It is to be stressed that the recent report by the Cambridge English Language Assessment Team on the state of the language in Malta does not in any way demote or diminish its importance in the local situation.
The study recommends a new methodology, a modern approach to the teaching of English based on the methods of our successful language schools with foreign students. In December 2013, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had raised the alarm about the deteriorating standard of English in schools. He took the bull by the horns and presented the prevailing situation to the Cambridge University experts.
Through necessity and global importance, the English language will remain our second language, not because it is entrenched in our Constitution but because to us it is a vehicle of global communication, commerce, tourism and the way to academic pursuits. It is this degree of necessity that gives meaning to the term “English as a second language”, in contrast with “English as a foreign language”.
Unfortunately, since independence we have been witnessing a deterioration in the English linguistic scene in some sectors of the civil service and the University of Malta. Furthermore, I am informed that the medium of instruction in primary and secondary schools is not always English but the vernacular.
I believe that the gradual process of decolonialisation is not achieved by discarding or relegating the usefulness of a global language. Such sterile nationalism will have a disastrous effect not only on our culture and research work but also on our economy. As our affinity with Great Britain diminishes, we run the risk of losing our much-vaunted high standard of English, unless we are alert to bolster this cultural and commercial lifeline.