Reflections on a medium of instruction policy for mathematics in Malta

Abstract

In 1999, the Ministry of Education in Malta published a new National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) for all Maltese primary and secondary schools. The aim of the document was to encourage schools to reflect on issues such as assessment, inclusion, creativity and technology, and to come up with school-based policies on such matters (Ministry of Education, 1999).This document was a step in the direction of school autonomy in a system of education that has been centralised for decades. One of the points mentioned in the NMC was bilingualism. Although Malta has its own national language, Maltese, English is also widely used as a result of 165 years of British colonial rule that ended when Malta gained independence in 1964. Indeed, Maltese and English are the country's two official languages. Although Maltese is widely spoken as a means of daily communication and is the official language of parliament and the courts, English is essential for international communication, the tourism industry and in local education (Camilleri-Grima, 2003).In the educational context, written texts are more often than not in English, being generally British publications. The writers of the NMC expressed a strong desire that students develop a good knowledge of both languages and suggested that mathematics, science and technology be taught through the medium of English, apparently assuming that this approach would help students enhance their knowledge of the language. . Dilemmas regarding media of instruction are not unique to Malta. Tollefson and Tsui (2004) highlight the fact that, in many multilingual countries around the world, language choice raises a fundamental and complex educational question: what combination of instruction in students' native languages (in our case Maltese) and in a second language of wider communication (in our case, as in many other countries, English) will ensure that students gain both effective subject content education, as well as the second-language skiIIs necessary for higher education and employment? While not wishing to underestimate the importance of good knowledge of English, I would like to reflect on the implementation of the NMC language recommendation in relation to the teaching of mathematics. In this chapter, I problematise this recommendation by discussing what I consider to be 'tensions' between the recommendation and other NMC principles relating to language. I also reflect on the recommendation with respect to its potential impact on pupils' talk in mathematics classrooms. Through these discussions, I hope to highlight how important it is to formulate policies in such a way that they 'sit well' with other educational ideals. Finally, I consider three medium of instruction options for mathematics that are open to us in Malta. My reflections are based on interviews and classroom observations that I carried out in a girls' primary school as part of my doctoral research project (Farrugia, 2007).The aim of the study was to reflect on the teaching and learning of mathematical vocabulary. My interest in language was two-fold: language as a medium of instruction and also as a means to convey meanings for terminology. I will start by briefly describing the empirical context of the study.