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This paper aims to identify what aviation experts consider to be the key features of effective communication by examining in detail their commentary on a 17-minute segment of recorded radiotelephony discourse between a Russian pilot and a Korean air traffic controller. The segment was played to three practising pilots and three air traffic controllers. Their commentary on the qualities of communication displayed in the interaction was recorded and coded thematically, using a grounded ethnography approach. The analysis revealed that although the Russian pilot was viewed as having limited English proficiency, the strategies he used to make himself understood were evaluated positively as fulfilling the requirements of the professional role. By contrast, the Korean air traffic controller, although not evaluated as having limited proficiency, was criticized for his lack of professional knowledge. The discourse analysis and the feedback given by these expert informants highlight not only the nature of the miscommunication arising in unexpected situations, but also the multiple factors that may contribute to it. While language proficiency is clearly an issue, there are many other sources of miscommunication that emerge during the exchange. These findings are used to critique the narrow, language-focused oral proficiency construct as articulated in the holistic descriptors and the rating scale stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, 2010) as the basis for tests of aviation English worldwide. Instead the paper proposes an expanded construct of oral communication incorporating elements of professional knowledge and behaviour with a focus on interactional competence specific to this context.

This article explores the issues of pronunciation and comprehension in the English as a lingua franca (ELF) context of pilot--air traffic controller radiotelephony communication, and how these are handled in the proficiency rating scale globally used to assess pilots and air traffic controllers engaging in international flight and air traffic control. Based on an analysis of live radiotelephony discourse, feedback from aviation experts on sources of miscommunication, and an investigation of the phonetic features of key turns in the discourse, we present results indicating that L1-influenced pronunciation is one of the major factors causing miscommunication on the part of the speaker, together with unfamiliarity with the pronunciation on the part of the listener. Findings also suggest the descriptors for the "Pronunciation" and "Comprehension" criteria in the rating scale do not reflect the ways language users deal with these matters in their work. This study therefore argues that a new conceptualization of proficiency is needed for taking up the real matters in the assessment of ELF in the aviation context and other ELF contexts at large.

This paper explores the underlying construct of both the English proficiency test for pilot and air traffic controller radiotelephony communication developed and administered in Korea and the ICAO language proficiency testing policy on which the test in Korea is based. It does so by canvassing the opinions of Korean airline pilots and air traffic controllers through 400 questionnaire and 22 interview sources. Results reveal a lack of fit between the policy construct and the reality through which the goals and objectives of the policy are accomplished and strong disapproval of the ICAO's espoused construct and the associated Korean English test from language users in the target domain. This study confirms the importance of eliciting views from such stakeholders (i.e., domain experts) who are well-placed to determine what really matters for communicative success in the context of concern.