ESL WEBSITES
Annotated by Prof. Tuong Hung Nguyen, Ph.D.
Updated March 18, 2020
Below are some of the best ESL sites on the Internet. They offer a wealth of review, self-study, and practice opportunities for ESL students from different backgrounds. For your convenience, I have annotated and organized them into separate skills, such as Pronunciation, Listening & Speaking, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Idioms, Dictionaries, and Multi-skill Websites. Enjoy exploring these sites as you improve your English!
Pronunciation
- http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html
- Step-by-step descriptions of the sounds of American English, with animation and video demonstrations. Don’t miss it! (The website is now an App.)
- https://www.lclark.edu/programs/academic_english_studies/student_pages/english_language_resources/pronunciation_resources/
- A collection of pronunciation websites for students with different levels of proficiency.
Listening & Speaking
- http://www.elllo.org/
- With text and audio, this listening-speaking site offers a variety of interesting topics from beginning to advanced levels.
- http://www.esl-lab.com/
- Listening to stories and conversations is an enjoyable way to practice your comprehension. Choose an appropriate level: easy, medium, or difficult and then pick a topic. After listening, test your understanding with a quiz.
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516989
- National Public Radio with audio and descriptive text, and transcript.
Reading
- http://www.eslamerica.us/reading.html
- A collection of interesting readings for all levels, with voice, comprehension and vocabulary exercises.
- http://www.manythings.org/listen/
- Listen and read along a variety of interesting texts.
- http://www.eslfast.com/
- A good collection of readings with audio and vocabulary and dictation exercises.
Writing
- http://members.tripod.com/%7Elklivingston/essay/
- A useful guide to writing basic essays.
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/multilingual/multilingual_instructors_tutors/multilingual_instructors_and_students.html
- ESL writing resources, handouts, and exercises – Best of the best!
- http://www.powa.org/
- A helpful online writing assistance program for college writers.
Grammar
- http://a4esl.org/
- An excellent site with hundreds of grammar, vocabulary, and writing exercises, quizzes, tests, and puzzles.
- http://a4esl.org/q/h/grammar.html
- A useful site with self-study grammar quizzes at different levels.
- http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html
- A good source of exercises for review of tenses.
- http://learningenglish.voanews.com/z/4716
- Everyday Grammar TV by the VOA discusses common topics in English grammar using video illustrations.
Multi-Skill Websites
- www.eslcafe.com/
- Dave's ESL Cafe - A well known and frequently visited by ESL, EFL, and multilingual students and teachers around the world. Not to be missed!
- http://www.rong-chang.com/
- A comprehensive website covering all the skills for ESL students.
- http://www.eslamerica.us/
- A very helpful multi-skill website with audio compatibility and video, too.
- https://www.youtube.com/user/VOALearningEnglish
- A practical video course for English learners with lessons including speaking, vocabulary and writing.
Idioms
- http://eslcafe.com/idioms/
- An alphabetical list of idioms with meanings and examples – no audio.
- http://www.idiomconnection.com/
- Idioms organized alphabetically and thematically, with quizzes – Don’t miss it!
- http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html
- Great site for idioms and phrasal verbs – with different levels.
Online Dictionaries
- http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
- Explanations with excellent examples. You can subscribe for audio pronunciations and thesaurus.
- http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/lookup?cc=global
- You can search the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English on line. Highly recommended!
- http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/
- Go to the American version for American pronunciation: The Oxford Advanced American English.
Tests
- http://www.examenglish.com/
- This site provides practices for a variety of standardized tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, Cambridge, and Pearson.
- http://englishteststore.net/
- Great site for free English tests and exercises online.
web page created 3/24/2020 D. Curtin; links updated 9/12/23 D. Curtin; content 3/18/2020 Prof. Tuong Hung Nguyen, Ph. D.
