1887
Volume 32, Issue 3
  • ISSN 0155-0640
  • E-ISSN: 1833-7139

Abstract

This study investigates the variation in oral proficiency demonstrated by 14 Air Traffic Controllers across two types of testing tasks: work-related radio telephony-based tasks and non-specific English tasks on aviation topics. Their performance was compared statistically in terms of level ratings on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) scale. The results demonstrate significant differences in the performance of the test-takers across task types, differences that were not fully predictable across subjects. The differences between general English proficiency and specific purpose proficiency were even greater than those we would expect for other LSP situations. We discuss the implications of these findings for fairly and safely assessing Aviation English using ICAO standards in a politicized context.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.2104/aral0925
2009-01-01
2024-09-16
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alderson, J. Charles
    (2009) Air safety, language assessment policy, and policy implementation: The case of Aviation English. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 168–187. doi: 10.1017/S0267190509090138
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190509090138 [Google Scholar]
  2. Brindley, Geoff
    (2001) Outcomes based assessment in practice: Some examples and emerging insights. Language Testing, 18(4), 393–407. doi: 10.1177/026553220101800405
    https://doi.org/10.1177/026553220101800405 [Google Scholar]
  3. Cushing, Steven
    (1994) Fatal Words. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Douglas, Dan
    (2000) Assessing Languages for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
    International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (2004) Manual on the implementation of ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements. Montreal: Author.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) FLS. n.d. Flight Safety Section
    International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) FLS. n.d. Flight Safety Section. Personnel Licensing. Frequently Asked Questions. AccessedJune 9, 2009. Available from: www.icao.int/icao/en/trivia/peltrgFAQ.htm.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. McNamara, Tim
    (1996) Measuring Second Language Performance. London: Longman.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. McNamara, Tim ; Roever, Carsten
    (2006) Language Testing: The Social Dimension. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Mell, Jeremy
    (2004) Language training and testing in aviation need to focus on job-specific competencies. ICAO Journal, 59(1), 12–14, 27.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Mitsutomi, Marjo ; O’Brien, Kathleen
    (2004) Fundamental aviation language issues addressed by new proficiency requirements. ICAO Journal, 59(1), 7–9, 26–27.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Neville, Maurice
    (2004) Beyond the Black Box: Talk in Interaction in the Airline Cockpit. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Sänne, Johan M.
    (1999) Creating Safety in Air Traffic Control. Lund: Arkiv Förlag.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Teasdale, Alex
    (1996) Content validity in tests for well-defined LSP domains: An approach to defining what is to be tested. In Milanovic, M. and Saville, N. (Eds.), Performance Testing, Cognition and Assessment: Selected Papers from the 15th Language Testing Research Colloquium, pp.211–230. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Wyss-Bühlmann, Eveline
    (2005) Variation and Co-operative Communication Strategies in Air Traffic Control English. Bern: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.2104/aral0925
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error