The conclusions and recommendations of the recently published study by Cambridge English commissioned by the Ministry of Education in 2015, which benchmarked the level of English competence in Year 4 and From 4, were, let's say, overly revealing.

The study seemed to be indicating that English should be regarded and taught as a foreign language in Malta. From this perspective it judged our students’ competence to be “a very positive finding”, contrary to recent international surveys and our everyday experience.  

A teacher of English was telling me only last week that she is told she teaches a snobbish subject. A partner in a services firm explained some months ago how he cannot employ Maltese youths who do not use English as well as Maltese because he cannot have staff shying  away from taking the phone if on the other side of the line there is a foreign client.

A self-employed mechanic told me that with all the modern cars being imported in Malta he needs to strengthen his knowledge of English so as to be able to remain in the trade or else will have to restrict his client base.

A self-thought gilder, whose workpieces are truly fascinating, admitted to me that now in his 40s he has started to take English lessons as he cannot progress in his trade without knowledge of the language.

Students, even at tertiary level, are struggling with expressing themselves well and with building their arguments well in their assignments or dissertations when they choose to do so in the English language. This is borne also by the examiners’ reports of the SEC results.

I am really beyond asking why we have reached this point. Why we have failed to grasp the fact that our geographic insularity can be overcome to a great extent by a good grasp of the English language.

And let's face it, that Malta is not just a country but a country amongst and with other countries. Nothing we do today is just Maltese, for the Maltese or involves only the Maltese. Malta's economy clearly shows how we are intimately connected and networked with other countries.

The continuous development in technology and wider access to the internet as well as the accessibility of tools to communicate with those outside our own geographic territory will only make mastering a high level of competence in the English language even more of a must if we want a society with high potential.

Foreigners often recognise that it is our mastering of the English language that provides us with an edge over other countries. It is a pity, therefore, that our children and youths seem to be worse off in their proficiency in the English language.

Of course, competence in the English language does not mean diminishing competence in our national language Maltese. It is the latter that is embedded in our social identity, culture and history and it is imperative that we strive to see more publications in our national language as well as a strengthened competence in it.

Let's be honest: being bilingual gives us an edge but it does so because in our case English is not just a foreign language. My desire to retain the status of English in Malta, one which is second nature to our children and youths, is born of the stark reality that in the increasingly internationalized life that we already live today and that our children will be living even more, this is a basic tool not only to survive but to thrive and succeed.

It is therefore obvious that while I take stock of what the Cambridge English study states, its conclusions may be more revealing of the standards against which the study was carried out rather than the standards we need to keep.

I am not one who accepts lowering the bar when it comes to teaching English. It is not acceptable for the English competence of our students to be assessed against standards of a foreign language. It is not acceptable for us to even consider teaching English as a foreign language.