Aviation English

The UNK English Language Institute uses an industry-recognized Aviation English course called Foundation for all International students speaking English as a Second Language and wishing to enroll in the Bachelor of Science in Aviation program.

Foundation is designed specifically to prepare student pilots for flight training. Foundation trains the listening, reading, and speaking skills required for successful aviation training, presents the key vocabulary and structures required for UNK aviation academic courses and Nebraska Flight School flying lessons, and develops the language skills necessary for students to interact effectively with aviation technical manuals, aviation professionals, Certificated Flight Instructors, and their aviation peers.

Upon completion of the Foundation Aviation English course, students are tested at the English Language Institute with Checkpoint, an accurate, easy-to-use web-based test of the specific language skills required for successful English medium aviation training. Students need a good level of English to cope successfully with ab-initio aviation training delivered in English. Inadequate language proficiency is a threat to successful aviation training. Poor language proficiency causes problems for students and their instructors and can lead to costly disruption and/or training failures.

To reduce risk, the UNK Aviation program needs to be able to confidently select students with the appropriate level of English and identify students who need pre-training language support. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) language tests for personnel licensing are inappropriate for student selection because they are designed for licensed professionals, not for students. They do not measure the skills that students need (for example, listening to instructors in the classroom and reading flight training manuals) and they assume professional knowledge of aviation operations that students do not have.

General English tests (e.g., TOEFL, IELTS) are also inappropriate for student pilot selection because they do not test in the context of aviation training and so results are less valid. Furthermore, they test content and skills which are irrelevant to the needs of student pilots, and they can be expensive, inflexible, and time-consuming.

Unlike other language tests, Checkpoint targets the skills crucial for successful aviation training, producing a more valid measure of language proficiency than other generic language tests. Checkpoint’s validity allows UNK to select students with confidence and minimize the risks associated with inadequate language proficiency. Checkpoint is not just a comprehensive measure of language proficiency, but its specific focus means that it targets only the required skills. At 90 minutes in duration, the Checkpoint test is far shorter than existing general or academic English tests.

Checkpoint has been developed according to best practices by leading experts in the field of aviation language testing and is recognized by aviation experts and airlines globally.