The introduction of the ICAO Level 4 Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) in 2003, as well as the subsequent steps taken to assist in their effective and timely implementation, has significantly altered the environment in which aviation English training is now carried out.

To help address the challenges that have emerged for aviation English educators and the end-users of new training programmes that have been developed to address ICAO’s requirements, the International Civil Aviation English Association (ICAEA) is now finalizing, in cooperation with ICAO, a set of “Guidelines for Aviation English Training Programmes” that will be of invaluable assistance to all aviation English stakeholders as they continue to fine-tune their training programmes and end-user objectives.

While there are internationally recognized bodies providing accreditation for schools teaching English as a foreign language (including the qualifications required for teachers of English as a foreign language), there is presently no formal system of accreditation or qualification for schools or teachers developing and delivering aviation English training.

Similar to aviation English testing, aviation English training is an unregulated industry. It remains, however, that language training in aviation has specific objectives, content, criteria of proficiency, conditions of use and professional and personal stakes which set it apart from the teaching of language in any other area of human activity. Some of these unique criteria may be summarized as follows:

Aviation communication not only affects the safety of the travelling public and success of individual careers, it also carries economic repercussions for many activities and actors in the aviation industry—directly through testing and training costs and indirectly through effects on staffing.

In the absence of any current system of accreditation, validation or specific teacher qualifications, the “Guidelines for Aviation English Training Programmes” have been drawn up by the International Civil Aviation English Association (ICAEA), in cooperation with ICAO, in order to assist the aviation community in the process of selecting and contracting with aviation English training providers and to set appropriate standards of good practice for the teaching of aviation English. An agreement to co-publish the new Guidelines is also being explored by ICAO and ICAEA with a target publication date now set for later in 2009.

“ICAEA approached ICAO about the concept of these new Guidelines and we realized from the onset that this would be a very useful development with respect to our wider objectives with the Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) we had introduced in 2003,” commented Nicole Barrette-Sabourin, ICAO’s Technical Officer responsible for Language Proficiency. “ICAO’s goals have always been safety-driven and aviation-focused in this area, but upon the introduction of the LPRs we were pleased to see that they elicited a great deal of interest in the aviation English language education community. When ICAEA approached us about the idea for the Guidelines we were happy to collaborate with them in order to better support ICAO’s Member States and the other aviation stakeholders in their efforts to address the Requirements in as cost-effective a manner as possible.”

The ICAO LPRs apply to achieving and maintaining proficiency in all languages employed in radiotelephony communications. As English is by far the language most widely used in common by the global aviation community, however, and the only one which there is a specific requirement to provide, the aviation com - munity’s main focus for the time being is to improve levels of spoken English.

But where ICAO’s goal was to define an end-point that would achieve its safety related objectives, the worldwide English language education community saw this new development from their own perspective and were immediately interested in the particular challenges that aviation English training posed to its existing network of trainers and courses. The situation was tailor-made for a win-win collaboration between the two communities.

“ICAEA had been concerned about ways of enhancing the standards and appropriateness of aviation English training,” began ICAEA President, Philip Shawcross. “By that point I had already determined the four main headings that now define the structure of the Guideline content and, after some brief discussions regarding appropriate methods that would guide our endeavor, Nicole and I agreed that we could make use of the upcoming ICAEA Eighth International Civil Aviation English Association Forum at Cambridge (held in September 2007) to establish Working Groups that could help us define the main chapters in more detail.”

The introduction of the ICAO LPRs, as well as the subsequent steps taken to assist in their effective implementation, has significantly altered the environment in which aviation English training is now carried out. From an optional, irregular objective that once sat on the periphery of professional training and was entirely dependent on available funds, ICAO’s Operational Level 4 proficiency requirements have now provided aviation English training activities with a very specific set of objectives and timelines.

This transition has had considerable repercussions. In earlier periods, when language training delivery was entirely restrained by budgetary limits, there was little real awareness of the considerable time required in order for a learner to make significant progress. Nor was much attention given to the differences in the rates at which various learners will effectively acquire a language. As awareness has matured regarding the very significant training times involved to reach genuine operational proficiency, a substantial impact has resulted on both the direct and indirect costs of this training.

Hard financial realities thus make it all the more necessary to select appropriate, efficient and cost-effective training solutions. These issues, and many more, are addressed in the new ICAEA/ICAO-developed Guidelines, with a view to fostering a better understanding of this very specific type of training.

“The new ICAO Requirements, when they were introduced in 2003, essentially required that an entire new training sector be established in a very short period of time,” commented Shawcross. “We began to see materials and techniques being employed that were not necessarily appropriate to the ultimate objective, and so it became an early goal for us not only to provide information and guidance to educators, but also to the aviation decision makers who were having to seek out suitable programmes in the training marketplace.”

The purpose of the new Guidelines, therefore, is not to recommend or accredit any given training provider, institution or school. Nor are they intended to replace aviation English trainer training. What the Guidelines do seek to achieve, however, is to lay down a set of principles of best practice and to reflect specific benchmarks by which aviation English training programmes can be usefully assessed.

The Guidelines address four primary areas: aviation English training design & development; aviation English training delivery; aviation English trainer profiles and backgrounds; and aviation English trainer training. They were written based on the expertise and experience of the ICAEA Board and Members as an integral part of their joint commitment to enhancing standards in aviation English training.

ICAO has been consulted and closely involved in fine-tuning the content as it has progressed to its present state, and both ICAO and ICAEA originators have advanced the process based on a clear understanding that this training is instrumental to improving the quality of aviation communications and safety worldwide. It is expected that State Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) personnel, pilots, controllers, as well as training managers, administrators, designers, providers and facilitators will directly benefit from the Guidelines in their efforts to ensure aviation language training efficiency and effectiveness.

“Ultimately, everything that ICAO does is guided by joint objectives that seek to effectively balance the safety and efficiency needs of the global air transport system,” confirmed Barrette- Sabourin. “Our LPRs will be very-well supported by these Guidelines in this sense and they should also bring the added benefit of helping any organization engaged in aviation English training ensure course effectiveness while controlling costs as much as possible. This is a very important concern in the current economic climate.”

Using the Guidelines

The Guidelines’ table of contents provides a summary and a checklist of the key points to be kept in mind when evaluating aviation English training.

The document has not been designed to be read necessarily in order from beginning to end. Rather particular paragraphs may be consulted as required. Moreover, similar observations will be found in different chapters, for example a specific point could be reflected Chapter 1 from a training design point of view and in Chapter 4 from a train the trainer perspective. While these points may be redundant from an aggregate stand point, following this approach also allows each section of the document to be more self-contained.

Readers will be encouraged to choose the depth at which the Guidelines will be used at any given time. Specific uses may range from employing the table of contents and the Executive Summary as a checklist of actions to complete, to pursuing a more comprehensive understanding of the subjects through the many resources to which there are cross-references.

A questionnaire at the end of each of the four chapters enables readers to validate their understanding of the contents and acts a quick means of reviewing essential chapter content.

The Guidelines are also provided with six appendices: Appendix A is divided into seven sections and provides resources for further reading and research. These resources are referred to in the text of the Guidelines. Four forms in Appendices B through E provide models of how some of the questions which need to be addressed can be formulated. These forms can be adapted by organizations selecting or contracting language training services, as well as by providers seeking to present this information. Appendix F provides information about the International Civil Aviation English Association.