Exploring Educators’ Linguistic Attitudes Towards Purism and Flexibility in Maltese Education

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Future of Education

Year: 2026

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Exploring Educators’ Linguistic Attitudes Towards Purism and Flexibility in Maltese Education

Melanie Darmanin

ABSTRACT:

Malta, a small island state at the centre of the Mediterranean, is a bilingual country where the
national language, Maltese, coexists alongside English. The interaction between these two
languages has shaped patterns of communication, with most speakers alternating between them
depending on the context. This is particularly evident in early years education, where educators
may adopt either purist or more flexible approaches when facilitating learning in the national
language. The underpinning research study examined educators’ perspectives on these
approaches through a mixed-methods questionnaire completed by 144 practitioners working in
early childhood education and care settings across Malta. Analysed through descriptive statistics
and a thematic approach involving systematic coding and the refinement of themes, data revealed
that Maltese educators frequently associate linguistic purism with the “proper” and “ideal” use
of Maltese in educational contexts. In practice, however, linguistic flexibility is more widely
acknowledged, particularly as a means of ensuring comprehension among young learners.
Findings further showed that while code-switching and translanguaging are generally regarded as
“acceptable”, pseudo-loanwords and code-mixing are often consciously avoided in educational
settings. According to the participants, these do not align with personal or institutional
expectations, despite their prevalence in everyday discourse. Participants also expressed
concerns about factors that restrict the use of Maltese in early years settings, including parental
influences, a lack of educator proficiency in Maltese, the top-down influence of educational
language norms and the increasing number of non-Maltese children living in Malta.

Keywords: Bilingualism; Language Views; Linguistic Purism; Linguistic Flexibility; Maltese Language