Main Indexes OWL Home Page Writing Lab and OWL Info Handouts and Materials Workshops and Presentations Internet Resources owl home || writing lab and owl || handouts || workshops and presentations || internet resources

English as a Second Language Self-Study Materials Guide

The following list of materials are self-study language learning materials that can be used to improve and enhance your language skills. These materials are available for use only in the Writing Lab, which is located in 226 Heavilon Hall. You do not need an appointment to come in and use these materials. All you need to do is find time, come in, and fill out a "green sheet" that lets us know who you are.

The materials are categorized by medium into three sections: print materials, audio materials, and interactive computer software. Please refer to the brief instructions at the beginning of that section for instructions on how to access and use those materials. If you have other questions, please talk to the receptionist at the front desk.

Print materials || Audio materials || Computer Software

Print Materials

The print resources listed below are located in the ESL section of the lab, on the bookshelf labeled "Books for English as a Second Language."

Writing Process

Barron’s ESL Guide to American Business English, Geffner
Basic Composition for ESL, Huizenga, et.al.
Clarity, Harris
Conciseness, Harris
Consistency, Harris
Controlled Composition in ESL, Paulston and Dykstra
ESL Resource Book for Engineers and Scientists, Campbell
Paragraph Development (ESL), Arnaudet and Barrett
Please Write! A Beginning Composition Text for Students of ESL, Ackert
Problem Solving and Decision Making, Brahan
Process and Pattern, Cobb
Report Formats, Harris
Transitions, Bates
Words in Motion: An Interactive Approach to Writing, Olsher
Writing a Research Paper, Menasche
Writing a Research Paper American Style, Langosch
Written English, Rainsbury
You’re Hired! II

Grammar

Common Errors in English: ESL Edition, Boyne and Le Pan
Communicate What You Mean, Pollock
English for Today, NCTE (4 volumes)
English Grammar Handbook for Intermediate to Advanced Students of ESL, Dart
English Grammar Through Guided Writing: Parts of Speech, McClelland and Hale
English Grammar Quiz Book for Intermediate to Advanced Students of ESL, Dart
English Grammar Workbook (1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B), Dart
English Syntax, Stevenson
Focus: Interactive Grammar for Students of ESL, Robinson
Frequent Grammatical Errors, Harris
The Gooficon, Burt and Kiparsky
Grammar in Use, Murphy
Holt Workbook for International Students, Perlin
Modern English: Exercises for Non-Native Speakers, Frank
Modern English: Parts of Speech, Frank
Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide
Modern English: Sentences and Complex Structures, Frank
Understanding and Using English: Birk and Birk
Pronouns and Determiners, Pack
The Random House Handbook
Rapid Review of English Grammar, Praninskas
Reference Guide to English, Maclin
Rinehart ESL Workbook, Hall
Spot Drills: Illustrated Grammar Exercises, Markley and Sheeler
Tense Situations: Tenses in Contrast and Context, Hartmann, et. al.
Three Little Words: A. An, and The, Claire
Understanding English Grammar, Kolln
Verb Choices and Verb Forms, Pack
Working with English Prepositions, Hall
Step Ahead: An English Course 1,4, Walker
Understanding and Using English Grammar, Azar

Vocabulary

Dictionaries

The Newberry House of American English
The American Heritage ESL Dictionary
The New Horizon Ladder Dictionary of the English Language
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English
Dictionary of Prepositions for Students of English
Cambridge Dictionary of American English: Student Activity Book
American Heritage ESL Dictionary Workbook

Idioms

Longman Dictionary of English Idioms
American Idioms: Take It Easy, McPartland
Practice with Idioms, Feare

Speaking and Listening

Pronouncing American English, Orion
English Pronunciation, Lado and Fries
English Conversation Practices, Hok, Minkewitz, and Nilsen
Great Ideas: Listening and Speaking Activities for Students of American English, Jones
and Kimbrough
Functions of American English: Student’s Book, Jones and von Baeyer
Working in English, Book 1, Robinson
Improving Oral Communication, Handschuh and Simounet de Geigel
New Interchange: Student’s Book 3, Richards, Hull, and Proctor
The Non-Stop Discussion Workbook, Rooks

Reading

Reading: The Art of Getting the Message, de Fossard
Reading and All That Jazz, McCarthy
Contact USA: An ESL Reading and Vocabulary Textbook, Abraham and Mackey
Reading Skills That Work: A Functional Approach for Life and Work, Echaore-Yoon
American Cultural Patterns, Stewart
Tapestry Reading 4, Sokolik

Discipline-Specific Books

ESL Guide to American Business English, Barron’s
Oxford English for Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Glendinning
Highly Recommended: English for the Hotel and Catering Industry, Revell and Stott
English in Context: Reading Comprehension for Science and Technology, Saslow/Mongillo

TOEFL and GRE

Cracking the GRE 2002
GRE Exam 2001 through 2003
TOEFL CBT Exam
Cracking the TOEFL 2002
Key to Success on the TOEFL

top of the page

Audio Materials

The audio resources listed below are located in the ESL section of the lab, on the bookshelf labeled "ESL." You can listen to them on the tape recorder provided in the ESL section of the lab.

American Accent Program

• Eight audio cassettes
  
• Provides pronunciation practice in American English
  
  • Vowels
    
  • Consonants
    
  • Sentence level intonation

TOEFL test Preparation Kit, 2nd Ed.

• Four audio cassettes
  
• Provides practice for taking the TOEFL

Good Grammar Matters

• Eight audio cassettes
  
• Provides the basics of English grammatical structure
  
• Part II
  
  • Whom as the Object of a Preposition
    
  • Lie and Lay
    
  • Adjectives and Adverbs
    
  • Using One Instead of You

Rhetoric and Critical Thinking

• Unit 1: Organizing Your Writing
  
• Unit 2: Outlining
  
• Unit 3: Unity
  
• Unit 4: Coherence
  
• Unit 5: Emphasis
  
• Unit 6: Adequate Development
  
• Unit 7: Definition
  
• Unit 8: Comparison and Contrast
  
• Unit 9: Classification and Analysis
  
• Unit 10: Descriptive Exposition
  
• Unit 11: The Nature of Evidence
  
• Unit 12: Inductive Reasoning
  
• Unit 13: Deductive Reasoning
  
• Unit 14: Fallacies
  
• Unit 15: Argument and Persuasion
  
• Unit 16: Diction
  
• Unit 17: Word Economy
  
• Unit 21: Writing about Literature
  
• Unit 23: Technical Writing

Lado English Series: A Complete Course in English as a Second Language 1-6

Pronunciation Exercises, Copy 1-2

Pronouncing American English, Parts 1 and 2

Korean Accent English

Chinese Accent English

Overheard and Understood

Tune in Tonight

Understanding TOEFL

Reading for TOEFL

TOEFL Prep Guide

TOEFL Prep Book

Listening and Learning

Sound Advantage

Building Skills for the TOEFL Test

Good Grammar Matters! (Part I)

Intermediate Listening Comprehension

Building Fluency in English Authentic Speech

Building Fluency in English Conversation Management

Lectures for Listening Comprehension

Listening Focus

Advanced Listening Comprehension

Exercises in English Conversation (Book 1)

Exercises in English Conversation (Book 2)

Clear Speech

English on Campus, A Listening Sampler

Even if you can’t carry a tune

top of page

Interactive Software

The materials listed below allow you to work at your own pace using the computer in the ESL section of the Writing Lab. You need to check out and return CD-ROMs at the front desk and can use them only in the lab. To check out CD-ROMs, please tell the receptionist which software you would like to work with.

To help you use your time productively, a brief summary of the contents of each CD-ROM is provided below.

American Accent Program: CD-ROM

• Helps you improve your pronunciation and listening comprehension.
  
• Three modules
  
  • Module I: vowels
    
  • Module II: consonants
    
  • Module III: intonation

Easy Writer: CD-ROM

• Provides practice in writing.
  
• All aspects of grammar are addressed in context.
  
  • Users identify and correct errors in texts.
    
  • Users, when they desire, click on GRAMMAR to get a lesson on the grammar item being practiced.
    
• Four levels of proficiency:
  
  • Level 1 treats articles, nouns and pronouns, possessives, prepositions, punctuation, spelling, and verbs.
    
  • Level 2 treats nouns and pronouns, possessives, punctuation, questions, sentence structure, spelling, and verbs.
    
  • Level 3 treats conditionals, indirect speech, passive voice, gerunds and infinitives.
    
  • Expert level reviews what has been treated at the first three levels.

English Tutor: CD-ROM

• Offers help and practice in:
  
  • Grammar
    Pronunciation
    
  • Writing
    
  • Listening
    
  • Listening comprehension
    
• All aspects of English grammar are treated: tenses, modals, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs, and conjunctions.
  
• Learners are interactively engaged, filling in blanks, rearranging jumbled sentences, etc.
  
• There are 11 reading texts for reading comprehension practice.
  
• For listening practice, dialogues are provided.
  
• Learners listen to native-speaker pronunciation of sentences, record their own voice in imitation, and then play it back to verify how much it approximates the native-speaker rendition.

Focus on Grammar: CD-ROM. Longman Series
Course for reference and practice

• This series of CD-ROMs provide practice in all aspects of grammar at four levels of proficiency:
  
• Basic: 14 units divided into 8 parts with 8 review tests. Treats:
  
  • Tenses, the imperative, nouns and qualifiers, comparison, modals, wh-questions, prepositions, and punctuation.
    
  • Practice in reading, listening, and writing is provided.
    
• Intermediate: 38 units divided into 8 parts with 8 review tests. Treats:
  
  • The present tense, past, future, present perfect, adjectives and adverbs, gerunds and infinitives, modals, and nouns and articles.
    
  • Activities include: recognition, identification, and practice.
    
  • Practice is also provided in reading, listening, and writing.
    
• High intermediate: 27 units divided into 10 parts with 10 review tests. Treats:
  
  • Present and past tense, future, tag questions, additions and responses, gerunds and infinities, passive, modals, conditionals, adjective clauses, indirect speech and embedded questions, and pronouns and phrasal verbs.
    
  • Activities include: recognition, identification, and practice.
    
  • Contextualised practice provided in reading, listening, and writing.
    
• Advanced: 21 units divided into 8 parts with 8 review tests. Treats:
  
  • The verb phrase, noun phrase, passive voice, gerunds and infinitives, adverbials and discourse markers, noun clauses, and nouns and articles.
    
  • Activities include: recognition, identification, and practice.
    
  • Contextualised practice provided in reading, listening, and writing.
    

Instant Immersion

• Offers 20 interactive English lessons for improving listening comprehension on two CDs
  
• Speech Solutions CD for improving pronunciation skills
  
• Includes 8-in-1 English dictionary
  

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary: CD-ROM

Pronunciation Power 2: CD-ROM

• Offers pronunciation practice in:
  
  • Stress
    
  • Timing
    
  • Articulation
    
  • Intonation
    
  • Rhythm
    
• The user can listen to the instructor pronounce a sound, record his or her own pronunciation of the sound and compare with the instructor’s pronunciation.
  
• The user can learn how a sound is produced by observing the movement of an animated face and the mouth of the instructor.
  
• Practice exercises are provided.
  
• Words and sentences are provided to practice the sounds.

Rosetta Stone: CD-ROM

• Comprises 19 units on three CDs and accompanying books:
  
  • English I: Units 1-8
    
  • English II: Units 9-14
    
  • English III: Units 15-19
    
• This is a complete language course. Practice is offered in the following language skills:
  
  • Listening Comprehension
    
  • Speaking
    
  • Reading and Listening
    
  • Reading Comprehension
    
  • Writing
    
  • Grammar
    
  • Vocabulary
    
• The course can be used as both a complete course by anybody who wants to take a course in English as a second language, or as a reference for anybody who wants to work on a specific aspect of English. The table of contents is quite informative and will help the user choose what he or she wants to work on.
  
• The Rosetta Stone Books, English I and II, spell out the contents of each section.
  
• The Student Study Guide is useful in helping the student use the CD. It is advisable that it be used along side the CD.
  
• The Workbook provides written exercises to supplement the interactive ones.

TOEFL Test Preparation Kit: CD-ROM
Provides practice in taking the TOEFL

top of page

Print materials || Audio materials || Computer Software

Last updated: October 25, 2002
Serkan Gorkemli

owl home || writing lab and owl || handouts || workshops and presentations || internet resources This page is located at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslself.html Receive weekly tips and updates from Purdue's OWL and Writing Lab!         Copyright ©1995-2004 by OWL at Purdue University and Purdue University. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. To contact OWL, please refer to our contact information page so that you email the appropriate person. Requests for help sent to the wrong address may not receive a timely response.