Participants for Voice Sampling for Aviation English Test Developement
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Participants for Voice Sampling for Aviation English Test Developement
The sampling has been extended until mid-January 2007 and includes most countries. This is an excellent opportunity for non-native speakers to see what the final test for ICAO Aviation English Test might be like.
Flight Research Associates (FRA) is recruiting commercial pilots and air traffic controllers to assist in the development of an automated spoken test for aviation English.
Participating pilots and controllers will be asked to complete a sample test. The test is delivered over the telephone and is scored automatically by speech processing technologies. The test is designed to measure spoken English ability of non-native pilots and air traffic controllers using ICAO phraseology and common English. The sample test will be used to gather data that will assist in the creation of a test to determine an individual’s level of English proficiency based on the ICAO language proficiency scale.
In order to develop an automated scoring system and validate the test, FRA needs to collect spoken data from both native speakers and non-native speakers of English. Because this is an English test in the aviation context, both native and non-native speakers have to be commercial pilots or air traffic controllers. Our goal is to collect various speech samples from speakers in different countries. Details about data collection are outlined below.
Test Administration:
• Telephone – The test will be delivered over the telephone. A toll-free number is provided in some countries. In countries where the toll free number is not available, we will call the test-taker at a pre-arranged phone number at a pre-arranged time. The telephone should be a land-line telephone. No cordless telephones, cell phones, or IP phones should be used
• Test Scores – No scores or score report will be provided to the test-takers.
• Test Paper – Each test-taker needs to have a test paper beforehand. The test paper will have a unique TIN (Test Identification Number), and each test-taker will be asked to enter the TIN on the telephone keypad to take the test.
• Time – The test will take approximately 25-30 minutes. The Testing System is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The test-taker should complete the test as soon as possible after receiving the Test Identification Number. Normally, the test should be completed within 3 days of receiving the TIN
• Progress Monitoring – FRA will monitor the status of the TINs after they have been assigned.
Recruitment:
• Study Duration – Data collection is expected to start late-September and end on January 15, 2007.
(Revised Ending Date-Initially 10/31)
• Participants – Both native speakers and non-native speakers of English are needed for the study. All participants should be aviation professionals. Aviation professionals include pilots and air traffic controllers. Women pilots and air traffic controllers are strongly encouraged to participate.
• Demographic Information – FRA needs to collect demographic information about each test-taker. Demographic information to be collected includes 1) Year of Birth, 2) Native Language, 3) Gender, 4) Country of Birth, 5) Years of experience in Aviation, 6) Job type in Aviation (e.g. pilot), and 7) if the test-taker is currently active in aviation or not. The demographic information of each test-taker will be recorded in a spreadsheet that will be created for each batch of tests.
• Countries – FRA is interested in recruiting participants from a variety of countries representing major language groups. FRA will be focusing its recruiting effort on the list of countries below. A guideline of the number of subjects to be recruited per country is shown in parentheses. Interested participants from other countries will be considered as well and should contact FRA for details.
Native Speakers (300 speakers)
• England – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Australia or New Zealand – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Canada – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• USA – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
Non-Native Speakers (250 speakers)
• England – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• France – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• China – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Spain – 50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Italy – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Germany – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Brasil – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Poland or Czech –50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Hungary – 50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Two African Countries – a total of 100 speakers combined (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
We are looking for individual volunteer test takers and colleagues to assist us in gathering the required test participants. Please contact us to discuss any questions. We can be reached at:
Mailing Address:
Flight Research Associates
PO Box 12
Moffett Field, CA94035
Telephone/E-mail:
Telephone: 650-766-3306
Fax: 650-604-1312
Email: [email protected]
Office Locations:
FlightResearchAssociates
NASAAmesResearchCenter
Building 257 Moffett Field, CA
Website:
www.FlightResearchAssociates.com
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Charles A. Ross Jr.
ATC Projects Manager
Flight Research Associates
[email protected] Please use this email address as there is an apparent problem with foreign email sent through AOL.
[email protected]
[email protected]
001-650-278-6336 Cell
Skype:fra-charley
Flight Research Associates (FRA) is recruiting commercial pilots and air traffic controllers to assist in the development of an automated spoken test for aviation English.
Participating pilots and controllers will be asked to complete a sample test. The test is delivered over the telephone and is scored automatically by speech processing technologies. The test is designed to measure spoken English ability of non-native pilots and air traffic controllers using ICAO phraseology and common English. The sample test will be used to gather data that will assist in the creation of a test to determine an individual’s level of English proficiency based on the ICAO language proficiency scale.
In order to develop an automated scoring system and validate the test, FRA needs to collect spoken data from both native speakers and non-native speakers of English. Because this is an English test in the aviation context, both native and non-native speakers have to be commercial pilots or air traffic controllers. Our goal is to collect various speech samples from speakers in different countries. Details about data collection are outlined below.
Test Administration:
• Telephone – The test will be delivered over the telephone. A toll-free number is provided in some countries. In countries where the toll free number is not available, we will call the test-taker at a pre-arranged phone number at a pre-arranged time. The telephone should be a land-line telephone. No cordless telephones, cell phones, or IP phones should be used
• Test Scores – No scores or score report will be provided to the test-takers.
• Test Paper – Each test-taker needs to have a test paper beforehand. The test paper will have a unique TIN (Test Identification Number), and each test-taker will be asked to enter the TIN on the telephone keypad to take the test.
• Time – The test will take approximately 25-30 minutes. The Testing System is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The test-taker should complete the test as soon as possible after receiving the Test Identification Number. Normally, the test should be completed within 3 days of receiving the TIN
• Progress Monitoring – FRA will monitor the status of the TINs after they have been assigned.
Recruitment:
• Study Duration – Data collection is expected to start late-September and end on January 15, 2007.
(Revised Ending Date-Initially 10/31)
• Participants – Both native speakers and non-native speakers of English are needed for the study. All participants should be aviation professionals. Aviation professionals include pilots and air traffic controllers. Women pilots and air traffic controllers are strongly encouraged to participate.
• Demographic Information – FRA needs to collect demographic information about each test-taker. Demographic information to be collected includes 1) Year of Birth, 2) Native Language, 3) Gender, 4) Country of Birth, 5) Years of experience in Aviation, 6) Job type in Aviation (e.g. pilot), and 7) if the test-taker is currently active in aviation or not. The demographic information of each test-taker will be recorded in a spreadsheet that will be created for each batch of tests.
• Countries – FRA is interested in recruiting participants from a variety of countries representing major language groups. FRA will be focusing its recruiting effort on the list of countries below. A guideline of the number of subjects to be recruited per country is shown in parentheses. Interested participants from other countries will be considered as well and should contact FRA for details.
Native Speakers (300 speakers)
• England – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Australia or New Zealand – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Canada – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• USA – 100 native speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
Non-Native Speakers (250 speakers)
• England – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• France – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• China – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Spain – 50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Italy – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Germany – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Brasil – 100 speakers (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
• Poland or Czech –50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Hungary – 50 speakers (30 pilots and 20 ATCs)
• Two African Countries – a total of 100 speakers combined (75 pilots and 25 ATCs)
We are looking for individual volunteer test takers and colleagues to assist us in gathering the required test participants. Please contact us to discuss any questions. We can be reached at:
Mailing Address:
Flight Research Associates
PO Box 12
Moffett Field, CA94035
Telephone/E-mail:
Telephone: 650-766-3306
Fax: 650-604-1312
Email: [email protected]
Office Locations:
FlightResearchAssociates
NASAAmesResearchCenter
Building 257 Moffett Field, CA
Website:
www.FlightResearchAssociates.com
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Charles A. Ross Jr.
ATC Projects Manager
Flight Research Associates
[email protected] Please use this email address as there is an apparent problem with foreign email sent through AOL.
[email protected]
[email protected]
001-650-278-6336 Cell
Skype:fra-charley
Last edited by FRACharley; 12th Dec 2006 at 17:40. Reason: Revised Ending Date and more countries included.
Beacon Outbound
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You list England as a country of non-native speakers of English.
Would you care to explain?
Edit to add:
Ah, I see that the original post has been edited to include a list of countries with native English speakers. This was missing originally and made the post somewhat odd to read.
Would you care to explain?
Edit to add:
Ah, I see that the original post has been edited to include a list of countries with native English speakers. This was missing originally and made the post somewhat odd to read.
Last edited by IRRenewal; 3rd Oct 2006 at 06:07. Reason: Change to original post I replied to
There are a lot of pilots flying in the UK who are not native English speakers. Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Ukranians (admittedly with FR normally), and I'm sure there are many others.
I do realise your point though. Not the best wording possible.
I do realise your point though. Not the best wording possible.
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A little misunderstanding all round, I feel. As this study involves voice sampling, I suspect that intonation, pronunciation, accent and so on, all play their part in this. Hence 'non-native' may be intended in this case to mean 'non-American'.
As a UK citizen who happens to have been born in Scotland, I have become used to a liberal interpretation of 'England' by those less familiar with the structure of the UK.
Besides, I spend a chunk of my time right by Moffett field, give the guy a break!
As a UK citizen who happens to have been born in Scotland, I have become used to a liberal interpretation of 'England' by those less familiar with the structure of the UK.
Besides, I spend a chunk of my time right by Moffett field, give the guy a break!
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Thank you all for your comments. I apologize for the confusion as I left out a paragragh that addressed Native Speakers. This has been corrected and hope this will answer your questions. Rhythm Method got it and derekl is correct in his explanation of what the test creators are looking for in their testing. What is meant by a non-native speaker of English is one who learned another language as his/her first language.
BEagle email me if you are interested in partnering with me on this.
BEagle email me if you are interested in partnering with me on this.
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Non Native
I've spent quite some time in the good old USA. Most yanks can speak quite good English, however, I would not class the USA as a native English speaking nation.
Any way good luck with the testing.
Any way good luck with the testing.
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What about the Scots, Welsh and Irish? We don't even get a mention!
Can we apply for the non-native bit?
From the website :
What on gods earth is that meant to mean?!
Can we apply for the non-native bit?
From the website :
Flight Research Associates (FRA) is an emerging, woman/minority owned certified Small Disadvantaged Business.
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It's an "aside", yeah - but whilst I'm 100% behind the idea of the test (and am likely to be involved conducting the actual tests after their implementation), it's a bit ironic that an American company is somehow involved in standards of radio telephony.
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What on gods earth is that meant to mean?!
I have some good friends who are green card holders from the subcontinent. They have a business and have made the wife CEO so that the operation qualifies for women and minority status. They get preference in loans and government contracts over a male who was born in the U.S. and happened to be of non-Hispanic European ancestry.
This is done on the federal, state and local level in most places, for example:
http://www.cityoforlando.net/admin/mbe/index.html
http://www.dgs.state.pa.us/bcabd/site/default.asp
http://women-and-minority-owned-busi...wned-business/
From the link posted by Mike Jenvey earlier:
...A small business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual or individuals. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, and Native Americans are presumed to quality.
Last edited by Airbubba; 3rd Oct 2006 at 16:12.
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For similar reasons, in international telephony, the United States is country code '+1', because the telephone was invented there (albeit by a Scottish-Canadian, but then, we Scots invented most stuff).
Similarly, having invented the Postage Stamp, the United Kingdom is the only country in the world that does not have to state the name of the country on its postage stamps.
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As a linguist specialised in English linguistics, I'm quite interested in this test. Will the results be made available? (I mean the general results of the research project, not individual results )
)
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Test Results
Warmest regards,
Charley
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Hi Charley,
there is a wonderful spectrum of accents in Great Britain (the Kingdom that is made up of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England).
In England alone you have so many distinct accents it would make one's ears spin. Some are quite hard to understand, esp if one is not from here.
And of course we mustn't forget the gaelic languages which again differ so much that they wouldn't understand each other: Irish, Welsh, Manx, Hebridean, Orkney and Shetland).
Then there's Cornish, from the SW tip of Britain.
To help dispel your confusion:
Geordies are from Newcastle, Northern England, Glaswegians are from Glasgow in Scotland and Scousers you would usually find in Liverpool, in the North West of England.
More known dwellers are Brummies, Birmingham, Manks from Manchester, Cocknies (Cockneys?) from East London.
As a "non-native English speaker" it took me about 3 to 4 years of living in this wonderful Country until I could pinpoint where people come from according to their accent.
It is a linguist's paradise,
best regards
sparkle
there is a wonderful spectrum of accents in Great Britain (the Kingdom that is made up of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England).
In England alone you have so many distinct accents it would make one's ears spin. Some are quite hard to understand, esp if one is not from here.
And of course we mustn't forget the gaelic languages which again differ so much that they wouldn't understand each other: Irish, Welsh, Manx, Hebridean, Orkney and Shetland).
Then there's Cornish, from the SW tip of Britain.
To help dispel your confusion:
Geordies are from Newcastle, Northern England, Glaswegians are from Glasgow in Scotland and Scousers you would usually find in Liverpool, in the North West of England.
More known dwellers are Brummies, Birmingham, Manks from Manchester, Cocknies (Cockneys?) from East London.
As a "non-native English speaker" it took me about 3 to 4 years of living in this wonderful Country until I could pinpoint where people come from according to their accent.
It is a linguist's paradise,
best regards
sparkle
