Top English Teaching Book Recommendation
You may find yourself overwhelmed by all kind of English language teaching, ESL teaching, and learning books off the shelf. Picking Before you start choosing, we need to determine what category you’re looking for to help you best pick the ones align your students’ learning goals and objectives.
We track the most updated and available books and exclude many excellent but unfortunately out of print ones.
Student English Language Level
Here are some factors will help you determine which type of book to get.
- What’s the student age?
- Are you teaching Native English Speaker or Non-Native English Speaker (English as a Second Language, ESL)?
- Student English Language Level – reading, listening, writing, and overall comprehension?
What Area of English Language Are You Emphasizing?
Not all English language learning books are created equal. Generally, English language books can be sorted into several categories including,
- General English language learning for native English speakers,
- English as a Second Language (ESL),
- Grammar books,
- College exam prep (SAT, GMAT, etc),
- Standard English exam (TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, etc),
- A specific topic like business-focused books, Teaching Adults ESL Online
- and beyond!
Teaching Methodologies
There are many existing methodologies for language learning and many in development, especially teaching ESL. Teaching ESL is very different from teaching English to native English speakers due to the nature of language is not exposed to the learner previously, so they’ll need to pick up a foreign and new language in a relatively short period time under an environment with limited English language exposure. Anyone who has learned a foreign language would understand how painful and frustrating it is to fit another language structure into our language customed brain, especially the one has complete unrelated language structure from the mother tongue, for instance, English vs. Chinese.
As a result, teaching the English language to a Chinese student will be drastically different from teaching the language to a student from Spain. There are several ESL books focusing on different aspects of language teaching and learning methodologies. Here are some general focusing areas when teaching ESL,
- Listening comprehension – video or audio clips
- Reading comprehension – expanding vocabulary bank and grammar structure
- Speaking – encourage the student to practice pronunciation and speaking
- Writing comprehension – grammar structure and writing skills
Some books are more interactive than others, encouraging students interaction in order to promote an English speaking environment. Some are focused on language comprehension, including reading and writing.
English Language Teaching
The Practice of English Language Teaching
by Jeremy Harmer
- Pearson Education ESL
- Jeremy Harmer
- Publisher: Pearson Education ESL
- Edition no. 5 (04/12/2015)
- Paperback: 446 pages
Practical English Usage
- Oxford University Press USA
- Michael Swan
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Edition no. 3 (07/07/2005)
- Paperback: 658 pages
English as a Second Language (ESL)
How to Speak and Write Correctly
by Joseph Devlin
- Joseph Devlin
- Kindle Edition
- English
English Grammar Books
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes
- Jossey-Bass
- Jane Straus, Lester Kaufman, Tom Stern
- Publisher: Wiley
- Edition no. 11 (02/10/2014)
- Paperback: 224 pages
Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Schrampfer Azar
- Betty Schrampfer Azar
- Publisher: Pearson College Div
- Edition no. 3 (01/01/1970)
- Paperback: 473 pages
Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking by Grant Barrett
- Grant Barrett
- Zephyros Press
- Kindle Edition
- English
Complete English Grammar Rules: Examples, Exceptions, Exercises, and Everything You Need to Master Proper Grammar
- Farlex International
- Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Paperback: 518 pages
English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, with Online Practice
- Geraldine Woods
- Publisher: For Dummies
- Edition no. 3 (04/03/2018)
- Paperback: 336 pages
English Grammar in Use with Answers: Reference and Practice for Intermediate Students (Grammar in Use)
by Raymond Murphy
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Raymond Murphy
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Edition no. 2 (01/28/1994)
- Paperback: 352 pages
Can’t get enough of English teaching books and references? Here’s another list or looking for a teacher planner?
Last update on 2019-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API