Aviation English Assessment and Training

Abstract

Due to a significant global increase in demand for air travel, there has been a corresponding increase in demand for ab initio flight training. Thousands of international flight students seek admission to collegiate aviation programs in the United States and Canada every year. These international flight students come to the United States and Canada because flight training is nonexistent in their native countries. In fact, flight training in most of these countries is impossible due to airspace restrictions and onerous regulations. If there is flight training available in these countries, the cost is usually prohibitive compared to the cost in the United States and Canada. The requirements and recommendations for international aeronautical communications is described in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 10, Volume II which establishes the English language as the de facto language of international aviation. The majority of these international flight students are non-native English speakers (NNES) which can make it difficult for them to succeed in an already challenging academic environment. Inadequate English language proficiency is also a significant safety issue. Unfortunately, there are very few aviation English assessment programs available to evaluate NNES flight students for aviation English proficiency. There are also very few aviation English training programs available for those who are unable to demonstrate proficiency. This research seeks to answer two questions: Does inadequate aviation English proficiency continue to be a flight safety issue? Has compliance with the ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) helped, or has it contributed to this problem?