Lack of operationally relevant tests
Why is language testing for the ICAO LPRs in such a poor state? One reason is a lack of assessment literacy among test service providers and regulators resulting in an absence of operationally relevant test instruments. This, from ICAO1:
"The sole object of ICAO language proficiency requirements is aeronautical radiotelephony communications."
On scanning the websites of the plethora of aviation English test service providers, I can find just two whose instruments contain tasks that explicitly and directly address 1) listening comprehension and 2) speaking in the context of RT communications. The rest do it either partially or not at all.
Until regulators and test service providers better understand language testing and ensure the provision of tests which are operationally relevant, pilots and controllers will continue to take poorly-constructed language tests that fail to address aeronautical radiotelephony communication.
1 ICAO (2010) Manual on the implementation of ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements (2nd ed.) Doc 9835 AN/453
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