The Impact of Language and Math Proficiency Tests on Student Academic Achievement in HCT

Abstract

This quantitative study investigates the linguistic impact of 6 main proficiency and standardized tests (CEPA reading test, CEPA writing test, CEPA math test, high-school English test, high-school Arabic test and high-school math test) on student academic student, as measured by student first year GPA. The sample population of this research are Emirati students from the academic year 2009-2010. They are foundation students, aged between 17-18, who completed their first year in the Eastern Region of the UAE known as Fujairah Emirate. The findings reveal that the adjusted r square value in the model accounts for 42% of variance in GPA – respectable model. This suggests that language proficiency accounts for 42% of the variance in students' GPA, whereas the remaining 58% are explained by other non-academic factors. Further, a key finding of the research shows that CEPA English test, a proficiency test, is the most significant predictor of student academic success (r = 0.390, N = 471, p < .0005, two-tailed). Interestingly, the findings also indicate that the high-school Arabic test is as effective in predicting student academic success as CEPA English test (r = 0.325, N = 471, p < .0005, two-tailed). The difference in correlation coefficient between CEPA English-reading test and high-school Arabic test is 0.065 which is basically negligible. The research also reveals positive medium correlations between the rest of the tests and student academic achievement. High-school math test was not a significant predictor as indicated when using a regression analysis; hence it is not considered in the correlational analysis. This research also reveals that there is no significant academic difference between male and female students in GPA (t= 0.565, df= 469, p=0.572 > 0.05). Additionally, this research concludes interesting finding that shows no significant difference was found between high foundation and the low foundation students in GPA (t= -0.806, df= 469, p = 0.420 > 0.05).