The best self-study English books for learners and teachers

With over 2 billion people speaking English as either a first or second language, it is the most spoken language in the world. It’s not just about being able to speak with native speakers. As the most common second language in the world, it if you want to speak to someone from another country, it is likely that you will need to speak English. It is the dominant language of business, and employers are increasingly demanding that their employees be competent English speakers. It can give you an advantage over other candidates when applying for jobs and can lead to greater opportunities for promotion.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of my favourite self-study resources for both learners and teachers. When I was first starting out as an English teacher, these books were invaluable to me. I still use them in my classes today and recommend them to my students.

English Grammar in Use, Raymond Murphy

- This is a self-study reference and practice book for INTERMEDIATE (B1, B2) learners. It has well over 100 units and covers just about every grammar topic you could imagine, including verb tenses, prepositions, modal verbs, phrasal verbs, relative clauses… I love this book because each topic gives both a page of explanations and a page of exercises. The explanations are extremely clear! The answers are in the back of the book, and it even includes extra review exercises.

- It is also a great resource for teachers!

The Grammar in Use range also has books for elementary and advanced learners:

Essential Grammar in Use, Raymond Murphy

- This book is for ELEMENTARY (A1, A2) learners.

Advanced Grammar in Use, Martin Hewings

- This book is for ADVANCED (C1, C2) learners.

An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage, Geoffrey Leach, Susan Conrad, Benita Cruickshank, Roz Ivanic

- This book is great for both teachers and learners. It has a dictionary-style layout making it super easy to find what you are looking for. When I first started teaching, I found many grammar books confusing, but this one was clear as day!

Teaching Tenses, Rosemary Aitkin

- This is one of my absolute favourites! It is intended for teachers, but it is also a great resource for learners. The tenses are explained so clearly, and she includes a review of common learner errors for each tense!

A Concise Guide to the English Verb Tenses, Emma Snipe

- For years, my students have been asking me to create a guide to the English tenses, so here it is! I cover the structure and use of each of the 12 tenses, including comparisons of some of the most confusing ones.

Available in paperback (greyscale) and PDF (colour).

The English Vocabulary in Use range, Michael McCarthy & Felicity O’Dell, is also very good. There are books for elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced. Each unit has a page of clear explanations and a page of exercises. You can check your answers with the key in the back of the back. As well as numerous vocabulary topics, these books also cover aspects of grammar and style.

English Collocations in Use, Michael McCarthy

- Collocations are an important part of English fluency. They are combinations of words that often appear together. Learning them is essential if you are studying for exams such as IELTS, or the Cambridge FCE or CAE. This book is for INTERMEDIATE (B1, B2) learners.

- Examples of collocations: ‘throw a party’, not ‘make a party’; ‘deeply offended’, not ‘highly offended’; ‘strong interest’, not ‘heavy interest’; ‘close relative’, not ‘near relative’.

For pronunciation, Ship or Sheep by Ann Baker is a little gem (both intermediate and elementary are available), and the English Pronunciation in Use range with downloadable audio is a must!

I hope you've found this post useful, and that these books help you achieve your language learning goals. As a learner myself, Spanish in my case, I know how difficult it can be. The important thing is not to give up! Make sure to come and join me on YouTube and Instagram for FREE daily lessons!

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