Aviation English - A global perspective: analysis, teaching, assessment

This e-book brings together 13 chapters written by aviation English researchers and practitioners settled in six different countries, representing institutions and universities from around the globe. The idea of having this publication was conceived during the 8th GEIA Seminar, an event held online, in November 2021, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next lines, we introduce GEIA research group, based in Brazil, followed by a brief explanation of the topics addressed in each chapter. GEIA1 is the “Aeronautical English Research Group”, accredited by Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq2 ) and maintained by ICEA3 , the Airspace Control Institute: a military organization of the Brazilian Air Force. It gathers researchers from different aviation authorities in Brazil, such as the Department of Airspace Control (DECEA)4 , ICEA and the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC5 ), and from prestigious universities spread throughout different parts of our country. This group aggregates research studies whose objective is to investigate different aspects of aeronautical English in the Brazilian context, divided into three areas of investigation: aviation language description and analysis; aeronautical English teaching and learning; aeronautical English testing and assessment. The group aims at studying topics such as: • the description of the language used in pilot-ATCO radiotelephony communications that go beyond standard phraseology in non-routine and emergency situations, as well as the analysis of the impacts of this communication as a safety component in accidents and incidents, concerning human factors; • the analysis of the content, syllabus, instructional material, and other elements of English courses/training offered to pilots and ATCOs, as well as of aviation English teacher training courses; • the description and analysis of assessment tools used to evaluate pilots’ and air traffic controllers’ language proficiency for their jobs, test development and delivery, washback effect and rater’s training; • other related topics in the interface of aviation English, such English teaching for other aviation professionals, compilation of glossaries and 1 GEIA stands for Grupo de Estudos em Inglês Aeronáutico, an acronym in Portuguese. Available at: ICEA - Subdiretoria de Ensino - GEIA - Grupo de Estudos em Inglês Aeronáutico (decea.mil. br) 2 CNPq stands for Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, an acronym in Portuguese. 3 ICEA stands for Instituto de Controle do Espaço Aéreo, an acronym in Portuguese. 4 DECEA stands for Departamento de Controle do Espaço Aéreo, an acronym in Portuguese. 5 ANAC stands for Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil, an acronym in Portuguese. INTRODUCTION other terminology tools, translation, contrastive analysis with other languages, etc. It is important to emphasize that, for us, aviation English is an umbrella term that refers to the use of the English language by any aviation-related professionals, including not only pilots and ATCOs, but also mechanics, meteorologists, flight attendants, and others. Aeronautical English, by its turn, is the language used solely by air traffic controllers and pilots while controlling international traffic, and the object of the language proficiency requirements addressed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Doc 98356 (2010). Other researchers from the international community have adopted this distinction in order to avoid misunderstanding7 . This is why sometimes we use the term aviation English, to refer to research about aircrafct mechanicals or meteorology, for example; and sometimes we prefer the term aeronautical English to emphasize pilot-ATC communications. The results from those studies have highlighted the development and improvement of English language teaching, learning, and assessment resources targeted at Brazilian air traffic control professionals, so as to ensure they are able to use English as a tool for safety in operations. Aviation English reflections in the pandemic Since its inception, in 2013, every year GEIA promotes seminars in which group members discuss and share research results. These events are addressed to pilots, air traffic controllers, teachers, examiners, and all the community interested in teaching, learning and assessing aviation and aeronautical English. Over the past couple years, humanity has faced a huge challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic scenario, which imposed lockdowns and social isolation, forcing people all over the world to change their ways of living, studying, working and connecting to others. It has dramatically affected aviation and, as a consequence, its training and testing devices worldwide. On-site courses and exams were canceled, postponed or adapted to the online format. New ways of training and testing had to be developed, using the tools and resources available, which have also been constantly improved too, to meet these new demands. Likewise, research groups have held their meetings online, and even events had to be adapted to rely on technology to survive. This pandemic context has affected GEIA and its seminars too. In 2020, for the first time in six years we offered the seminar as a virtual event, 6 INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION/ICAO. 2010. Doc. 9835 AN/453: Manual on the implementation of ICAO language proficiency requirements. 2. ed. Montreal. 7 Fore more information about it, see Tosqui-Lucks, P., & Silva, A. L. B. de C. e. (2020). Aeronautical English: Investigating the nature of this specific language in search of new heights. The ESPecialist, 41(3). https://doi.org/10.23925/2318-7115.2020v41i3a2 the 7th GEIA Seminar8 . On one hand, we had to get used to recording and watching videos and interacting asynchronously by written messages instead of attending on site presentations. On the other hand, space, time and money were no longer constraints. So, we decided to extend the enrollment, completely free of charge, to the international community. This change came in handy for some GEIA members who were living, working and studying overseas. Besides that, some of us are also members of the International Civil Aviation English Association (ICAEA)9 , which enabled other researchers to take part in our project involving the seminar itself and the publication of an Aviation English edition of a journal. The 7th GEIA Seminar focused on the launching of a special edition of the ESPecialist, a very important scientific journal in Brazil in the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) field. That special edition comprised 18 papers written by GEIA members and guest researchers, organized in two volumes (TOSQUI-LUCKS & PRADO, 202010). The authors from ten different countries recorded videos about their papers for the 7th GEIA seminar, which had 242 attendees from 26 countries. We were delighted with the opportunity of gathering so many international participants who offered us valuable contributions, which would have been impossible otherwise. In 2021, building on the success of the 7th GEIA Seminar, we decided to promote the 8th GEIA Seminar11 completely online. The event brought together 18 lectures and presentations conducted by 25 speakers from eight different countries, as well as 404 attendees from 32 countries. That was such an accomplishment! Besides consolidating the audience we already had we were able to attract more people from other countries. After all, in spite of all its horrible outcomes, the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped us; on the contrary, it has strengthened our group, by motivating us to go beyond our borders and innovating the way we had been used to carrying out our events. This e-book is an offshoot of the 8th GEIA Seminar, that counts on the collaboration of GEIA and ICAEA researchers, as well as guest speakers. It brings together thirteen chapters focused on aviation language description, teaching, and assessment, written by practitioners from several institutions around the globe. One of our guests and a keynote speaker, Prof. Eric Friginal, added the excellent contribution of his graduate students from Georgia State University, in the USA, and kindly wrote the Preface. Regarding its content, this e-book has been divided into three parts, according to GEIA’s areas of research: language description and analysis; aeornautical English teaching; and assessment practices. In fact, this distinction is not to be taken in absolute terms, for most of the chapters address teaching and/or testing to some extent. It is meant to help the reader find the 8 Available at: VII Seminário do GEIA (decea.mil.br) 9 ICAEA – Supporting the use of English for aviation safety 10 Tosqui-Lucks, P., & Prado, M. C. de A. 2020. New routes in the study of Aviation and Aeronautical English. The ESPecialist, 41(3); 41(4). https://doi.org/10.23925/2318-7115.2020v41i3a1 11 Avialable at: VIII Seminário do GEIA (decea.mil.br) topics that would be of their most interest, but we can assure that all chapters present high quality insights, are pleasant to read and thought provoking. The first part of the book “Aviation English Language Description and Analysis” is composed of four chapters. The first one, “Replacing phraseology and plain language with technical vocabulary to inform language training in aviation”, by Jennifer Drayton, examines the Tower Aviation Radiotelephony Technical Vocabulary List (TARTVL) which provides a technical vocabulary lens for lexical analysis of radiotelephony transmissions. The analysis shows that standard phraseology and plain language are situational constructs. A matrix of language used in radiotelephony communication is presented and identifies standard, non-standard and relational language. Both: the matrix and the TARTVL are useful for language training to reduce variation in language use, especially in multilingual workplaces. Such training relies on the

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