The impact of age, input and media on second language acquisition of Italian in Malta

Abstract

The Italian language and culture have held important roles in Malta in the past and both Italian and Sicilian have influenced heavily the language(s) spoken on the islands. Italian in Malta was especially widespread in the 70s and 80s, which is when Italian television programmes reached their peak popularity amongst the Maltese. However, this trend started changing after 1993, when cable TV was introduced in Malta providing access to television programmes from all over the world. In addition, the media today is mediated via the Internet, and the use English through this medium has taken spaces formerly occupied by foreign languages, including Italian . This research aims at investigating the role that the media has in the acquisition of Italian as a second language in Malta. The variables ‘age’, ‘formal onset’ and ‘type of input received’ (guided, spontaneous) will be analysed together with frequency of exposure to media in the L2. The interplay of these variables will shed more light on the field of second language acquisition of Italian in Malta. The first hypothesis is that age and formal onset do have an effect on L2 Italian proficiency because an early exposure to the second language not only allows learners to have more opportunities to practise the L2, but it can also act as a prime-mover to study the second language formally. The second hypothesis is that spontaneous learners, as opposed to guided ones, will demonstrate higher spoken and comprehension skills in L2 Italian. Data was collected by distributing a language background questionnaire that was completed by 377 Maltese respondents. Eighty participants were chosen on a sub-sample basis after having filled in the language background questionnaire. The respondents were asked to participate in three tasks: an informal interview held in Italian, an oral picture-description task in Italian and a written translation task from Italian into either Maltese or English. Results show that while age and formal onset are not statistically significant for high proficiency in the L2, early exposure to the second language leads to better performance in the assigned tasks; participants who had an early exposure to Italian via television obtained high scores both in the picture-story task and in the translation. With regard to the type of input received, there was not a significant difference in performance between the guided and spontaneous learners of Italian L2, as they both followed similar L2 acquisitional processes.