Up until a few years ago, Italian television was undoubtedly one of the main sources of entertainment in Malta.
Regular exposure to Italian led to a situation where the status of this language in Malta changed considerably compared to its historical role, when it was an official language used mainly by the elite class, the Church, in the Law Courts and in other administrative and educational institutions.
When television was introduced in Malta in the late 1950s, Italian programmes rapidly gained popularity and habitual input in the language led many Maltese adults and children to learn Italian spontaneously, often effortlessly.
This situation was particularly evident up to the early 1990s, and research carried out at the University, initiated by Prof. Joseph Brincat, clearly showed that television was indeed a powerful means which led to a remarkable degree of acquisition of Italian locally.
In a number of cases students used to sit for the Secondary Education Certificate examination, often successfully, in Italian without ever having learnt the language at school.
Sociolinguistic changes over recent years have led to considerably less exposure to Italian. Broadcasting Authority surveys as well as research carried out recently by students at the Faculty of Education confirm that exposure to Italian via television has decreased considerably.
Furthermore, this decline mostly affects the younger generation, in particular those who today are younger than 25. We are therefore facing a situation where we are gradually losing touch with a language which has played a significant role in our history and which is also part of our identity.
This represents a new challenge for teachers of Italian at all levels. The Italian language has played an important role in Malta’s history, and Maltese contains a large number of words that originate from Italian. So the problems currently being faced in the teaching and learning of Italian in our schools cannot be ignored.
In order to address these issues a seminar was recently organised by the University’s Department of Arts and Languages to discuss the situation of Italian.
Entitled L’Italiano a Malta – una lingua in pericolo? (Italian in Malta – a language in danger?), the seminar drew interest not only from teachers but also from University lecturers, administrators and other stakeholders.
One of the main objectives of the seminar was to provide an opportunity for participants to voice their opinions, also in the light of the language policy of the EU which strongly favours multilingualism and which aims to help people be competent in at least two foreign languages besides their mother tongue.
Presentations delivered at the seminar addressed the fact that in some schools the number of students studying Italian has decreased. However, the main focus of a number of interventions regarded ways and means by which we may improve the current situation of teaching Italian in Malta and to create more initiatives to motivate students to learn the language.
Furthermore, the importance of integrating ICT and the media in language teaching were stressed repeatedly. The richness of Italy’s culture, travel opportunity, communicating with Italian tourists and the use of the language in local business companies and industries were cited among the main reasons in order to learn Italian in Malta today.
Promoting the use of Italian in Malta serves to strengthen the strong commercial ties that exist between the two countries, as Italy has been one of the principal suppliers of the Maltese economic market.
These strong economic ties between Malta and Italy are also reflected by the presence on the island of more than 30 Italian companies operating successfully in various sectors, including the electronic, chemical, pharmaceutical and mechanical sectors.
A number of suggestions were made to help students become more aware of the importance of being multilingual and to make them conscious of the importance of foreign languages in today’s world.
In this respect, it was also pointed out that it is time to review the Italian syllabi in local schools to present the language in a manner that can enable students to develop their communication skills. Long gone are the days when teaching Italian was mainly limited to learning lists of vocabulary and irregular verbs.
Unless learners are taught how to communicate effectively using the language what they learn will be virtually of no use.
Also, today there are a number of possibilities to obtain different forms of certification in the language and this represents an opportunity for every student of Italian in local schools to obtain recognition for the level of competence attained.
A case in point is the Plida examination, offered in Malta by the Società Dante Alighieri. Students studying Italian have the opportunity to sit for one or more of the six Plida levels which correspond to the six levels of language proficiency established by the Council of Europe in the Common European Framework for Languages.
Therefore, although among teachers there undoubtedly is concern about the situation of Italian in Malta, especially as this language is not as popular among the younger generations as it may have been in the past, there is also a strong determination to look ahead and ensure that Malta’s multilingual vocation, which has always proved to be a key to success in many fields, will be preserved in the future.
Italian may not be as widespread or as popular as it was in the past, but it is the duty of all those involved in education locally to ensure it maintains a key role in the local sociolinguistic scenario.
This also ought to be viewed in the light of the several work opportunities that can materialise if one is equipped with adequate language skills that go beyond the command of basic Maltese and English.
Teachers from all educational sectors who attended the seminar were sponsored by the Ministry of Education’s Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education.
The directorate’s direct contribution to this seminar was especially significant as it shows that local educational authorities are aware of the necessity to gain further insight regarding the situation of Italian in local schools and to support teachers in the development of their professional practice.
It is envisaged that this collaboration between the Education directorates and the Department of Arts and Languages in Education will develop further and lead to other initiatives in the best interest of students and teachers of Italian, as well as all other stakeholders.
Prof. Caruana and Dr Pace are University lecturers teaching Italian language pedagogy at the Department of Arts and Languages, Faculty of Education.
Have your say
If you wish to contribute an article or would like a particular subject to be tackled in the Education section, call DaviniaHamilton on 2559 4513 or e-mail dhamilton@timesofmalta.com.