High-Stakes English-Language Assessments for Aviation Professionals: Supporting the Use of a Fully Automated Test of Spoken-Language Proficiency

A recent International Civil Aviation Organization initiative mandates that pilots and air-traffic controllers operating on international routes demonstrate adequate English-language proficiency for successful communication. The Versant Aviation English Test was developed to serve this purpose. It is a fully automated speaking and listening performance test, where administration of the test tasks and scoring of the candidates´ responses are computerized. We argue that not only do candidates engage in cognitively and linguistically appropriate interactions, but that computer-generated scores and human ratings are consistent (r = 0.94) , enabling valid score-based decisions to be made on the basis of automated language testing.