Facilitating Intercultural Competence Through Aviation English for Aircraft Maintenance Students

Abstract

Aircraft maintenance personnel work with technical documentation and colleagues across multilingual and multicultural settings, yet Aviation English instruction often gives limited attention to intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This classroom action research examined how an ICC-based Aviation English model was implemented and refined, how students responded to it, and whether and how students' perceived ICC changed. Participants were 24 Diploma 3 Aircraft Engineering students and two Aviation English lecturers at an Indonesian civil aviation polytechnic. Two cycles followed planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Evidence comprised observation checklists and field notes, a 15-item student-response questionnaire, lecturer reflection, learning documentation, and a 20-item self-report Assessment of Intercultural Competence. Cycle 1 showed procedural enactment but insufficient clarity, scaffolding, and support. Cycle 2 bundled the CLIMB sequence with lecturer mentoring and authentic interaction with Timor-Leste students. Student-response medians increased across all five instructional components (all p < .001; r = .75-.88). Perceived ICC also increased across knowledge, attitude, skills, and awareness (all p < .001; r = .86-.88), with larger paired median gains in skills and knowledge. The findings support the feasibility of structured intercultural pedagogy in Aviation English, while the single-group design and bundled Cycle 2 changes preclude attributing improvement to CLIMB alone.