Martina Daskova

Citation

Thesis Title
Language switching in aviation

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Language used for radio communication in aviation is not restricted to English as a common language, but a language of a non-English speaking country can be used as well. This can create a bilingual air traffic environment, in which pilots and air traffic controllers have to switch between two languages. Consequently, those pilots who do not speak non-English language on a radio may miss relevant information. Ms Daskova investigated whether bilinguals perform faster and more accurately in monolingual or language switching conditions. Using Chinese and English languages, she explored three safety critical tasks from a cognitive perspective; recognition of call signs, error identification, and prediction. Her findings failed to demonstrate statistically significant differences between the language conditions. The overall lack of statistical significance may indicate that the assumed advantages of bilingual air traffic for bilinguals might not necessarily be transferred into improved performance.

Supervisors
Professor Andrew Gilbey
Dr Savern Reweti