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English language proficiency test

I did the ELP test to get LP6 a few days ago and they gave me LP5: The F2F rater had no doubt in getting LP6 for me whereas the 2nd rater evaluated my recording. From my point of view the result of a LP5 in the evaluation process appers all in all implausible to me. When I would grade my students at university this way I´d get legal request from the deanship. What would you recommend?

Last Edited by Chris at 22 Nov 17:02
TB20 Airman
Borkenberge EDLB, Germany

When I would grade my students at university this way

“If I were to”

As I tell my German wife occasionally, if and when are two different words in English. It warrants a certain amount of care to point this out, given that mostly I understand her regardless, I live with her and she’s a very good cook with a Bavarian temper.

Otherwise I think your ELP examiners appear to be foolish. Average scores of 6, 6, 5.67 and 5.83 are a lot closer to six than five.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 22 Nov 17:47

How much idiomatic English does level 6 need?

Idiomatic stuff can be a real bastard, which is why when I use it here, I link it – if possible to Urban Dictionary which carries the most appropriate non-PC explanation

Also idioms change over years, while non-UK English speakers and even teachers of English! remain left far behind. I can see someone using stuff like “name your poison” which went out of fashion c. WW2.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

How much idiomatic English does level 6 need?

I don’t think that any is really needed – however, I remember me using some nice expressions I’ve learned while driving my car all the way home from Spain (where I would have loved to fly to, in particular making a stop in the Pyrenees but it just didn’t work out this time).

lionel wrote:

but the capacity to adapt one’s speech to the level of the person one is speaking to.

This “adaptation to the speaker level of the interview partner” stuff doesn’t sound right to me. This concerns intelligence and empathy rather than understanding a language.

@Chris could you ask for a resit, like “second try”? I don’t remember which one but there are testers who offer this.

Last Edited by UdoR at 22 Nov 18:52
Germany

@ UdoR, yes – I´ll see – btw: the ATIS recording I had to decipher was from VHHH international with really bad interferences… – (I rarely contact VHHH ATIS, but you never know
@ silvaire: I´m happy not teaching english but this reminds me to my old English school book with a kind of “bavarian hofbräuhaus-example” – I want to become a beefsteak….Oh…I hope not, sir.

TB20 Airman
Borkenberge EDLB, Germany

The exam is in fact about aviation english, so accent should not count, but, you know, in the end it does. Funny is that I had to keep in mind that it’s “tri” for 3 and “tausand” for thousand and so on

I have yet to hear a Brit on the radio doing the ‘tri’ and the ‘tausand’, while the Spaniards dutifully do! I forgot to do it on my exam and got a 6, so was extremely lucky to have a Brit as an examiner I suppose

Last Edited by aart at 22 Nov 19:26
Private field, Mallorca, Spain

@ Peter: well, i did not know this idiom yet, looked it up and found a YT that could qualify any LP aspirant multilingual


TB20 Airman
Borkenberge EDLB, Germany

@Chris that’s hilarious… I might well ‘become a beef steak’ in appearance if I were to correct wife’s English too aggressively… and I’d go hungry in the meantime. It would not be wise

I’ve never heard anybody on the radio saying Fife or Tausend or Tree, but Niner is in wide use. Probably the difference is that Niner sounds cooler. Not many people worldwide would understand the German language implication.

I’ve forgotten what this ELP testing nonsense is for precisely, but for aviation it seems a bit silly. The ATC vocabulary is very limited, you don’t need to be Shakespeare.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 22 Nov 20:34

I think the most important piece of RT idiomatic English is the substitution of fruit pastilles for hectopascals when reading back a QNH of less than 1000.

Last Edited by Graham at 23 Nov 09:47
EGLM & EGTN

Chris wrote:

I did the ELP test to get LP6 a few days ago and they gave me LP5

When I took my first ELP with the DGAC in Orly back in 2008, they had said before the test that the overall result is the lowest score of all parts, maybe that is the reason why you end up with level 5?
At the time, I had gotten a level 5, could not decipher the words in the listening test, obviously, for the DGAC, your language skills must include being able to translate ‘srcitchhhh scratchhh’ from an audio recording from the 1920s (based on its perfect quality, listening to it I was imagining those very old audio devices that even my grand parents would have considered old junk playing that). Oh and don’t forget, we do a simulated flight, but instead of having you, a pilot, repeat only the important part of the message from ATC, you will repeat everything the ATC tells you… (that felt silly because the simulate flight was otherwise pretty good). The examiner told me I hesitated (you bet, out of reflex I was starting by only saying what I would say as a pilot, but then stopping and going along repeating everything)…
I got the Level 6 a couple of years ago with lingaero. That was really convenient since it was the middle of COVID but they had the possibility to do it online.

ENVA, Norway
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