Assessment

As is appropriate for the high-stakes nature of English for Aviation language testing, the rigorous assessment of a candidate’s performance in the EALT Test of Speaking is at once accurate, consistent and reliable. 1

General principles

Assessment is based on the candidate’s performance in the whole test, and is not specific to individual tasks. The candidate’s performance in all tasks is of equal weighting in the overall rating achieved. Candidates are assessed on their own individual performance and not in relation to each other. Two examiners (the interlocutor and the assessor) independently assess performance in the ‘live’ interview and a minimum of two ‘remote’ assessors subsequently provide further independent assessments based on the recording of the interview.

During the test, the examiners individually and without discussion or collusion assess language based on the language proficiency demonstrated by the candidate. One assessment is provided by the interlocutor and a second by the assessor. Dependent upon the area of professional expertise of the examiners, the candidate is awarded ratings in each of the six features of language described in the ICAO Language Proficiency Rating Scale and/or each of the five ICAO Holistic Descriptors of operational language proficiency.

The interlocutor awards overall achievement ratings while the assessor awards task-by-task analytical ratings by applying in detail the appropriate ICAO language proficiency descriptors. No indication of these ratings is given to the candidates during or at the conclusion of the test. These ratings, along with the recording of the interview are forwarded to Central EALTS Administration.

Central EALTS Administration enters the two sets of ratings received along with accompanying test records into the candidate’s details and forwards the recording to two remote assessors.

Central EALTS Administration maintains a body of experienced assessors; well-informed with regards to the ICAO assessment criteria and the context in which the criteria occur and standardised in their implementation. This body of experienced assessors form the EALTS remote assessor pool called upon to provide further assessment of the candidate’s language. 2

Reviewing the recorded speech samples and dependent upon their area of professional expertise, the remote assessors apply a task-specific analytical interpretation of either the ICAO Rating Scale or the ICAO Holistic Descriptors, providing individual performance ratings for each of the candidates in each of the tasks. The remote assessors return their ratings to Central EALTS Administration. In this way, each candidate’s language proficiency is assessed by a minimum of four trained and certified assessors: two in a face-to-face context and two in a voice-only context.

Of these four assessors, the EALT assessment procedure guarantees that at least one of the assessors will have operational aviation expertise, assessing against the criteria contained in the ICAO Holistic Descriptors of operational language proficiency and at least two will have language specialist expertise, assessing against the criteria contained in the ICAO language Proficiency Rating Scale. In this way, assessments offering multiple complementary perspectives of candidate performance are assured.

These four sets of ratings are then reviewed by Central EALTS Administration with reference to the candidate’s performance in the EALT Test of Listening and, subject to moderation, final ratings are assigned and recorded. The candidate can then be certified.

If the four examiners are discordant in their rating of any candidate, the recording of the interview is passed to two Principal Examiners at Central EALTS Administration for their further consideration before final ratings are awarded. 3

Under ordinary circumstances, a candidate’s award in the EALT is available within ten working days of the completion of the test.

The assessment process is fully documented, both as a procedure and in the case of each individual test-taker.

1 c.f. ICAO Cir 318-AN/180 Ch.2 Section 3 Rating and ICAO Cir 318-AN/180 Ch.2 Section 4 Test Administration and Security

2 c.f. ICAO Doc 9835 Aviation Language Testing 6.7

3 c.f. ICAO Cir 318-AN/180 Ch.2 Section 3 Rating 3.1