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Language resources
Welcome to our list of the most useful websites that we have found to help you develop your academic English language skills. There are many websites available to learn English. The ones we have chosen below are free, accurate, easy to use and useful for students.
Activities and information
*Using English for Academic Purposes contains comprehensive advice, materials and exercises.
*Academic English Online also has materials and interactive activities designed to develop your skills in academic English, covering a wide range of skills, including writing, reading, listening and speaking.
Monash University provide the excellent Language and Learning Online, a collection of resources to help you improve your academic performance.
Writing
The *Academic Phrasebank provides a comprehensive bank of useful phrases used in academic writing, organised according to the main sections of a research paper or dissertation.
The Purdue Online Writing Lap has a range of useful material on the writing process and using the APA referencing system.
An Academic Writing Module: Paragraphs is a useful resource from Victoria University of Wellington to develop skills in paragraphing, topic sentences, coherence and cohesion.
Speaking
Support for Oral Presentations provides useful tips for oral presentations and public speaking.
Practice your pronunciation in these activities by the British Council and Cambridge English Online.
Forvo is a social website that allows you to write the word you want to hear and hear it spoken by different speakers.
Listening
TED Talks, *OU podcasts and 6 Minute English provide extensive listening practice on a range of interesting topics.
Short lectures on different aspects of academic experience; seminars, writing tasks, lecture listening, etc by BBC Learning English.
Reading
Check your reading speed with Speed Reading Test Online.
*Tips for Effective Reading from the University of New South Wales.
Improve your reading speed with these strategies.
Grammar and vocabulary
The *Academic Word List (AWL)is a list of the most frequently used words in academic writing. The Oxford Learner Dictionary divides the list into 10 sublists, with sublist 1 containing the highest frequency words.
English Vocabulary Exercises provide information on how to use the AWL and practice exercises using all the words in the AWL.
Academic Flipwords is an app available for iOS and Android devices that can be used to help you better understand and use the words in the AWL.
EAP Vocabulary Exercises contains gap-fill exercises, on a wide-range of subjects, based on the academic word list.
The Internet Grammar of English is an online course in English grammar that has an accompanying app.
Online courses
English: skills for learning is an online course by The Open University focusing on developing the English reading and writing skills needed to succeed at university.
Learn with students from all over the world on *A Beginner's Guide to Writing in English for University Study created by Reading University.
The British Council has courses including English Language and Culture and Understanding IELTS on the Future Learn platform.
*Indicates resources that we highly recommend and feel would be particularly useful for you.
