English Proficiency Test of Aviation

By this time, most contracting states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are busy preparing themselves to comply with the new mandate imposed upon them by the organization. This mandate requires all member states to ensure that all their respective pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) involved in international routes must be able to demonstrate an acceptable level of English listening and speaking skill, confirmed by successful completion of an ICAO-approved proficiency test. Proponents of this new requirement have high hopes that air accidents due to miscommunications will be reduced substantially upon its implementation.

Aviation personnel (pilots and ATCs) who are not yet ready to take the listening and speaking test are advised to take English refresher or training course. Unfortunately, general English courses alone fall short to cover the context of aviation English. Specialized aviation English trainings were designed for this purpose. This field, however, is still in its infancy that organizations involved in aviation English training are facing shortage of aviation-specific training material.

This manual was developed to fill this gap - even only partially. It consists of five main topics carefully selected to strengthen one’s foundation of English as used in the field of aviation. These are English grammar, reading, pronunciation, listening and speaking. The user of this manual has the option of offering the course on a modular basis or on a month-long program with different topics in four weeks to break the monotony, especially for long topics such as speaking and listening. Weekend tests were also included to monitor the progress of the learner and to enable him/her to prepare in advance for the real test. In addition, a topic on the ICAO requirements, test design, and test evaluation was also included to make the learner aware of what are expected of him/her in order to pass a certain proficiency level.

This manual is intended for use as a training material for those who belong to the elementary level (Level 2) and below. It is hoped that after finishing the course, the learner has reached, at least, the pre-operational level (Level 3) and ready to take the course that would help him/her attain the operational level (Level 4).

The Grammar Module includes nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and selected topics on correct usages. These are the foundations of sentence structures and word orders. The reading module consists of articles regarding aviation, aircraft, aircraft operations, air traffic control, air safety, etc. These articles are carefully selected to enrich the learner’s vocabulary. One of the language descriptors required by ICAO is pronunciation. The topics in the pronunciation module were carefully selected to develop the learner’s ability to produce intelligible English words as required in radiotelephony communication. In this module, the basics of English pronunciation are tackled. In all other succeeding lessons, however, correct pronunciation will always be observed along with grammar and correct usage. In the listening module, the learners will listen to recorded clips, conversations, descriptions, etc. In each topic, learners are given helpful tips on how to improve their listening skills that would enable them to understand what they are listening to, despite outside noise, interferences and other distractions. The manual also include effective ways on how to make clarifications when one does not understand what the other is saying. The speaking module is very useful in honing one’s ability to express himself/herself. There are a lot of exercises from simple conversations such as asking questions, giving directions, role plays, sharing opinions, to highly technical conversations such as giving reports and radiotelephony conversations. In all of the different topics in the different modules, the manual was designed to include aviation English as far as possible except phraseologies and radiotelephony.