A verbal odyssey. Learning Maltese as a foreign adult

Abstract

Learning a foreign language is complex and unpredictable. Furthermore, speaking different languages is becoming increasingly important in today’s globalized world. However, it requires several strategies to gain the best possible result. Relevant challenges could be related to memory, personality, culture shock, communicating with native speakers and boring and traditional teaching methods. With Malta’s entry into the European Union (EU) in 2004, Maltese became one of EU’s official languages. Many foreign workers residing in Malta, continue to find employment in the iGaming industry, financial services, health care, pharmaceuticals, construction sector and culinary industry and are interested to learn Maltese for various reasons. The book “A Verbal Odyssey. Learning Maltese as a foreign adult” by Dr. Jacqueline Żammit explores the acquisition of Maltese verbs by thirty-five adult non-native learners from all walks of life and different parts of the world to better understand and improve the language learning process. In fact, the participants’ issues and learning techniques could easily be applied to any other foreign language acquisition. The book adopts chaos/complexity theory (C/CT) as a conceptual framework. C/CT is a field of science and mathematics. This book applies C/CT in a unique way by interpreting the process of learning Maltese as a foreign language from both cognitive and sociocultural perspectives since both of them affect a learner’s competence and performance. Consequently, it aims to explore the use of verbs by different non-native learners to understand what is going on in the learner’s mind while learning Maltese as a foreign language, the challenges of learning Maltese and to improve the current teaching and learning system in Maltese as a foreign language. This book addresses any foreign language learner as well as teachers, lecturers, and school administrators. For methodical reasons, the book is also interesting for linguistic researchers. Moreover, education policymakers can benefit from the findings, especially when it comes to understanding students’ and adult learners’ learning curves and language learning challenges. Despite being academic, this book is aesthetically appealing because each chapter starts with a funny comic strip and a quotation.