Dr Vella is a Senior Teaching Associate within the Centre for English Language Proficiency. Before she joined the University of Malta, Dr Vella was a reseracher and coordinator of the Language Policy in Education Unit At the National Literacy Agency, within the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation
Dr Vella graduated with a Bachelor of Education course specialising in English and Italian, followed by a Masters in Applied Language Studies. She was awarded a doctorate in Applied Linguistics from Lancaster University in 2019. Her thesis entitled Language attitudes and ideologies in Malta: a mixed-methods study investigating the way language attitudes and ideologies shape language use in a bilingual context.
Her research interests include bilingualism and education, language ideologies, the teaching of a second and a foreign language and the role of translanguaging in pedagogical contexts. She is also the co-author of a number of reports on language use and policies including:
The Language Policy for the Early Years in Malta and Gozo https://nla.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Language-Policy-for-the-Early-Years-in-Malta-and-Gozo.pdf
The Language Policy for the Junior Years in Malta and Gozo https://nla.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Language-Policy-for-the-Junior-Years.pdf
A National Literacy Strategy for All (A consultation document) https://nla.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/National-Literacy-Strategy-2021-2030-Consultation-Document.pdf
A Bilingual Glossary of Mathematics Terms (A Consultation document) https://nla.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Bilingual-Glossary-of-Mathematics-Terms-The-Early-and-Junior-Years.pdf
Dr Vella has presented in a number of international and local conferences papers on language use in education in Malta and on the way language ideologies are fostered in families.
