LibGuides: Zero Textbook Cost: ESOL

Textbooks

ESL Grammar The Way You Like It, books 1-5 by Don Bissonette (2016): South Seattle College.

These books were created by Don Bissonnette for students and teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). I taught ESL and EFL for 45 years and wanted to provide books and resource material for FREE to anyone who might want or need formal English. In these books, which were based on grammar, one can also find vocabulary, some pronunciation, punctuation, capitalization, and model paragraphs. Feel free to use any of this material, please.

South Seattle College
Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3 | Book 4 | Book 5

Transition with Purpose: Pathways from English Language to Academic Study by Michele Miller & Anne Greenhoe
(2018): Portland University Library.

This Open Access Textbook will guide students through their English language to academic degree studies. Key elements include culture and expectations in an American university, transferring academic skills from ESL to content-specific academic courses, and helpful exercises to be academically successful.

In the Community: An Intermediate Integrated Skills Textbook by NorQuest Faculty (2016): NorQuest College.

With funding from Alberta Open Educational Resources, Bow Valley College and NorQuest College collaborated to create Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of e-textbooks for English language learners.This is an English language skills textbook to help ELL students acquire communication skills in the community (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The book is aimed at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels 5/6, focusing on intercultural skills and essential skills: reading text, document use, writing, oral communication, thinking skills, working with others, and computer use.

In the Workplace: An Intermediate Integrated Skills Textbook by NorQuest Faculty (2016): NorQuest College.

This is an English language skills textbook to help ELL students acquire communication skills in the workplace (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The book is aimed at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels 5/6, focusing on intercultural skills and essential skills: reading text, document use, writing, oral communication, thinking skills, working with others, and computer use. The digital PDF file can be printed or used from a computer. All of the multimedia files can be accessed from the PDF if there is internet access.

Communication Beginnings: An Introductory Listening and Speaking Text for English Language Learners by Della
Jean Abrams (2017): Portland State University Library.

This textbook is designed for advanced beginning-intermediate English language learners in an academic English program. The textbook includes an audio component that consists of recorded conversations of native and non-native English speakers, as well as links to additional listening resources on the web.

College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success by Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace
(2018): Georgia State University.

College ESL Writers is designed as a comprehensive grammar and writing etext for high intermediate and advanced level non-native speakers of English. We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger academic assignments. Following that, we provide instruction in paragraph and essay writing with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments.

Georgia State University

Advanced Community College ESL Composition: An Integrated Skills Approach by Edgar Perez, Sara Behseta,
Jenell Rae, and Jacob Skelton (2020): ASCCC OERI.

Advanced Community College ESL Composition: An Integrated Skills Approach (2020) is a textbook adapted under a grant from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

It’s All Greek to Me! Using Authentic Readings to Improve Knowledge of the English Language and Western Culture by Charity
Davenport (2019): University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

It's All Greek to Me!” has everything—entertaining stories, academic articles in a variety of disciplines, vocabulary crossover in literary and academic readings, connections to local, American, and Western culture, and plenty of chances for critical thinking for advanced students of English as a Second Language (ESL). All readings are authentic with minimal adaptation from a variety of sources.

This textbook also gives help for advanced-level grammar and writing issues, using outside sources, and reading and vocabulary strategies.

Courses

Beginning Lower-Intermediate English as a Second Language (Saylor)
Effective reading and writing skills are important for college and career success. This course is designed for those seeking to improve their Standard American English reading and writing skills in order to move forward with other academic courses.
Intermediate English as a Second Language (Saylor)
Developing skills in a second (or third, or fourth) language involves understanding how the language works and taking the time to practice using it. ESL002 encourages you to work with new grammar ideas and word choices, and practice using those topics to write about yourself and expand your writing skills.
Upper-Intermediate English as a Second Language (Saylor)
Learning a new language requires you to pull together a variety of concepts and topics. By connecting your language skills, you're better able to explain yourself and write about your ideas. ESL003 presents Standard American English grammar, vocabulary, and reading skills that work together to culminate in a complete essay.
Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation (MIT OpenCourseWare)
This course is designed for high-intermediate ESL students who need to develop better listening comprehension and oral skills, which will primarily be achieved by detailed instructions on pronunciation. Our focus will be on (1) producing accurate and intelligible English, (2) becoming more comfortable listening to rapidly spoken English, and (3) learning common expressions, gambits, and idioms used in both formal and informal contexts.