Event: Reflections on linguistic diversity in Maltese schools
Date: Wednesday 1 December
Time: 12:00 noon - 13:00
Venue: Virtual
The next Linguistics Circle Seminar will be held on Wednesday 1 December from 12:00 noon to 13:00 and will be held online.
The seminar, entitled, Reflections on linguistic diversity in Maltese schools, will be delivered by Prof. Sandro Caruana (University of Malta – Faculty of Education).
To register for this event, kindly contact Ms. Jessica Formosa on: jessica.formosa@um.edu.mt and you will receive a Zoom link to the event.
Abstract
Over the recent years migration has led to unprecedented changes in the demography of the Maltese islands. In the current situation schools must facilitate the inclusion of migrant learners as they should provide all learners with knowledge, skills and tools both to feel part of society and to be able to transfer them to other contexts, should and whenever this be necessary. Addressing the personal, social and academic requirements of migrant learners is therefore one of the main challenges that our schools face today, mainly because of the linguistic and ethnic diversity of migrants. Recent research (e.g. Baschiera & Caruana, 2020) indicates that difficulties related to the high-stakes examinations’ system in Malta and having to deal with both English and Maltese as languages of instruction can lead to problems in achievement. This presentation will therefore be dedicated to an overview of Malta’s highly diverse school population and to a brief discussion on educational policies which deal, albeit fleetingly in most cases, with linguistic issues related to migrant learners’ inclusion. Reference will then be made to qualitative data regarding Italian migrant learners, who constitute a large community in local schools. Some experiences and perceptions related to language learning will be presented in order to reflect on the extent of their inclusion.