the predominance of integrative tests over discrete point tests in evaluating the medical students' general english knowledge

background and purpose: multiple choice tests are the most common type of tests used in evaluating the general english knowledge of the students in most medical universities, however the efficacy of these tests are not examined precisely. we compare and examine the integrative tests and discrete point tests as   measures of the english language knowledge of medical students. methods: three tests were given to 60 undergraduate physiotherapy and audiology students in their second year of study (after passing their general english course). they were divided into 2 groups. the first test for both groups was an integrative test, writing. the second test was a multiple – choice test of prepositions for group one and a multiple – choice test of tenses for group two. the same items which were most frequently used wrongly in the first test were used in the items of the second test. a third test, a toefl, was given to the subjects in order to estimate the correlation between this test and tests one and two. results: the students performed better in the second test, discrete point test rather than the first which was an integrative test. the same grammatical mistakes in the composition were used correctly in the multiple choice tests by the students. conclusion: our findings show that student perform better in non-productive rather than productive test. since being competent english language user is an expected outcome of university language courses it seems warranted to switch to integrative tests as a measure of english language competency.