EDITORIAL
... continuation from Homepage
ICAO
In 2009, in addition to Circular 323 on aviation English training, ICAO also issued Circular 318, “Language Testing Criteria for Global Harmonization”, which provides additional, more specific and updated guidelines about language proficiency testing for licensing purposes than those initially contained in Document 9835.
The end of the day was marked by a visit to the school’s remarkable indoor and outdoor aviation museums which contain some unique exhibits, including the Tupolev 144 as well as aircraft going back to the heroic pioneering days of Russian aviation.
This circular can also be ordered directly from the ICAO website (www.icao.int). It is designed to give further support to both test designers and providers and to those involved in selecting appropriate language proficiency tests for personnel licensing purposes.
Following on from the Ulyanovsk workshop on language rating in May 2009, the European and North Atlantic office of ICAO is organising a Language Proficiency workshop on LPR implementation and aviation language training hosted by ENAC (Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile) in Rome from 3rd to 5th March. The draft programme for the workshop can be seen here.
An important event in which the use of language will be one of the factors to be considered in a rapidly developing world is being held in Montreal from 1st to 4th March: the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals Symposium.
EAMTC
The European Aircraft Maintenance Training Committee (www.eamtc.org), presided over by Ian Williams, is very actively involved in giving this sector of the industry an informed and respected voice and interfacing with the regulators (EASA), aircraft manufacturers, airlines, training centres and maintenance centres. The EAMTC held a meeting last October in Bordeaux, hosted by Sabena Technics, when topics such as:
- Training Needs Analysis
- Part 66 / 147 Working Group report
- EASA updates, and
- Reading, understanding and using English language documentation in aircraft maintenance
were addressed.
The first session of a new working group on e-learning in maintenance training, presided over by Airbus and hosted by Air France, took place in Paris on 25th and 26th January. The first meeting of the group was able to develop the outline and contents of the work ahead:
Introduction
Definition of e-learning
Why do we need e-learning: internal and external forces
Challenges and barriers of e-learning
Target groups profiles
Learning skills
Computer literacy
Learning culture
Language
Profession
Objectives
Declarative knowledge
Procedural knowledge
Type of training
Learning process
Learning styles
Content structure
Learning activities
Assessment methodology
Why and what you need to assess
Pre-assessment, Continues assessment, Post assessment
Methods
Ideas of how to assure proper assessments
Different kinds of assessments
Training methodology
Pedagogical principles (constructivism: Active learning, situated learning, student centered learning, adaptive learning, collaborative learning, serious gaming
Kind of matrix
Training strategies
Delivery methods & tools
Asynchrony
Synchronic
Tools
Emerging technology
Type of training
Training characteristics
Probable training objectives
Content type
Trainee characteristics
Probable training and assessment methodologies
Regulation restrictions for: Basic, Type, Continuation & Specialized training
Organization requirements
Part 145 & 147 organisations
Internal communication
Trainer requirements
Commitment of management
Logistic support
Organization changes
Learning facilities
The findings and recommendations of the study will assist the maintenance training industry in accommodating new training practices and media.
The next EAMTC meeting, hosted by Airbus, is taking place in Toulouse on 23rdh and 24th March. Among the issues addressed will be:
- EASA website
- Optimizing maintenance type training
- Technical reading comprehension tests
In June 2010, EAMTC will be holding a maintenance instructor seminar in Munich.
ICAEA
The first meeting of the ICAEA Rated Speech Sample panel was held in Cambridge, hosted by Cambridge ESOL, at the end of October 2009. The aim of the project is to produce a much more robust second edition of the ICAO Speech Sample training aid which will downloadable free of charge from the ICAO website from the latter part of 2010. This project has since been supported by a State Letter from the ICAO Secretary General and the first responses from test providers approached to put test samples at the disposal of the project have been very positive indeed. For further information, see www.icaea.pansa.pl.
A beta version of the ICAEA Information Resource – an on-line bibliography and reference tool for publications, periodicals, academic research, websites, videos etc. relating in any way to the use and training of English in aviation – is currently being tested and will soon be available in its first stage. The ICAEA website also contains more information about this resource.
Individual remote version of docWise™
The docWise™ programme has encountered considerable success and is being used by over forty organisations worldwide. We have been aware for some time, however, that there was a demand for the programme from individual private users who wished to improve their technical reading skills. We have therefore decided to develop an individual version which can be used with a dongle at a price which we hope will be accessible for the private sector. Marketing information about this version will be appearing on the bwise2 website very shortly. We would like to thank all those who have written to us, made enquiries and shown us that there was a demand for such a version.
SITES WORTH REFERRING TO
EAMTC (European Aircraft Maintenance Training Committee)
http://www.eamtc.org
ILTA (International Language Testing Association
www.iltaonline.com
ICAEA (International Civil Aviation English Association)
www.icaea.pansa.pl
Two articles which are of interest to the aircraft maintenance community are:
Flight Safety Foundation’s Simplifying the technicalities http://www.flightsafety.org/asw/aug07/asw_aug07_p16-21.pdf
And the article What is simplified technical English at http://www.simplifiedenglish.net/en/ste/what_is_simplified_technical_english.asp
English
for
Aviation...
... wherever English is used as a working tool