We are pleased to announce that Latitude has been chosen by Uzbekistan Airways to deliver advanced training for the airline's language teaching and testing team. A bespoke 70-hour course will be delivered in summer 2024 as a blend of e-learning and instructor-led training in partnership with Norwich Institute for Language Education in the UK. We're very much looking forward to taking a deep dive into aviation language teaching pedagogy and instructional and test task design, all in the context of radiotelephony communication in accordance with the ICAO LPRs.
Checkpoint listening and reading report
We are pleased to publish a report on the performance of the Checkpoint listening and reading assessments. In summary:
Analyses conducted in 2015:
Estimated Checkpoint's reliability to be between 90.2 and 100% with a standard error of measurement of between 1.7 and 3.2%;
Showed that it is impossible to make accurate judgements about listening ability or reading ability on the basis of a spoken performance; separate measurement of listening, reading and speaking skills is essential; and
Showed Checkpoint's listening and reading items to be discriminating well between candidates of low, medium and high ability.
Rasch analyses conducted in 2024:
Showed that Checkpoint's listening and reading items:
Cover a range of difficulty which is well-suited to the ability of the candidate population; and
Measure effectively with many items close to or at values ideal for measurement;
Resulted in revision of four of Checkpoint's 96 listening and reading items to further enhance their measurement properties.
You can download the report here.
Latitude supports EUROCONTROL with successful ICAO recognition
We were delighted to be selected by EUROCONTROL to coordinate and prepare the submission to ICAO for recognition of ELPAC for pilots. Led by Latitude’s Henry Emery and Andrea Howard, work began in January and involved review, collation and preparation of test documentation, development and administration procedures and evidence for test validity and reliability. The submission has now been reviewed under ICAO's Aviation English Language Testing System and has resulted in successful recognition of ELPAC for Pilots for a period of three years.
ELPAC for pilots is currently the only language test in the world to be recognised by ICAO for its quality. The successful recognition of ELPAC for pilots is a clear demonstration of EUROCONTROL's commitment to the highest standards in aviation language testing. Our congratulations go to the ELPAC and its partners, the Zürich University of Applies Sciences and Enovate of Norway.
EATS 2023
Latitude’s Managing Director, Henry Emery, will be representing ICAEA with a talk on the Test Design Guidelines at the European Airline Training Symposium in Lisbon, Portugal from 8th-9th November 2023.
Keynote speech at 10th GEIA seminar
Latitude’s Managing Director, Henry Emery, will be giving a keynote speech and workshops on radiotelephony role play in aviation language teaching and testing at the 10th GEIA seminar in São José dos Campos, Brazil from 2nd-5th October 2023.
ICAEA conference
Latitude’s Managing Director, Henry Emery will be running workshops on radiotelephony role play in aviation language teaching at the The International Civil Aviation English Association (ICAEA) conference in Istanbul from 18th-20th September 2023.
Croatia Control selects Latitude
We're pleased to announce that Croatia Control has selected Latitude's Command e-learning to help ATCOs refresh and maintain their operational language proficiency. Accessible on all devices, Command e-learning provides 24 units of interactive aviation English training enabling personnel to:
Listen to plain English in a variety of aviation contexts, from safety briefs and training events to radio interviews, podcasts and discussions
Listen to non-standard air-ground communications
Develop structure, vocabulary, and plain language for radio communications.
As part of the package, Latitude is providing a branded learning management system through which ATCOs engage with course content and Croatia Control's language support team can monitor progress and download reports.
We are delighted to be working with Croatia Control and to help its air traffic control personnel maintain aviation English for safe and efficient aeronautical communications.
Learn more about Command here.
Hub'Air chooses Latitude
We’re pleased to announce that Hub'Air has chosen Latitude to support its students as they prepare for airline pilot training. Under the partnership, students sign up for Checkpoint, our web-based assessment of listening, reading and speaking which they can take remotely. Depending on scores in Checkpoint, students may proceed directly to flight training, or elect to develop their language proficiency through Foundation e-learning with optional virtual instructor-led training.
The partnership allows Hub’Air, the students and their sponsors to manage language proficiency in advance of flight training, therefore minimising risk and maximising the chances of success.
For more than 20 years, Hub'Air has trained hundreds of airline pilots who have joined companies such as Air France, Emirates, Luxair, Brussels Airlines, Qatar Airways, Corsair, TUI, Cargolux, Easyjet, Ryanair, DHL and Private Jets. We’re pleased to welcome Hub’Air to our growing list of users of Checkpoint and Foundation.
AEGEAN chooses Latitude
We are delighted to announce that AEGEAN, the awarded Greek airline, has selected the Latitude Testing Toolkit in order to establish an independent, in-house aviation English testing capability for its flight crew.
The Toolkit enables organisations to implement a professionally-produced language testing system that enables measurement of English language proficiency for radiotelephony communications according to the ICAO rating scale. The Toolkit comprises a full set of test content and tasks, Standard Operating Procedures and a package of personnel training and is available to customers under a license for unlimited, royalty-free use.
Find out more about the Latitude Testing Toolkit here.
Symbiotics partner with Latitude
Symbiotics, the provider of ADAPT psychological assessments for aviation, have partnered with Latitude to provide a spoken English language assessment directly from Symbiotics' ADAPT platform.
Under the partnership, Latitude will provide the test design, content and assessment services to enable a candidate to undertake a spoken English assessment within ADAPT. Symbiotics have further developed ADAPT with new test delivery features including the ability for candidates to securely record their audio responses to questions and scenarios. The assessment will take around 25 minutes for the candidate to compete and will capture up to 11.5 minutes of speech for assessment by an experienced language rater.
The new assessment is now available to Symbiotics' existing clients who can include it within their ADAPT assessments for a smooth candidate experience and consolidated report.
Henry Emery, Managing Director of Latitude, comments:
Flight training is demanding for any student, especially for those who don't have English as a first language. While good language and communication skills open the door to successful selection and flight training, weaker language proficiency can prevent effective pilot aptitude assessment and can lead to a loss of training efficiency and costly disruption once flight training begins. Through our partnership with Symbiotics, we are delighted to help users of ADAPT manage the risks associated with language proficiency, and we look forward to supporting the Symbiotics team with robust measures of spoken English, adding value and enabling yet more confident selection and admissions decisions.
Symbiotics' Managing Director, Hannah Davies added:
We continue to listen to our clients and act to enhance their experience with ADAPT. Where students' native language is not English, clients tell us that they can struggle through the assessment process - not because of ability or aptitude but because of their level of English. Relying purely on comprehension tests for English testing can mean some students struggle with higher order thinking skills such as using language to compare and contrast or evaluate. We want to be able to help our clients best support students and ensure those who are accepted to flight schools are ready and equipped to manage the demands of the required interaction conducted in English throughout training. We recognise that the spoken component is the most important indication for our clients to provide a measure of a student's English ability and as such looked for a best in class solution which we could integrate into ADAPT to offer to clients, which we now can in partnership with Latitude.
For further information on Symbiotics' spoken language assessment, contact Symbiotics here.