| This study was conducted among 406 first-time test takers who took the English version of the General Education Development (GED) Test in Dade County, Florida between June and December, 1993. Multiple regression and chi square analyses were used to determine the relationship between native language and performance on the General Education Development (GED) Test and the relationship between certain demographic characteristics and success in passing the GED. The findings of the study indicated, among other things, that (a) a higher percentage of native English speakers than non-native English speakers passed the GED Test, (b) non-native English speakers were outperformed by native English speakers on all the GED subtests except Mathematics, (c) native French speakers (mainly Haitians) were outperformed by the other non-native English speakers on all the subtests, (d) the mean scores of native French speakers were well below the mean scores required to pass the test, and (e) participants who took the GED preparation course were outperformed by those who did not take the GED preparation course.;Native language was determined to be significantly related (p ;The recommendations include: (a) pretesting examinees to determine their level of literacy in their native language as well as in English to establish the level of instruction necessary, (b) recruiting and training language minority teachers who are more familiar with the culture and educational systems of the countries in which Dade's rapidly increasing adult non-native English speaking groups were born, (c) strengthening the GED classes so that they can adequately remediate non-native English speakers who are in need of basic skills, and (d) conducting research to determine if certain items on the GED Test are biased against non-native English speakers. The findings in this study add to the growing body of research studies indicating that minorities, including linguistic minorities, do not perform well on standardized tests. |
