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Training in the ‘English Proficient’ World

Teaching communication with multilingual learners requires diligence and attention to various cues.

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A male student pilot in flight training. [Credit: Strider]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article highlights that "English Proficient" non-native pilots can still face significant communication challenges with Air Traffic Control due to accents and the specialized, often literal, nature of aviation English.
  • Misunderstandings arise from both the specific jargon and shorthand used in aviation, and the cognitive load non-native speakers experience when translating in a fast-paced environment.
  • A successful strategy to overcome these barriers was for the pilot to adapt their speech cadence and even mimic the controller's accent, leading to improved mutual understanding and effective communication.
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“If there is an instructor on board, they better key up!”

These were the words of a somewhat frustrated tower controller who was trying to understand the request of the Japanese learner—the young man could speak English, but apparently it was so heavily accented (to the controller’s ears), I feared the request for touch and goes came across the radio sounding like something between Scooby Doo and the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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