Introducing reading to Maltese infants

Abstract

Through reading, we acquire new ideas, obtain necessary information, add to our personal pleasure and broaden our interests. A person's ability to read, has a direct influence not only on educational goals, but also on the choice of a career. In addition, good reading habits are an asset in almost every type of work. All this goes to show the importance of reading. The primary school years, have always been a critical stage for the development of reading skills. The first two years of instruction in school are very important in the learning to read process. It is during this period that children are introduced to reading Therefore, it is of vital importance that teachers and parents help children to form a positive attitude towards reading. For these reasons, we decided to focus our dissertation on the way children in the Maltese educational system are introduced to reading in infant classes. The first chapter deals with the fact that children are exposed to reading before they enter formal schooling. It goes into detail on what roles parents and teachers have in the beginning stages of the pupil's learning to read process. The second chapter focuses on how Maltese and English reading are introduced in the infant classes, with particular reference to the difficulties that teachers face in this process. In chapter 3, the schools are briefly described. The purpose of including this chapter was to shed some light with regard to the environment of the teachers and children. Chapter 4 is based on the evaluation of our questionnaires that we distributed to twenty Year 1 and twenty Year 2 teachers of seven schools. Chapter 5 analyses Year 1 and Year 2 pupils' responses to our questions as regards reading. Pupils from four schools were interviewed individually. In this chapter, we also focused on the link between the teachers' responses in the previous chapter, and the children's' attitudes about reading founded in this chapter. Chapter 6, the last chapter, deals with some practical suggestions on how the introduction of reading to pupils in Years 1 and 2, can be enhanced for more effective and enjoyable reading.