The design of a Maltese Literacy Programme for the early years

Abstract

This paper explains the process of developing a Maltese reading scheme which also involved the implementation of a teaching programme. The scheme is intended for five to six-year old children at Year One Primary school level, that is, at the stage when they are introduced to literacy. Until this project came into being there had never been any scientific studies that provided a sound linguistic basis for the development of reading schemes in Maltese. On the other hand, there were a couple of psycholinguistic investigations and classroom observation studies that gave us basic background information about the acquisition of literacy in Maltese. In the Maltese context this research study is unique and provides a road-map for the further elaboration of initial reading material. It brings together two fundamental strands: approaches to literacy; and the choice of vocabulary that is most suitable for this purpose. This article describes the linguistic spade work that was necessary for the structured build-up of syllabification, word and sentence reading, and illustrates the pedagogical approaches to literacy, such as storytelling and multi-sensory activities, all of them being an integral part of the reading programme.