Reticence is not a Virtue in Aviation: Improving English Speaking Proficiency of Future Aviation Specialists

Liudmyla Herasymenko (), Svitlana Muravska (), Maryna Lomakina (), Nadiia Martynenko () and Iuliia Mazurenko ()
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Liudmyla Herasymenko: PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor, the Department of Foreign Languages, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University, Ukraine
Svitlana Muravska: PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor, the Department of Foreign Languages, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University, Ukraine
Maryna Lomakina: PhD in Pedagogy, Head of the Department of Foreign Language, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University, Ukraine
Nadiia Martynenko: PhD student, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University, Ukraine
Iuliia Mazurenko: PhD student, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University, Ukraine

Revista romaneasca pentru educatie multidimensionala - Journal for Multidimensional Education, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 498-515

Abstract: English language proficiency is a vital requirement for air-to-ground communication for aviation specialists. A special attention should be paid to developing speaking skills of future pilots, air traffic controllers and engineers. Our research has shown that future aviation specialists come across certain challenges in the process of communication in English: insufficient aviation knowledge to give an opinion, low motivation to speak, poor grammatical skills and insufficient knowledge of vocabulary items, uneven participation in discussions, and fear of making mistakes. To overcome these challenges some recommendations were formulated for teachers to follow. The problem-solving activities were chosen and designed to enhance students’ speaking skills. They include value-clarification tasks, discussions, role-plays, information-gap activities, describing pictures, and discussing videos. This research aims to define the impact of applying these problem-solving activities on developing students’ speaking skills. 120 second year students in aviation specialties took part in this experiment. They were divided into a control and an experimental group of equal numbers. In both groups, the teachers taught the same Aviation English content which corresponded to the syllabus. In addition, in the experimental group the teacher implemented the problem-solving activities, which contributed significantly to the development of future aviation specialists’ speaking skills.

Keywords: developing speaking skills; future aviation specialists; problem-solving tasks; teaching English for Specific Purposes; Aviation English (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lum:rev1rl:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:498-515

DOI: 10.18662/rrem/13.2/433

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