Necessity and Feasibility of Aviation Academic English Test: from the perspective of periodical editor

【Abstract】The frequent and rapid cross-border technical communication of civil aviation is enlarging the demand of practioners who are familiar with both of the aviation-related technical fields and academic English. From the perspective of periodical editor， the accuracy， simplicity and logicality of academic writing affects a lot on the thesis acceptance and periodical construction. The development of Aviation Academic English Test （AAET for short） and relevant training programs is a scientific measurement to improve the academic English proficiency of students， researchers and scholars in the aviation field such as aviation material， air traffic management， airfreight industry and aircraft maintenance. Result of survey proves the necessity of the test; analyses on existing ESP tests show that the proposed test has strong feasibility.

【Key words】Aviation Academic English Test （AAET）; test development; academic writing; periodical construction; aviation English corpus

【作者簡介】劉佩佩（1985-），女，漢族，河南焦作人，中國民航大學(xué)，編輯，碩士，研究方向：科技期刊規(guī)范化建設(shè)、學(xué)術(shù)英語寫作及學(xué)科話語體系建設(shè)。

Periodical publishing is one of the main platforms for academic and industrial communication， in which the English proficiency， especially the accuracy， simplicity and logicality of academic writing plays a vital role. Relevant researches show that the language using habits of Chinese scholars cannot fully reflect the features of academic texts， the language using problems exiting in some published theses hinder the inclusion and retrieval of the periodicals by authoritative databases such as SCI or IEEE （Xu 2014， Lu 2015）. Along with the globalization of aviation industry such as ‘Open Sky ‘Silk Road in Air， from the perspective of periodical construction， accurate and standard academic English becoming not only important but also necessary; developing a specific language test about aviation academic English is a scientific way for talent training and selection.

Some researchers in China have done similar studies on the testing structure and material collection of college ESP tests from various perspectives， which prove the feasibility of the test. Various ESP tests have merged these years， helping to filter candidates for universities and companies. However， researches about aviation academic English are rare; only the two existing aviation English tests are merely focusing on one small part of this huge industry. On the other hand， the need for such a test has never been decreased; especially when there have been more and more international training programs designed for workers in aviation industry such as aviation material researcher， air traffic controller， aircraft maintainer， aviation lawyer and so on.

I. Existing ESP Tests and Relevant Researches

Some university ESP teachers have done their audacious attempts， trying to develop such a test， evaluating the validity and reliability of the test in a relatively small scope， for example， in a university or the universities in a city. Result of their researches contributes to the necessity of designing the Aviation Academic English Test in a large extent. Ping Huang from Chongqing University is one of them.

Ping Huang （2001） investigated the reliability and validity of the College Specialized English Test. The research project“The Testing Method and Structure of College Specialized English after Reading Period”sponsored by the National College English CET 4 &6 Committee was to study the feasibility of the College Specialized English Test in China. The thesis analyzed the results from 333 students who had a diagnosed test and studies the reliability and validity through comparing with the students CET 4 test scores and the specialized English achievement test scores. The students feedback proves that the College Specialized English is feasible and essential.

Absolutely， the result of Professor Huangs research gives strong support for the current study. Meanwhile， there are more and more English Tests for Specific Purposes spring out in the world. Nowadays in China， millions of candidates take part in all kinds of ESP tests to get certifications which are helpful in university application and job hunting. The following two tables show us the existing tests about specific purposes in China mainland， UK and USA. The tests in Tab. 1 are all the ten Tests of English for Specific Purposes， and the Tab. 2 shows the twelve tests in the language of English for special purposes. All of the twenty-two tests are available in China now. The first two tests in Tab. 1 are developed by Chinas departments and/or companies purely; while the third test， FET， is developed by both Chinese and overseas organizations. All the tests in Tab. 2 are not TESP strictly， but the working language of them is English and they are all about some specific subject fields; therefore there are some valuable ideas can be used in the development of Aviation Academic English Test （AAET）.

As we can see in the above two tables， most of the tests are about finance and business. But the trend is more and more English tests about other subjects come out or will come out in the future. Along with the implementation of aviation globalization， the aeronautical and astronautic cooperation among countries enlarges the amount of academic publishing （Zong 2019）. Meanwhile， according to the needs come from periodical editors， college teachers， scientific researchers and employers， Aviation Academic English Test （AAET） should be developed to serve for the technical exchange. AAET is designed as a standardized test with specific technical and language points in certain scenarios which are closely related to aviation academic research and thesis publishing such as aviation infrastructure construction， aircraft material experiment， air leasing negotiation， air-ground communication and so on. Once it is developed and applied as an authorized criterion for training and selecting talents， the academic value will be significant.

II. Necessity of AAET

As introduced above， the academic publishing in aeronautical and astronautic industry includes a large amount of sub-branches; however， the two existing aviation-related ESP tests in China are only designed for air traffic controllers and air crew. There are thousands of academic theses in English written by Chinese aviation scholars in China， most of them cost long time on language polishing; at the same time， graduate students know few about academic English paradigm. A complete testing system covers all the sub-disciplines in aviation industry need to be developed to not only select qualified candidates but also as a effective way of talent cultivation. Survey in the aviation industry proves the above view.

2.1 Industry Survey

Hypothesis： Aviation Academic English Test is necessary and feasible in China.

Instrument： Considered about the data needed， this research adopted the following three research methods： questionnaire， interview， and quizzes.

Participants： To make sure the result is authentic， valid and representative; the data collection must contain a large number of samples who locate in various areas and work in different jobs. As the application of AAET involves different kinds of people such as editors， scholars， teachers and students， the current research is based on four different but mutual-relevant questionnaires to find out the real needs and attitudes in the aviation industry. Another factor that would influence the research result is the current unbalanced developing status of Chinese economy and aviation industry. Considering that， the samples of this research respectively come from the northeast part （NE）， the southeast part （SE）， the northwest part （NW） and the middle part （M） of China to investigate their real opinions holistically. And the last factor is the different kinds of the corporation， state-owned enterprises attitudes towards one point may be totally different from the private factories. With the aim of taking a birds-eye view of the AAET proficiency， the subjects are required to complete a model quiz.

Procedure：

a. Categorize participants according to their locations and different positions in this field. Design questionnaire and quiz for different samples respectively with the help of relevant theories and available questionnaires.

b. Hand out the questionnaires and quizzes. Collect and categorize them initially.

c. About 5% of the 445 samples were interviewed about the reasons and attitudes to their answers and some of them supplied precious suggestions to the current research.

d. Collect and analyze the data.

2.2 Result Analyses

2.2.1 Total Information

There are 445 effective questionnaires and 124 quizzes are returned back， which account respectively for 92.7% and 62% of the total. The reason the else havent finished the questionnaires was almost they didnt have enough time; but the reason for the unfinished quizzes was the participants， mostly graduate students， were afraid of failing the quiz and losing their faces， and they chose to ‘escape from the quiz， which also reflects the ESP proficiency of them on some extent.

2.2.2 Data from Questionnaires and Interviews

According to the result of the questionnaires and interviews， there are three important questions about the feasibility and value of AAET and they are worth to be analyzed specifically. In all the following tables， E means editors of aviation periodicals， R means researchers who graduate from aviation-related majors and work in aviation institutions as scientific and technical researchers， T means college teachers and S means college students who engage in academic researches following their tutors， A means airliner HR who are responsible for talent selection and continuing education. All the participants in Group E are editors working for aviation periodicals in China， 50% of which are in Chinese and 50% are in English. The ‘R+T+S participants take a large proportion which is 89.7% of all; 75% of them are regular authors of aviation periodicals and the others are potential authors who need to be helped in academic writing.

Question One： Editors education background and their attitude about AAET？

Among all the 27 editor participants， only three of them are English majors and their main task is language editing and proofreading. Eight of them are working for aviation periodicals in English and the thesis edited are completely written in English. All of them agree with the importance of such a standard test and expect this test could help improve their authors English proficiency. Some useful suggestions are also supplied from their daily working experience.

Question Two： Will the participants further English learning or not？

As shown in the table below， 68% aviation periodical editors are willing to continue English learning， and they hope their authors could continuously improve their academic English writing through specially designed training programs. As current and potential academic writers， researchers of aviation institutions， college teachers and students express strong willing of English proficiency improvement. Airliner HRs also want to get better oral and written English， meanwhile， they all have strong need to design training plan for their employees.

Question Three： If so， which type of course you will choose？

When they are asked to choose only one option of English training， college teachers rank the first of aviation academic English and they all agree with the idea that AAE should be compulsory course for their students; the reason they want to have such training is to teach their students in the same way. When asked whether they are willing to take part in AAET， they all show strong willing. From the perspective of editors， it is necessary for their authors to take part in this test and corresponding training programs.

On average， there are 44.6% of the participants choose AAE as there further education subject， which means the need for appropriate training programs and qualified teachers is huge. Meanwhile， after such kind of training， a standard， authoritative and uniform test will be needed as a useful assessment and encouraging tool.

2.2.3 Data from Quiz

Besides the subjective result， we still need objective support to verify the needs of developing the AAET. The result of 124 usable quizzes confirms the researchers hypothesis， which we can conclude from the following table.

The mode and median of the results are equal and the mean score is nearly the same to them， so the tendency of the scores is almost normal distribution. The discrimination index is 0.41， which means the quiz distinguished well between candidates at different levels of AAE ability. The range is equal to 100， which means that the participants proficiency gaps from each other are on a large extent. Finally the standard deviation which is 30.31 testifies the widely different ability and need of uniform evaluation as well as training of AAE.

III. Feasibility of AAET

3.1 Test Development Preparation： Needs Analyses Model

The language variables， communicating activities and technical terms involved in tests are totally selected according to the result of needs analysis to guarantee the test is valid， scientific and standard. Needs analyses typically involve gathering information on what language will be needed by test candidates in relation to the tests purpose （Alderson 1995）. Choosing an efficient and scientific model of needs analysis is vital for the test development. Richards， Platt， and Weber （1985） suggested that the following kinds of information needed to be gathered：

a. situations in which a language will be used （including who will be used with）

b. objectives and purposes for which the language is needed

c. types of communication that will be used （e.g.， written， spoken， formal， informal）

d. level of proficiency that will be required.

They tell us clearly the points should be involved in needs analysis. However， these points are not enough for writing the test specification. In his Communication Needs， Processor Munby J. （1978） has listed the required variables in needs analysis; these variables compose the famous model for defining the content of purpose-specific language programme， and these include nine aspects：

a. Participant： identity and language

b. Purposive Domain： type of ESP involved， and purposes to which it is to be put

c. Setting： eg. place of study， place of work， familiar or unfamiliar surroundings

d. Interaction： participants role， social relationships

e. Instrumentality： medium， mode and channel， e.g. spoken or written， monologue or dialogue， face-to-face or telephone

f. Dialect： British or American English

g. Target Level： required level of English

h. Communicative Events： e.g. attending university lectures， introducing ones viewpoint

i. Communicative Key： ‘the tone， manner and spirit in which an act is done （Hymes 1972）.

Munby supplies a specific instrument of needs analysis， comprising nearly all the particular variable we may meet in practice. However， the complexity of the list makes the needs analyses model complicated.

To verify the necessity of the test and draw up test specifications， test designers need to identify the purpose of the test， the specific language components in the target language situations. All of the above models have their own advantages and defects; needs analyses in the current study conducted adopt their features that are more practical for researchers in China.

3.2 Corpus for Aviation Academic English

In the analysis of the sixth question， some participants expressed their worry about the pressure brought by the test. To save candidates time preparing for it， the language points tested should be representative， authentic and practical. Using a corpus of Aviation academic English is the most effective way to achieve the goal; meanwhile， the test development will be more effective. As one of the most popular words in applied linguistics， corpus has been used in lots of aspects such as translation and language teaching. Alderson （1996） gave us an example of the possible use for corpora in assessment：

For those corpora whose texts are characterized according to difficulty or suitability for levels of learner…， it would be possible to select texts suitable for a given test population…the use of corpora may allow learners access to real language data and free them from the tyranny of the testers judgments…

It is essential to construct the corpora of EEA， gathering technical and language points from the real aviation academic communication situations. Once it is launched， the test development will be scientific， effective and can advance with the aviation industry growth.

IV. Conclusion

The authors English proficiency means a lot for journal editors and periodical construction， high proficiency can hugely improve the editors working efficiency. AAET could be used to evaluate and motivate their current and potential authors; AAET can be seen as a standard helping improve their language ability. Need analyses should be done as preparation of the test development. With the popularity of corpora， test development will be more effective and convenient. This research is just the very first step of the giant project. Further researches should pay more attention to language variables， language functions and authentic academic communicating situations that would be used in real scientific researches， making preparation for the writing of test specification.

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