Aerospace English

Aerospace English offers a number of services to pilots and air traffic controllers. 

• Diagnostic testing of candidates for an ICAO compliant English Language Proficiency Test.
• Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and remedial tutoring support to ensure candidates will pass an ICAO compliant test on their first try.
• Arrangements for candidates to sit an ICAO compliant test.

Details of the ICAO English levels are here.

The value of good diagnostic testing and informed Training Needs Analysis (TNA) are particularly important.  In the aviation training context, remedial English tutoring must be flexible and take account of aspects such as flight or ATC training schedules which in a typical flying school are themselves subject to weather and other factors.

By Teoh Cheang Hoe, CASA project officer for implementation of the ICAO SARP on English language proficiency. 
Published in Flight Safety Australia #58 Sep-Oct 07
Reformatted for the web by Mike Smith

For progressive reports on the English language project, refer to www.casa.gov.au/fcl/index.htm  

ICAO Language Proficiency For Pilots

Several aviation accidents and incidents have occurred over the years where the root cause has been traced to misunderstanding of the language used by the pilots and/or air traffic controllers involved.  Unless all parties are proficient in a common language, vital information can be lost or misinterpreted, leading to hazardous situations or unmitigated disaster.  For international aviation operations, English has been accepted as the standard language. 

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has directed contracting states that all aircrew and air traffic controllers be assessed and certified as competent in language communications by 5 March 2008.  ICAO has defined six levels of language competency, of which only the top three would be acceptable levels of competency for operational pilots and air traffic controllers.  The ICAO language proficiency requirement focuses on oral expression rather than writing ability.

CASA aims to comply with the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for language proficiency. This means that holders of Australian flight crew licences who conduct international operations on and from 5 march 2008, will be required to carry a certificate of proficiency in the English language, as foreign authorities may require evidence.  The proficiency level will be indicated on their licence.

ICAO Language Proficiency Standards

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) grades English Language performance on a scale of 1 to 6:

Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers and all others who use English in R/T communication on international routes must reach ICAO English Language Level 4 (Operational) by March 2008 - confirmed by successful completion of an ICAO-approved proficiency test.

Those who pass the test at Level 4 must be re-tested every three years.  Those who fail may no longer be licensed to operate on international routes.

Why Aerospace English?

There are perhaps 3 well-known streams of English language teaching: to native speakers through (K12) school, to graduate academics (usually as English literature), and to speakers of other languages.  This last category may be referred to as TESOL, ESL and EFL or similar.  English as a Second Language (ESL) refers to a person traveling to and studying English in an English-speaking society – sometimes also called ‘full immersion’.  ESL is what we teach in Australia to all our foreign visitors.

Within ESL we have General English (GE) and English for Special/Specific Purposes (ESP) – contexts such as business, medical, academic, etc.  Recently some new contexts have emerged in vocational and professional fields due to companies recruiting overseas to mitigate severe skills shortages in Australia.  These emerging ESP fields include engineering, IT, mining, construction and associated trades, and aviation.

Aviation English is a hot topic now because of ICAO’s imminent language proficiency requirements for international aircrew.  Certainly this will generate a lot of work for English language assessors and tutors.  However aviation is itself part of the aerospace industry – a global and multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-lingual industry where English may be the ‘common language’ but is certainly not always the ‘native language’.