The present Minister of Education should be commended for his concern over the declining level of both Maltese and English. Many educators are pitching in with their effort to try and reverse this downward trend. As a long-time teacher of English, I too would like to contribute my pennyworth.
Firstly, we need to stop looking with nostalgia at the past. Back then entrance to secondary school was through a stiff exam in English and maths. Student preparation was ongoing and severe, to the exclusion of many other areas of study. And, yet, the percentage of students who passed the exam was indeed very low.
Those who made it to the Boys’ Lyceum or the Girls’ Grammar school were the lucky few. There, lessons were generally conducted in English, including the religion lesson and the Maltese history lesson, so this was a case of total immersion in the English language for about six hours a day.
Secondary school teachers were well qualified in their subjects, which most had studied to degree level, but with regard to teaching methodology it was mostly inexistent. Hence, most lessons were top down and consisted of mere talk and chalk. The selected students still learnt.
The situation now is different. Thankfully, secondary school is compulsory for all. The cohort of children is very mixed.
In most private and Church schools, English is still the language of everyday parlance, resulting in a satisfactory pass rate in English language.
In most State schools it is not and the official policy for particular language use for different lessons is adhered or not adhered to by choice, as if it were optional.
In my opinion there are some measures that must be taken if we want to safeguard the level of English.
Firstly, we need to look at the time allocated for the teaching of English.
In most cases, at primary level, the students have at least one lesson of English per day. At secondary level, schools usually allocate six lessons, which include the literature component.
Is this enough? One look at the SEC syllabus will easily convince you that the allotted time is much too little.
In some recent articles, the EFL methodology of English language schools has been presented as the panacea for all our ills. Language schools try to introduce a fun element, which is excellent. The students’ interest needs to be captured for them to stay tuned. Teenagers are presented with special programmes and the number of students in class never exceeds 10.
However, have we stopped to think that most EFL students follow 30 lessons of 45 minutes each per week? That results in about 90 hours of English per month, in small groups.
Moreover, the teachers working in language schools are recruited on a hire-and-fire basis and the ones who are not so good are very quickly weeded out.
We need to stop looking with nostalgia at the past
Another area we need to look at is student teacher training at the university. Teachers need to be experts in their subject but must be deeply steeped in the latest and best ever methodology to be able to impart the material successfully, especially to the disenchanted students who have already given up.
Furthermore, it is the duty of the education faculty to ensure that newly-qualified teachers are really and truly bilingual.
One last word goes for the SEC syllabus and paper setters.
Both the syllabus and the examination paper format need to be much friendlier. If, out of 5,146 people who sat for the English language examination in May 2014 only 188 got a grade 1, something must be not entirely right.
If I can make some recommendations I would say:
provide excellent libraries and trained librarians that are able to help inculcate a true love of reading;
bring those that train teachers, the exam setters and the actual practitioners together more often;
ensure that teachers are not only experts in their subjects but even more so in the latest methodologies;
monitor the use of the right language according to the subject being taught; avoid code switching (between English and Maltese) and insist that, as from their first year, children use the language of the lesson;
allocate more time for language teaching and learning and ensure that listening, reading, speaking and writing are part of every lesson;
review the syllabi and include components that appeal to today’s child and young adult.
Rather than despairing and feeling helpless, we need to be patient but very aware of where we want to go.
Only through awareness, a keen sense of direction, cooperation and professionalism can we succeed.
mariapace@gmail.com
Maria Pace is a teacher.