ESL Textbook Evaluation
for ESL Teachers and Tutors

This ESL textbook evaluation page is primarily for private ESL tutors, ESL teachers and EFL teachers who need to have their own library of ESL books (i.e., those who have to spend their own money for resources!). I'm including only the books I feel are the best and that are really helpful to own. ESL and EFL classroom teachers will also find some of these resources very useful for their own reference.

I highly recommend scouring your local used bookstore for ESL textbooks, ESL grammar books, and books on ESL tutoring. Some of the best books I've found, those I use on a very regular basis, are books I'd never heard of before seeing them in the bookstore. I had to do my own quick ESL textbook evaluation.

The following is an ESL textbook evaluation of the main books I use over and over again when teaching students or when I need to look up an English grammar point I'm unsure of. (Like ending a sentence with a preposition!) Actually, I'm not only covering textbooks, but also other ESL books that I've found essential.

Reference Books for ESL Teachers and Tutors

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, published by Oxford University Press, (ISBN-10: 0194420981; ISBN-13: 978-0194420983) - This book is my grammar bible. If you don't buy any other ESL grammar book, buy this one. It answers 99% of the questions you could ever have about English grammar.

I also highly recommend this reference book to all of my advanced ESL students. The newest edition is the third. You can find it in hardcover or paperback (the ISBN above is for the paperback version). I have the second edition. Although this ESL grammar book isn't as expensive as most grammar books, it's still not cheap. So if you find a good used copy of an older edition, I'd grab it.

Longman Advanced American Dictionary - (ISBN-10: 0582504090; ISBN-13: 978-0582504097) Although this isn't specifically an ESL dictionary, I would still call it the best ESL dictionary I've come across. Rather than overwhelming the ESL student with outdated and seldom-used definitions, its definitions are those commonly used today. Longman makes a few dictionaries. Be sure to get the one with the exact title above. It comes with a CD-ROM. Click here to read more about the best ESL dictionary.

[WAIT! Don't order this dictionary. For some reason, the price has more than tripled and I need to figure out why. It could be that this is an older edition. I need to figure out which particular dictionary replaces this one and also see if I think it is still the best one out there. If you can't wait, any of the Longman's will still be good.]

Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Schrampfer Azar (ISBN-10: 0130976059; ISBN-13: 978-0130976055) – Azar is one of the most popular names in ESL grammar books, and for good reason. She is the author of many ESL textbooks and although I've only used this particular book, I'd bet that any of her other ESL books are going to be exceptional.

This publication is great for intermediate to advanced ESL students. It has all the important grammar points laid out nicely in charts with explanations, examples, and student exercises. If you have higher level ESL students, this is the one grammar book (with exercises) that I highly recommend.

However, as it is only one book, it cannot thoroughly cover every aspect of English grammar. The one area where I feel it is particularly lacking is in its treatment of prepositions. You will definitely need other sources for a good ESL lesson on prepositions.

Grammar in Use - Intermediate by Raymond Murphy (ISBN-10: 052162598X; ISBN-13: 978-0521625982) – As far as my ESL textbook evaluation goes, this is my second choice ESL grammar textbook. Although "intermediate" is in the title, it's also appropriate for advanced level students (Murphy has not yet published a version specifically for advanced English language learners).

Each grammar point that it addresses has one page of examples with a brief and basic explanation and on the opposite page, it has an ESL worksheet for practice. In most cases, it doesn't specifically spell out the English grammar rule, but rather, it gives examples.

For the best grammar presentations and explanations, I prefer Azar (above), but Grammar in Use is good when you want supplemental exercises and/or you prefer a shorter explanation of the English grammar points.

Basic Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy (ISBN-10: 0521626005; ISBN-13: 978-0521626002) – This ESL textbook is for beginning level ESL students. This is my favorite textbook for beginners. It's laid out the same way as the Intermediate book. Beginning level English doesn't require as much explanation, so this ESL textbook works well.

ESL Textbook Evaluation - The Best ESL Pronunciation Book

Pronunciation Pairs: An Introductory Course for Students of English by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein (ISBN-10: 0521349737; ISBN-13: 978-0521349734) – I found this book in a used bookstore, and to this day, I consider it one of the best finds ever. There's a teacher's version and a student's version. Either one will work well, but the teacher's version is particularly helpful because it tells you what difficulties you can expect your students to have.

One More Helpful Book for Beginning ESL Students

The Oxford Picture Dictionary - (ISBN-10: 0194700593; ISBN-13: 978-0194700597) This particular picture dictionary is the monolingual English version. This is the one I have. If your student also buys one, he or she can get one that is bilingual. It's available in many non-English languages. This dictionary is very useful for my beginning level students. I found my copy at a used bookstore.



Please let me know if you have any other suggestions for "must have" ESL books, or if you would like to add to this ESL textbook evaluation.

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