Developing Future Pilots’ Critical Thinking Skills in the Framework of Aviation English

Abstract

The demands on future aviation specialists working in extreme conditions to solve problems efficiently emphasize the need to use new approaches in their professional training. Although it is crucial to focus on the training of pilot judgmental skills, there is a serious lack of research in this area. This article will define the effect of teaching critical thinking skills to student pilots in the framework of Aviation English. 42 first year student pilots took part in the study, divided into a control group and an experimental group of equal numbers. Those participating in this study were chosen based on their level of English proficiency and critical thinking skills, age, and gender. In both groups the same content of Aviation English material which corresponded fully to the syllabus was taught. In the experimental group the teacher focused on developing critical thinking skills through special techniques in addition to the Aviation English material. The findings of this study show that focusing on the teaching of critical thinking skills in the experimental group resulted in a significant increase in their scores on the critical thinking questionnaire as compared to the control group.