English for specific purposes for aviation management trainees: Course evaluation and development / Reshminder Kaur Satvindar Singh

Reshminder Kaur , Satvindar Singh (2022) English for specific purposes for aviation management trainees: Course evaluation and development / Reshminder Kaur Satvindar Singh. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

A strong aviation management system depends on the efficient communications and coordination skills of aviation management (AVM) personnel. To illustrate this point, the management of air traffic, airport, airline, and cargo requires AVM personnel to demonstrate the ability for professional use of English when communicating to manage the operations of local and international air transport system. Notably, AVM personnel proficiency in English does not only determine the personnel’s competency in this language, but it also allows skilled communication in this specialised field. This condition is vital due to the role of English as the lingua franca, which connects the aviation stakeholders from different regions and parts of the globe with diverse languages, slangs, and accents. Although English courses are compulsory courses that are included in most AVM training programmes in Malaysia, whether the courses equip trainees with the proficiency and required language skills remains questionable. Hence, AVM personnel’s views and opinions should be investigated to determine the needs for English among the AVM trainees, including the importance of specialised training and English proficiency assessment as a measurement to gauge and enhance trainees’ ability to communicate professionally before joining the aviation industry in the future. Comprehensive TSA and PSA were initiated to investigate the gaps between the current English courses and the actual needs of AVM trainees to explore the suitable approach in teaching, materials to be adopted, and assessment criteria to measure the graduates’ proficiency before graduating. The research employed an exploratory design due to the importance of qualitative methods. Besides, the study was the first study that involved aviation management personnel. The findings obtained from the analysis were triangulated to develop materials and syllabus for the proposed curriculum, which was validated by stakeholders of the programme. The final stage involved determining the types of oral and written assessments, including the minimum acceptable criteria for AVM trainees based on the findings gathered and aligned with the ICAO English language requirement set for aviation personnel. It was indicated from the findings that the ELT for AVM trainees should adopt the ESP approach, with a specific focus on task-based training and assessment. Similarly, the inclusion of authentic materials is crucial to expose AVM trainees to the language skills required besides developing the trainees’ ability to use appropriate aviation language functions and vocabulary. The results of the evaluation and validation of the proposed ESP curriculum suggested that the curriculum designed for the aviation management trainees should meet the programme learning requirement and be implemented to replace the current GE course.

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