AMIDEAST/Tunisia conducted its first aviation English class 17 years ago. Today, it is teaching more than 800 pilots and air controllers in aviation English and is emerging as a regional hub for testing proficiency in this specialized area.

Teaching to New Global Language Standards

As the common language of global aviation, English is a valued skill for air traffic controllers and pilots around the world, who rely on it to ensure air safety. In recent years the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has required that key aviation workers demonstrate a minimum level of proficiency in plain English and utilize a standard phraseology for all work-related tasks.  

In Tunisia, AMIDEAST’s role in training air traffic personnel has grown exponentially since the early 1990s, when the Office of Civil Aviation Authority first requested TOEFL test preparation training for 30 air traffic controllers at the Tunis-Carthage International Airport. Today, with six new airports in the country, some 300 air traffic controllers currently receive a total of 432 classroom contact hours with a teacher over a 15-to-18-month period.  Training pilots presented a special challenge because of their erratic flight schedules. AMIDEAST trainers resolved this by introducing a blended learning approach, which is enabling more than 500 pilots to receive regularly scheduled training that they can access anywhere, anytime, through special software on their laptops, supplemented with in-class instruction once every two to three weeks.

Looking to the Future

Much of the current training is focused on a March 2011 deadline set by the ICAO, when airline companies and government organizations that regulate air traffic controllers must provide proof of ICAO-required language competencies for their employees. However, aviation industry experts anticipate that the need for a common work-related language will expand to include flight attendants, ground staff, aircraft mechanics, and agents on the ground and at service desks.

Increasingly English is becoming the “language of the air,” and AMIDEAST trainers are ready to respond as needed to help the region’s aviation sector meet this challenge.