Abstract
Miscommunication in the cockpit or between pilots and air traffic controllers (ATCs) could be fatal when they use English, the de facto language for international civil aviation. To ensure air safety, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set up English proficiency requirements in Document 9835, calling for adherence to standardized terminology in aeronautic communication. For this reason, terminological competence proves a crucial challenge to non-native speakers of English and merits study from a variety of perspectives. Drawing from relevant work, the current study reports on a translational approach to developing terminological competence for student pilots attending a terminology course tailored to ICAO standards. By extracting subtitles from Mayday, a documentary series on air crashes, near-crashes, and crises, we built a specialized bilingual parallel corpus on aviation and analyzed terminological data against the inventory of events, domains, and sub-domains specified in Document 9835. Through the identification, elaboration, translation, and management of specialized terms, we explore the terminological competence development, and through follow-up interviews we identify the features of this course in shaping student pilots into domain experts qualified for aeronautic communication.
Highlights
Introduction2. Terminological Competence in Translation and Its Link with Language for specific purposes (LSP)
The tragedy proved that miscommunication between pilots and air traffic controllers (ATCs) can have serious, even fatal consequences when they switch from their native tongue to English, ‘the de facto language for international civil aviation’ (Alderson, 2011:387)
Addressing the relationship between aviation English and terminology and general English, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposes that aviation English, RT English, and ICAO terminologies as increasingly smaller subsets within the larger category of the English language (2010:32)
Summary
One of the worst aviation accidents in history claimed 583 lives on March 27, 1977 at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. For voice communications to provide the level required for safe operations, the use of standardized terminologies must be emphasized. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) forecasts that an annual increase of 2000 to 2,500 pilots will be needed to meet the increasing demand for international flights. Compared with such rapid market development, the existing body of studies on aviation English is scanty and scarce. Chen (2012) studied the wash-back effects of the Pilots’ English Proficiency Examination of China (PEPEC), a test of licensure in line with ICAO standards. Studies have been to a great extent test-oriented, with only a few on terminological competence and its role in preparing student pilots for meeting ICAO requirements — the importance of the current research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
