In an era of worldwide development of civil aviation industry, international and regional aviation economies have been developing faster than ever before. English, as a universal language, is becoming more and more important in promoting aviation economic development both nationally and internationally. In the meanwhile, English language proficiency plays a contributing role in ensuring the security of civil aviation transportation and flight safety, since it has been regarded as an international language in civil aviation context (ICAO DOC 9835). Presently English teaching in some aeronautical institutes and aviation colleges cannot actually meet the learners' needs and the fast civil aviation development. For example, the content of English learning has little to do with learners' future careers and student-centered learning has not been fully executed. The demand for professionals with English language proficiency in aviation industry urges the aeronautical institutes and aviation colleges to reconstruct and design their English courses and the curriculum; teaching methodology should be adjusted accordingly. The argument in this paper is based on descriptions of the present situation of civil aviation development in China, which indicates that learners' English language proficiency is a key factor in promoting aviation economy and flight safety; and problems of English teaching are posed in terms of design of the course, contents and teaching methodology. The paper argues that learners' general English proficiency is as important as academic one, because the ICAO language proficiency requirements clarify the requirement for the use of plain language (ICAO DOC 9835). Thus both aviation academic English and general English should equally be developed. The combination of aviation English teaching and general English teaching mode - ESP (English for Specific Purpose) +EGP (English for General Purpose) mode, which aims to develop the learners' English proficiency both academically and socially, is proposed. The article also points out that the application of the mode will be accomplished jointly with the guidance of Content-based Instruction, which focuses on the content of the learners' respective disciplines. In addition to discussing the proposed mode, concerns are raised about the problems in the application of the mode and possible solutions have been provided. The significant of the study is that it provides a new perspective and innovational mode towards English teaching in aviation college EFL teaching practice.
