Top English Teaching Book Recommendation
You may find yourself overwhelmed by all kinds 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 that 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’s age?
- Are you teaching Native English speakers or Non-Native English speakers (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 of 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 that 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
- Harmer, Jeremy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 446 Pages - 04/12/2015 (Publication Date) - Pearson Education ESL (Publisher)
Practical English Usage by Michael Swan
- Oxford University Press USA
- Swan, Michael (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 658 Pages - 07/07/2005 (Publication Date) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
English as a Second Language (ESL)
How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Devlin, Joseph (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 171 Pages - 05/12/2012 (Publication Date)
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
- Straus, Jane (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 224 Pages - 02/10/2014 (Publication Date) - Wiley (Publisher)
Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Schrampfer Azar
- Azar, Betty Schrampfer (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 473 Pages - 07/10/1999 (Publication Date) - Pearson College Div (Publisher)
Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking by Grant Barrett
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Barrett, Grant (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 03/29/2016 (Publication Date) - Zephyros Press (Publisher)
Complete English Grammar Rules: Examples, Exceptions, Exercises, and Everything You Need to Master Proper Grammar
- International, Farlex (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 518 Pages - 08/17/2016 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, with Online Practice
- Woods, Geraldine (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 336 Pages - 04/03/2018 (Publication Date) - For Dummies (Publisher)
English Grammar in Use with Answers: Reference and Practice for Intermediate Students (Grammar in Use) by Raymond Murphy
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Murphy, Raymond (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 01/28/1994 (Publication Date) - Cambridge University Press (Publisher)
Can’t get enough of English teaching books and references? Here’s another list or looking for a teacher planner?
Last update on 2020-07-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API