Attitudes towards foreign language learning at post-secondary education level in Malta

Abstract

In recent decades, numbers of students taking up modern foreign languages (MFL) in post-compulsory education in Malta have shrunk to an alarming low, and the Maltese population’s past multilingual skills have undergone a significant decline. This study aims to understand the reasons for post-secondary (PS) students’ avoidance of MFL in their choice of subjects for Advanced level studies by analysing their attitudes to MFL and investigating which external and internal factors of influence impact on their level of interest in foreign language learning (FLL). A questionnaire was distributed to PS students in four of the six pre-university institutions in Malta. Results from the representative sample of respondents confirm the existence of negative attitudes to FLL among PS students. External factors of influence such as discontinuity between secondary and PS language curricula, and unsatisfactory FLL experiences at secondary level appear to be among the factors dissuading some PS learners from pursuing MFL studies. Internal factors such as causal attributions of success or failure in language studies compound the feelings of low learner agency. A case study is conducted concerning French, a foreign language (FL) in sharp decline, revealing perceptions of difficulty with regard to the language, as well as stereotypical associations that cling to the language, making it to some extent subject to lingering prejudice. Understanding actual PS learners’ beliefs about FLL is an important step towards effectively addressing the unpopularity of MFL.