Promouvoir le francais a Malte : considerations autour des programmes d'introduction au francais a l'ecole primaire

Abstract

In the light of the downward trend in the number of students opting for French as a foreign language in Maltese secondary schools, this dissertation aims to evaluate language taster programs of French which are offered in State, Church and Independent Primary schools. The research study is based on 8 interviews and 6 observation sessions. Two interviews were held with the Education Officer for French and with the Head of Department for French in Church schools. The rest of the interviews were held with teachers – 2 from each sector – who are responsible for delivering such programs. Lesson observations were held, one with each teacher. Thematic analysis was then adopted as the method of data analysis which generated transversal views across data subjects. An evaluation of a number of significant factors related to individual lessons and entire programs was carried out. One of the main program strengths that emerged was the inclusion of game activities in these lessons while the main weakness is perhaps the lack of publicity for the language throughout the programs considered. As regards ways through which programs could be improved, we suggest that a common framework is applied to the taster programs of different foreign languages existing within a given context. This would not only benefit students who would be able to make better comparisons amongst the different languages, but it would also facilitate communication between language teachers, thus sparing the language taster exercise from unfavourable competition between languages.