Introduction. The problem of types, forms and teaching tools for learning outcomes monitoring and assessment is in focus of many researchers of academic education. The researchers draw attention to the issue of relevance of standardized testing when talking about something more than knowledge and skills assessment. Although testing in higher school is the cheapest form of control and very easy to organize and automatize, there are some components of any competence, which cannot be measured by testing: motives, moral values and priorities, and social interaction. Theoretical analysis. The aim of the article is to analyze assessment techniques related to the foreign language professionoriented communicative competence. Empirical analysis was carried out on the basis of the assessment procedure results in Nizhny Novgorod State pedagogical university named after K. Minin. The following research methods were used: students’ communicative activity observation, testing, comparison, quantitative results measurement. Conclusion. Standardized tests seem to be applicable when talking about routine students’ progress monitoring and students’ knowledge and skills assessment. End of the course assessment demands the combination of activity types, revealing emotional, social and cultural aspects of students’ competences.