| As hearing impaired persons frequently encounter difficulties with the format and procedures of pencil and paper tests with multiple choice items, it was felt that communicating instructions in American Sign language would alleviate most of the difficulties in test administration. From a review of the literature, it was determined that conveying the instructions of the General Aptitude Test Battery in American Sign Language (GATB-ASL) would be appropriate for deaf adults who were fluent in ASL. Standardization was achieved by presenting the instructions on videotape. In addition, animation was used to present answers to practice exercises. In general, the hearing impaired sample experienced little difficulty demonstrating appropriate responses to the instructions conveyed in American Sign Language.;Reliability was estimated by administering the GATB-ASL to 106 deaf and hard-of-hearing adults on two occasions at an interval of six weeks between initial testing and retesting. With the exception of Finger Dexterity, estimates of test-retest reliability were high. The internal consistency (KR-20) of Verbal, Numerical, Spatial, and Perceptual aptitudes was high.;Construct validity was investigated by means of an exploratory factor analysis. Three factors with eigenvalues greater than one were extracted from a correlation matrix and orthogonally rotated to a simple structure. Factor 1 was interpreted as representing a general Cognitive Factor as the measures of Verbal, Numerical, Spatial, and Perceptual aptitudes showed a high loading on Factor 1 and a low loading on the other two factors. Factor 2 represented Manual Dexterity. Factor 3 represented Finger Dexterity.;As test booklets, answer sheets, and apparatus boards of the GATB-ASL were identical to the materials used in the standardized version of the GATB, the major deviation from the standardized format and procedures involved presenting instructions on videotape. The effect of the videotape presentation on performance, independent of the pencil and paper multiple choice format, remains unclear. |
