Social class, language and power ‘Letter to a teacher’ : Lorenzo Milani and the school of Barbiana

The link between language and power and the indispensible and urgent need for the oppressed to master the dominant language for emancipatory purposes are among the recurrent themes of Lettera a una professoressa. Developing communicative abilities and learning the ‘art’ of writing are seen by the authors of the Lettera as instruments of empowerment and means to resist the dominant location of hegemonic groups who reproduce their power through an education process that self-serves the interests of the most powerful. One of the main notions expressed constantly throughout the Lettera is that each and every child can learn how to reflect on his/her use of different languages, including the mother tongue, and that all learning experiences in life are valuable, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status. However, when children with different backgrounds start attending school they go through different experiences, even because of the form of language used by teachers: in some cases this may be a natural transition from what they are exposed to at home, even in their pre-school years; in other cases the language of schooling is totally different, the language register may be more formal and the variety used may approach standard forms which contrast with local or regional varieties used at home. The language of schooling may therefore represent one of the first obstacles towards the socialisation and integration of some pupils.peer-reviewe

A bridge too far? : reflections on theory in educational practice

Praxis is a notion underlying several educational theories and it has led to the development of different models of teacher education. Locally, this has also been one of the concepts discussed during the ‘masterisation’ of the teaching profession, by virtue of which pedagogical content knowledge builds on prior-achieved content knowledge. As teacher education in Malta was reformed, a number of unprecedented socio-economic developments created a scenario which, at policy-making level, brought about further educational reforms. These include an outcomes-based model for learning and assessment and a drive towards vocational education. In this presentation, I refer to data regarding teacher-student ratios, as one aspect of the contextualization of education locally, and I proceed to reflect upon two educational documents, using Critical Discourse Analysis. I argue that the cyclical nature of praxis, which requires reflection and action, is somewhat side-lined within the current educational context, possibly because immediate instrumental gains are being prioritized.peer-reviewe

Introducing Maltese linguistics

Maltese is an official language in the European Union and it is used to translate documentation and to interpret parliamentary sessions. The “Europeanisation” of Maltese is discussed by referring to three sources: EU documentation available online in Maltese, EU news in local newspapers and on television. Focus is placed mainly on the extent to which terms of Italian origin are used to translate EU texts into Maltese and whether these terms are divulged in the local media. Results indicate that the presence of words of Italian origin is higher in EU-related websites and newspaper reports than it is in other sources. As a variety which includes terms from different sectorial languages, EU Maltese possesses features which make it quite unique in the local sociolinguistic scene.peer-reviewe

Language contact and language decay. Socio-political and linguistic perspectives

The present linguistic situation in Malta is a reflection of historical and political permutations of the past. The simultaneous presence of two languages in Malta – generally described as a bilingual situation, but which in fact includes a number of features which can be defined more appropriately through diglossia – gives rise to a context wherein language contact is extremely frequent: this occurs through both inter- and intrasentential code-switching as well as through the constant integration of foreign terms, mainly from Italian and English, into Maltese. Language policies in Malta are frequently caught in the midst of these dynamic diachronic and synchronic linguistic processes and often operate on two fronts: on the one hand internal changes inherent to the Maltese language must be taken into consideration, on the other hand language use, characterized by the presence of both English and Maltese, also must be accounted for.peer-reviewe

Becoming multilingual. Language learning and language policy between attitudes and identity

Many studies on language attitudes have been based on an approach in which languages are examined as an isolated unit; in other words, in these studies the participants are asked about their attitudes towards each of the languages in contact independently, by using what we will label in this chapter as monolingual biased questionnaires. The objective of this paper revolves around the analysis of language attitudes towards trilingualism by means of a holistic questionnaire in two multilingual contexts (the Basque Country and Malta). Our results reveal that the holistic questionnaire can be a useful tool to complement traditional questionnaires and it could lead to further knowledge on languages as a whole, rather than treating them separately. Furthermore, in can be a useful tool in order to enhance language awareness and enable language teachers to reflect both on their own language skills and competence as well as those of their students.peer-reviewe

Stress-related factors affecting teachers of foreign languages in Maltese state and church schools

While stress, and the causes that lead to it, is widely documented in studies regarding the teaching profession, this study focuses specifically on teachers of foreign languages and seeks to shed light on whether they are affected by stress in the light of a changing local educational and sociolinguistic scenario. Our main findings reveal indications that stress levels among teachers of foreign languages are considerably high, and that these are not affected by the language that they teach. Furthermore, there are significant stress level differences between teachers in state and church schools, with the former being more negatively affected by stress than the latter. Stress levels are linked to job satisfaction, with those who feel fulfilled by teaching clearly being impacted less by stress factors related to the profession.peer-reviewe

Italiano L2 a Malta - input dai mezzi di comunicazione e acquisizione del sistema TMA

Although Italian is not spoken regularly in Malta, many people are exposed to this language via the media. In fact, it is clear that the presence of the Italian media, especially Italian television, has breathed new life into a language, the active use of which in Malta had declined during the first decades of the twentieth century. Consequently, it is highly relevant to investigate the extent and the impact of the linguistic input from Italian television on the individuals who are exposed to it. In this study I collected data from two groups of 14-15 year-old students. One group consisted of students who had been learning Italian at school for four years and were therefore exposed to the language in formal settings. The other group consisted of students who had never learnt Italian formally, either at school or elsewhere. In this group there were a number of students who watched Italian television programmes regularly. None of the students included in the groups had ever had the opportunity to speak Italian regularly. Most of the students who had never learnt Italian in formal settings were capable of narrating a story in Italian orally and also of completing correctly a number of written sentences in Italian, just as their counterparts who learn Italian at school were capable of doing. The results show that the students who watch Italian television programmes very frequently (more than three hours daily) can speak the language and that they have a well developed verbal system in Italian since a number of them are capable of using correctly tense and aspect despite the absence of formal instruction in the L2.peer-reviewe

Television programmes as a resource for teaching Italian

The island of Malta offers an ideal setting to investigate the extent to which the linguistic input from the media may be significant in second language (L2) acquisition. Although Italian is not spoken in Malta, many individuals are exposed to this language via the media as Italian television programmes are popular on the island. In this article the extent to which Italian may be acquired via the media is discussed by taking into account research carried out among guided and spontaneous learners of Italian L2. Despite the unidirectional nature of television and the absence of the possibility to interact and negotiate so as to modify or simplify the L2 input, results show that L2 input from Italian television programmes in Malta may help to learn the language, even in the case of learners who have never undergone formal instruction in the L2. This, inevitably, has repercussions on the teaching of Italian as illustrated in the concluding section of this paper.peer-reviewe

International handbook of teacher education

This chapter sets out to provide an overview of various aspects of Malta’s social, cultural and economic characteristics, focusing in particular on the role played by education in forging the island’s fortunes and identity, and specifically on the initial preparation of teachers in the light of reforms to educational provision aimed towards the country’s aspiration that ‘all children may succeed’ (Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, 2005).peer-reviewe

Subject diffuseness in Maltese : on some subject properties of experiential verbs

Like many other languages, Maltese shows some peculiarities in the behavior of its experiential verbs. While the case-marking and agreement properties of these verbs point to (direct or indirect) object status of the experiencer argument, several behavioral properties make the experiencer argument appear more similar to subjects. Different sub-types of experiential verbs can be distinguished, and a number of individual verbs (most notably the possessive verb ghandulkellu ‘have’, well-known from the earlier literature) show further peculiarities. The various groups of verbs or individual verbs can be arranged on a continuum which shows an increasing number of subject properties of the experiencer (or possessor) argument. Thus, subject properties are not distributed in a clear-cut manner, and we observe a certain amount of “subject diffuseness”.peer-reviewe