of the functions of each language in society. At the same time, their functional distribution in the school context continues to shape the linguistic practices of Maltese students and adults. The employment of code-switching in the classroom is largely caused and shaped by factors like textbooks and technical terminology in English within a Maltese-speaking environment. It, in turn, continues to condition at least one type of bilingual behaviour in society: terminology switching. The other major distinction in the functional allocation of the two languages is the spoken-written contrast that often corresponds to the Maltese-English distribution respectively, both in the classroom and in most other domains. The analyses of bilingual classroom practices illustrate, in fact, how the discursive and literacy events taking place are a reflection of societal values and identities. Simultaneously, they continue to elaborate both the linguistic repertoire of Maltese bilinguals, and the relationships symbolized by each language, and by code switching itself.peer-reviewe

A visual study of learning spaces in primary schools and classrooms in Switzerland and Malta : the relevance of schoolscape studies for teacher education

This paper introduces learning spaces in two multilingual countries, Switzerland and Malta, with the aim to interpret space in terms of social practices related to teaching and learning. The visual study draws on schoolscape studies and the conceptualization of space in education. The comparative analysis of 913 photographs collected from two schools aims to bring to light the similarities and differences in the respective learning spaces. A comparative approach is taken in order to explore the strange in the familiar context and to prompt reflections about learning spaces. Further, based on the result of the visual study, this article discusses how schoolscape studies may prove to be a potentially useful pedagogical tool in teacher education.peer-reviewe