Poor use of the Maltese language on Facebook is being reflected in the level of work being submitted by 16-year-olds sitting for the Secondary Education Certificate, examiners have warned.
Moreover, there has been a recurrence of the high rate of orthographic and grammatical errors as well as poor punctuation which were flagged in past years.
These worrying trends were highlighted in the examiners’ report issued by the Matsec board, which analysed the performance of the 4,166 students who last May sat for the SEC exam, also known as the O-level.
Though two out of every three students obtained a grade between 1 (highest) and 5, which is good enough to enter post-secondary institutions, one fifth of the candidates had such a poor level that their work was not classified.
“Anyone deemed fit to pass this exam does not rely on the Maltese being used on Facebook, or on informal and colloquial terms which at times verge on the vulgar,” examiners remarked in their overall comments on the 2016 SEC exam.
Apart from the usual mistakes, they pointed out that students struggled to express themselves clearly and articulate their ideas in an orderly fashion through the use of paragraphs. This shortcoming was particularly glaring in essay writing.
The report also referred to the increasing number of words derived from English which, under certain conditions can be spelt in Maltese like kompjuter, saying that some students mastered the ability to transpose such terms correctly. However, there were instances where candidates were at a complete loss and coined non-existing terms derived from both English and Italian.
Once again the grammar section was a difficult nut to crack, and only a handful of candidates obtained full marks while there were several cases where all marks were lost.
Students were also tested on their reporting skills, be it through an e-mail or a formal letter, in order to verify their ability to express themselves concisely and to the point. Apart from using the wrong format, some candidates resorted to colloquial terms while others struggled to convey their message.
In the literature section, many did not make the basic distinction between a poet and a narrator while in the essay section many regurgitated the notes they had learnt by heart.
On a positive note, examiners pointed out that students did very well in the oral test and most of them were very confident in expressing themselves in Maltese without relying on a foreign language.
Examiners noted that many students who sat for Paper 2B, which is easier than 2A, but can only lead to grade 4, were not well prepared and made no distinction between the spoken and written language.
Common mistakes
Long sentences with no punctuation or even full stops.
Spelling and grammatical mistakes and confusion between masculine and feminine terms.
Coining non-existent terms derived from English and Italian such as: Misfortunat instead of sfortunat (unfortunate), advertajżjaw instead of irreklamaw (advertised).
Poor mastery of Maltese vocabulary which at times manifested itself in the straight use of English words: hemm hekk mar kollox downhill.
Use of colloquial terms like naqa instead of naqra (a bit) and at times use of vulgar words.
Misplacing the silent letter għ and h in words
And what about Malta’s second language?
In English, the overall performance indicates that Form 5 students have very good listening and speaking skills. But as in previous years, candidates were much less competent in reading and writing.
The latter shortcoming manifested itself in poor knowledge of grammar and syntax. In some instances, the report flagged the direct translation from Maltese, as well use of American English words or slang.
In the essay section, examiners remarked that quite a good number of candidates who attempted the narrative in Paper 2A did very well as they came up with original story lines and had the linguistic competence to achieve the task.
There were also some very well written arguments in Paper 2B where the material was clearly structured and the range of thematic vocabulary was satisfactory.
For the umpteenth time, examiners remarked that students’ performance indicated they were not dedicating enough time to reading.
Yet examiners this time around did not give the scathing review of the last two years when they had expressed “great concern” about students’ “poor command” of English after 10 years of schooling.
This trend was also reflected in the overall performance as the pass rate increased from 63 per cent in 2015 to 66 per cent last year.