‘English’ education: only 3% write in Maltese in O-levels

Children prefer using English when answering exam questions, despite the prevalence of Maltese-language speakers in family and home settings (79%) according to recent surveys.

In a clear indication that students find it difficult to express themselves in written Maltese when answering exam questions, the vast majority of candidates sitting for the popular Environmental Studies SEC exam, opted to answer all questions in English, with only around 3% answering all the questions in Maltese.

And while many candidates opted to alternate between English and Maltese when answering questions, “several candidates did not express themselves coherently in either English or Maltese,” an examiners report reveals.

This damning assessment emerges from a report assessing the performance of the 1,902 candidates who sat for Environmental Studies-a multidisciplinary subject, which includes history, ecology, geography and social studies.

The trend for preferring English to Maltese was also noted in other examiners’ reports for subjects like history where “most responses were in English”; but even here the examiners lamented “the answers indicated poor command of the English language, making it difficult for markers to understand the answers.”

One reason for this phenomenon, according to teachers who spoke to this newspaper, is that notes preparing students for these subjects are always mostly in English. But others pointed out that students are more familiar with English terminology for scientific and technical terms.

Despite problems in expressing themselves in a coherent manner, most students sitting for the more difficult Paper II-A were able to produce “well-structured arguments and appropriate answers”. But this was not the case for those who opted for the easier Paper II-B, in which candidates can only aspire for a pass mark.  Among the latter category, many produced one-word answers or very short phrases rendering their “answers vague, and at times, incomprehensible”.

The report also reveals serious shortcomings in answering questions on crucial themes like climate change.

Worryingly, the majority of answers to a question on global warming “showed a lack of understanding” of climate change even among those sitting for the more difficult paper. In fact, few responses were able to explain the basic process of the greenhouse effect.

While many responses simply stated that there is a correlation between the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rising temperatures without explaining how, “a substantial number of responses erroneously attributed the increase of CO2 levels in the atmosphere, on the depletion of the Ozone Layer”.

When asked about alien species introduced in the Maltese environment, only a few answers mentioned the names of the invasive alien plants and animals. Around 50% of the responses showed a lack of understanding of the concept of ‘alien species’ and mentioned species, which are endemic to the Maltese archipelago. On the other hand, most responses showed awareness of the beneficial effects of nature reserves.

And when asked about how the functioning of Maltese institutions, many confused the role of parliament with that of the Cabinet of Ministers. In another question, 50% of responses incorrectly identified the Planning Authority and Heritage Malta as NGOs.

60.6% of the total candidates who sat for the examination obtained a grade between 1 and 5, while 13.3% obtained grades between 6 and 7. Only 21% obtained a grade between 1 and 3 of which 2.7% obtained Grade 1.

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