Post 12 of 12 on assessment literacy and test user perceptions is my final offer on why aviation English testing is in such a poor state.
Untrained aviation English test personnel
The ICAO Rated Speech Samples Training Aid
The ICAO Rating Scale
Lack of industry-recognised aviation English testing services
Lack of accountability
The regulatory and commercial backdrop
Poor construct definition
Underrepresentation of listening comprehension
Generic test design
Lack of operationally relevant tests
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.
Inappropriate regulatory guidance
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 value of aviation English rater training
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.
Back to work
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.
Fouled plugs and a hydraulic failure
Squawking 7600: The absence of RT in tests of aviation English
Radio communication between pilots and controllers features standard phraseology in the first instance and plain English when phraseology does not suffice. The two go together, hand-in-hand: safe and efficient radiotelephony relies on both. In this blog, we explain why it is so important for ICAO English tests to directly address radiotelephony communication, and we explore some of the reasons why radiotelephony is conspicuously absent in much aviation language testing today.
