Assessment of medical students' potential on understanding the concepts of English educational CDs

Abstract Background: At present, English language is the only widely dominated foreign language in fields of science and technology and so, it is a prime necessity for students to have sufficient skills on English language to understand the concepts of the educational materials in English, particularly, the educational CD-ROMs. Objective: Assessing the public health students' potentials on understanding the concepts of English educational CDs. Methods: In 2003, seventy five students from the Health Faculty (Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran) were selected as our population sample based on census method. The target students, who had passed their professional English courses successfully, were tested on comprehension skill by watching Educational CD-ROMs. Findings: Only 9% of subjects, who had learning courses in non-university institutions, obtained scores higher than 10 based on a 0-20 grading system. Conclusion: Regarding the data obtained in the present study, the necessity for focusing on different aspects of English language is out of question. This could be achieved efficiently through an amalgamated scheme including the use of CD-ROMs educational materials skills homogenization among students in English courses, and finally, team working intended to produce close cooperation between the medical professionals and the English language teachers.