ICAO Language ICAO Language Proficiency RequirementsProficiency Requirements

Presented by Elizabeth MathewsLinguistic Consultant, ICAO

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1946 - 20031946 - 2003

Recommended Practice:(Annex 10)

…English SHOULD be made available…

Standard: (Annex 1)

…Controllers SHALL speak and understand the language designated for use without accent or

impediment…

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Recommended PracticeStandard for controllersDe facto English requirements for pilots

Yet….

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AccidentsAccidents

1976 Mid-air collision Yugoslavia

1977 Pan Am / KLM in Tenerife

1990 Avianca in New York

1995 American in Cali

1996 Kazak / Saudia over India

2000 Runway collision at CDG

2001 Runway collision in Milan

“…“…recent major accident investigations have indicated lack of proficiency and comprehension of the English language … alike as a contributing factor…”

…High Priority

Assembly Resolution A32-16Assembly Resolution A32-161998

• Strengthen Annex 1 and 10 Strengthen Annex 1 and 10 provisionsprovisions

• Obligate States to ensure that Obligate States to ensure that personnel are proficiency in personnel are proficiency in EnglishEnglish

• High level of priorityHigh level of priority

Assembly Resolution A32-16Assembly Resolution A32-161998

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PRICESGPRICESG

ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements

Use ICAO phraseologyKnow plain language tooUse English or L. O. S. G.To Level 4 minimum

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Language RequirementsLanguage Requirements

ICAO Level 4 2008Holistic descriptorsControllers and Pilots NS and NNS: All languagesRecurrent testing: 6/3

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ICAO Rating ScaleICAO Rating Scale

Holistic Descriptors Six Levels:

Expert-6 Pre-operational-3Extended-5 Elementary-2Operational-4 Pre-elementary-1

Five Areas of linguistic performancePronunciation Fluency

Structure Comprehension Interactions

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What’s next?What’s next?

Infrastructure for Training and Testing• Materials• Qualified aviation English instructors• Programs• Teacher training programs• Tests

Tests

Materials

Programs

Teacher Training Programs

Personnel

STANDARD

AviatioAviationn

Materials

Programs

Personnel

Tests