Critical Need in Aviation Industry Fulfilled
Air France chooses BULATS to assess and train English for its staff.

Air France had a critical need to assess the language skills of its workforce of nearly 63,000 employees. Their need was to identify specific skill areas as well as proficiency levels where follow up training programs could be designed and developed.

The immediate requirement was for a reliable and highly accurate language diagnostic tool that could both measure current proficiency levels as well as benchmark staff to measure the effectiveness of subsequent training.

The solution for Air France was the appointment of Cambridge ESOL, experts in language assessment. The three year contract with Cambridge ESOL is to use its Business Language Testing Service (BULATS).

“These tests are on demand and adaptive, which allows them to fit our needs perfectly,” explains Frederic Mesplès, general purchasing manager at Air France. “I believe that Cambridge ESOL is a benchmark for certification in English.”

A Computer-adaptive test is smart: it selects questions during the actual test based upon to how well you have answered the previous question—not on some preconceived order.

Answer a test question correctly and the computer will choose the next question at a slightly more difficult level.  On the other hand, if a candidate has given a wrong answer, the test will drop a level and keep dropping until they can begin to answer questions correctly. 

The BULATS Computer-Adaptive test has over 10,000 questions and listening tasks. That means each BULATS test is unique and no two tests are identical.

The BULATS Computer-Adaptive test hones in on a candidate's exact level giving a highly accurate measurement of thier language proficiency.  

Air France is now working with Cambridge ESOL to evaluate nearly 6,000 employees each year.

Dr. Mike Milanovic, Chief Executive of Cambridge ESOL, said: “English is the global language of business and in today's highly competitive global economy, effective communications is a must for businesses who have staff and customers spread across the globe.

BULATS was designed for companies like Air France who need an accurate and reliable business language testing service for training and staff development. The aviation industry relies so heavily on communication and this project will allow the airline to benchmark the English language skills across their entire organization.”

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