That the level of spoken and written English in Malta has fallen is crystal clear. It is also a reality that English is not spoken by everyone on the island even if the language is taught at school from a much earlier age than in other European countries. Malta's insularity and size demand the use of a language spoken by so many worldwide.

So what has gone wrong? Why has English deteriorated so visibly, demanding no less than a collective national effort in order to redress the situation?

The reasons are many and a number of them can be traced to the history of the last 30 years.

From a political viewpoint, overstated nationalism, especially after the departure of the last British Forces in Malta, even led to the government of the time championing the use of the Maltese language to the detriment of English.

There was also the understandable reaction by those who champion the Maltese language to the speaking only of English in certain parts of the island and the overarching predominance of the language in some schools, the result being a staunch stigmatisation of English as a snobbish language. This stigma led to a reaction by a good number of Maltese who wanted to be associated with English specifically for social reasons. As a result, children were spoken to only in that language. The problem was that many of the parents who did so lacked a good grasp of the language, resulting in the speaking of a pidgin variety that has continued to pull down our fluency of both English and Maltese.

The late 1970s and 1980s also saw the influx in Malta of Italian private TV stations, totally overpowering the few stations that ran English language programmes. This actually led to a generation whose second language was practically Italian.

Comments made by Martin Scicluna, chairman of a steering committee, at a ceremony during which Malta joined the English Speaking Union also attribute the prevailing situation to poor teaching standards and the fact that a lot of media people cannot speak and write the language well.

All of this forms a formidable set of reasons why the English language has slipped away from us and there are very few potential solutions that can be offered for its reclaiming. An effort must be made for a large number of those who steer away from the language for stigmatic reasons to understand that emphasising the use of the English language is not a way of denigrating Maltese, a language that has often struggled to retain its rights, so hard-fought for over the decades. A rethinking of the way that English is taught, particularly in public schools, needs to put in motion a thorough reform of the often-used top-down method that does little for those who have no inclination to learn the language. Motivational practices need to be instilled, with emphasis on the spoken language, as opposed to the exercise drilling that tends to predominate.

Journalists and other media workers must understand their important position in the re-birthing of a culture that favours well-written, well-spoken English. If need be, those who are not up to scratch must follow courses that bring them in line with what is acceptable.

All of us must do our level best so that the use of the English language is accurate and as fluent as possible. Our communicative standing in the world depends on it.