How well can year 2 pupils in Malta read in Maltese and English?

Abstract

This was the subject of the first ever National Literacy Survey in Malta, carried out in March 1999. The project was carried out by the Literacy Unit of the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta, in conjunction with the Curriculum Department of the Education Division. Virtually every child in the country born in 1992 was tested in both Maltese and English. Complete data were gathered on 4554 children in State, Church and Private Independent Schools. The test employed to measure English literacy was the Literacy Baseline, within the series of the Reading Progress Tests. This test is standardised and designed to measure pre-literacy and initial literacy skills that are usually associated with later success in learning to read. A parallel version of the Literacy Baseline was devised for Maltese.