Blog
We recently worked with a B777 captain who, as newcomer to the field, was astonished at the lack of meaningful standards in aviation language testing. This, along with the positive response I received to a post on aviation language assessment in the USA (post 1 in this series), prompted me to share a series of short articles on this topic. Post 2 looks at the lack of operationally-relevant aviation English tests.
Language testing for the ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) is exceptionally high-stakes. The industry deserves the highest standards of quality and yet aviation English testing is in a very poor state. This collection of twelve blog posts explores the issues. Post 1 looks at inappropriate regulatory guidance.
The combination of national regulations and individual motivations has created a demand for generic aviation English rater training courses, a demand which is met by a number of providers who offer courses in varied shape and form. As rater training is largely unregulated, and as there is little guidance on what an aviation English rater training course should include, this article briefly explores this niche area of activity, suggests content that training courses should cover, and evaluates the usefulness of generic rater training.
As we slowly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and the aviation industry gears up for restart, this article examines one small but important safety concern - the issue of loss of language proficiency. We briefly explore the concept of ‘language attrition’ before examining some recent guidance on industry restart, and conclude with some advice for pilots, controllers and training managers returning to active duty.
Ab-initio flight training is showing some positive signs of recovery. The adequate supply of professional pilots will be one of the keys to rebuilding of a safe and sustainable airline industry over the next few years, and the need for appropriate aviation English training to equip students for success at flight school and their career beyond is as pressing as ever. This blog post explains what drives Latitude to publish aviation English training content to enable aspiring pilots to gain entry to the aviation industry, and sets out six challenges that we observe in this exciting area of English for specific purposes.
