Dr. Żammit is a senior lecturer and researcher specialising in Maltese pedagogy, with a focus on teaching Maltese as a foreign language. She holds a PhD in the acquisition of Maltese as a foreign language, a Master of Arts Degree with Distinction in Maltese Linguistics, and a First Class B.Ed. (Hons) Degree in Maltese and Early and Middle Years from the University of Malta. Before joining the University of Malta’s Department of Languages and Humanities in Education, Dr. Żammit accumulated over fifteen years of pedagogical experience, teaching Maltese as both a first and foreign language, as well as Spanish as a foreign language, in primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions.
In her role as a researcher and design consultant, Dr. Żammit focuses on the teaching and learning of Maltese as a foreign language. She has taught Second Language Acquisition theories and pedagogies and introduced Maltese as a foreign language at several universities, including the Universities of Edinburgh, Cork, and Antwerp. Currently, she is publishing articles and book chapters, presenting at conferences, and authoring books about Maltese as a foreign language and her research interests. Her areas of specialization and research interests encompass computer-assisted language learning (CALL), applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, multicultural education, intercultural education, multilingual education, and sociolinguistics.
Alongside her academic pursuits, Dr. Żammit serves as a reviewer for various journals and as an associate editor for Springer Nature’s “Humanities & Social Sciences Communications” journal. Through these roles, she applies her expertise to uphold the quality of research in these fields. While research constitutes a significant part of Dr. Żammit’s work, she also dedicates time to regular teaching, coordinating the pedagogy of Maltese, conducting teaching practice visits, coordinating work on the ‘Il-Ġabra’ online dictionary, writing short fictional graded stories, and supervising Master’s theses.
Educational Technology & Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching and Learning
Psycholinguistics in Language Learning
Sociolinguistics and Language Identity
Multilingual Education and Language Learning Strategies