The benefits and challenges of distance education in teaching Maltese as a second language to adults

Abstract

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted millions of people’s lives around the world. This included the lives of teachers and learners in educational institutions because schools were thought to be hotbeds of infection, and shutting them down between March and June 2020 was therefore deemed to be inevitable. Educational facilities, private tutoring, and lifelong learning centres all have had to comply with the government’s directive at the time to suspend, postpone, and/or cancel in-person classes. One group particularly impacted were non-native adults living in Malta, many of whom were learning Maltese as a second language (ML2). Like other educators, many teachers offering ML2 instruction to adults had to shift to an online mode (from mid-March through to the last week of May) in order to complete the 2019–20 ML2 programme. The current study reports on the benefits and challenges encountered by 17 ML2 teachers while teaching online during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical school closure. The research applied a qualitative method consisting of one-on-one interviews with 17 ML2 adult educators conducted online. Using the adaptability theory, the researcher sought to investigate the appropriateness of adaptions of ML2 teachers to distance learning approaches during the school shutdown.