The Italian language awarness programme in primary schools in Malta

Abstract

Having the necessary skills to communicate in more than two languages is an asset in today's world. The introduction of the Italian awareness programme in the second cycle of the Maltese Primary school curriculum is considered necessary in the light of the geographical context of the Maltese Islands. This dissertation takes this context into consideration and investigates the Italian language awareness programme that is currently being implemented in local Primary schools. This is achieved by considering teachers' and students' views on the effectiveness of this progamme. Another factor to be accounted for is the undeniable decline in Italian television viewership. Consequently, Primary students' exposure to Italian via the media and their views of multilingualism are also core concerns of this study. In the process of completing this study, 229 Year 5 students completed questionnaires whilst 10 Italian language awareness teachers and the Italian Educational Officer were interviewed. Results confirm the outcome of recent research that has proven that Italian television channels have lost the dominant role which they have held in the past. On the other hand, results indicate that students like learning Italian and thoroughly enjoy the Italian language awareness programme. These Primary students were also capable of writing some words in Italian, and it is hypothesised that some of these words were produced as a result of their exposure to the language via the awareness programme, proving its worth and effectiveness.