This course is for linguistic or operational experts  involved in developing, administering, managing, and rating Oral Proficiency Interview assessments for the aviation industry.

Through this course, participants will gain an understanding of:

• An introduction to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), including background to aviation language testing policies and a familiarisation with relevant ICAO documentation, especially Document 9835 (2010)
• A description of aviation safety issues and discussion of historical accidents with a communication component
• A description and detailed analysis of the ICAO Language Proficiency Rating Scale including listening to expert rated sample speech files
• A lesson in Aviation English: phraseology, vocabulary and sentence structures used in the aviation context; distinguishing between phraseology and ‘plain language’
• An exploration of the various Aviation English proficiency tests
• Extensive practical rating examples, group calibration and standard setting
• Practice and instruction in interlocution, conducting different elements of a test, using other raters and also ‘mock’ candidates
• Detailed exploration of the rating scale commentary in Doc 9835 (2010) and its implications for effective and accurate rating
• An in-depth examination of each of the six skill elements in the rating scale and their implications.

Participants should:

• be at ICAO Level 5 or above
• have an English language teaching or testing background, or have significant aviation operational background.

This course will be delivered via a blended learning approach - some sessions will be led by an instructor in a virtual classroom environment, and the remainder will be self-directed study. For the instructor-led component students will participate in live virtual sessions, with access to a range of digital interactive content from videos, quizzes and discussion forums. For the self-directed study, students will access our cloud-based learning resources, AirBooks and complete assignments and other activities.

• Dedicated instructor support
• A mix of structured study as a cohort, and self-directed learning
• Dynamic digital content, using AirBooks

• Students are given a login to a Microsoft Office 365 account to enable access to AKO Connect, our online video conferencing tool
• Students log into the AKO site on individual devices each day, to access AKO Connect for virtual live sessions, study instructions and the course plan
• An AirBooks login will also be provided to access all AirBooks resources for the course. AirBooks can be accessed using any device, from a smartphone to a PC.