IngentaConnect Air Traffic Communication in a Second Language: Implications of C...

Authors: Farris, Candace; Trofimovich, Pavel; Segalowitz, Norman; Gatbonton, Elizabeth

Source: TESOL Quarterly, Volume 42, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 397-410(14)

Publisher: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

Abstract:

This study investigated the effects of second language (L2) proficiency and task-induced cognitive workload on participants' speech production and retention of information in an environment designed to simulate the demands faced by pilots receiving instructions from air-traffic controllers. Three groups of 20 participants (one native-English-speaking group, two native-Mandarin-speaking groups of relatively high and low levels of English proficiency) played the role of pilots. Participants listened to, repeated, and responded to simulated air-traffic controller messages (in English) under conditions of low and high workload. In the high workload condition, participants performed a concurrent arithmetic task while repeating the messages. The dependent variables were message repetition accuracy and speech production (accentedness, comprehensibility, fluency, as perceived by 10 native-English-speaking raters). The native English speaker group repeated messages more accurately than both L2 groups, and the low-proficiency group repeated messages less accurately in the high workload condition than in the low workload condition. The native speaker and the low-proficiency groups were perceived as less fluent in the high than in the low workload condition, and only the low-proficiency group's speech was perceived as more accented in the high than in the low workload condition. Implications for language training and assessment for English for specific purposes are discussed.

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Air Traffic Communication in a Second Language: Implications of Cognitive Factors for Training and Assessment