Research guides
Pathway Program Research Guides
The goal of enrolling in Pathway and Academic English courses is to acquire the reading, writing, and speaking skills necessary to assume university level study and research. This guide is primarily for Pathway program students.
Listening and Speaking
- Updated weekly with mp3 news stories, activities, and quizzes with answers. From CBC, Canada.
- Listen to words with matching pictures.
ESL Pronunciation Tools from TESL Journal Website
- Many links to different pronunciation tools for ESL students.
- Practice listening and pronunciation! Type in your words and listen to them being spoken.
American English Pronunciation Practice (For ESL/EFL)
- Minimal pairs practice and quizzes. Listen to words that sound the same.
English Language Centre Study Zone
- English-language lessons and practice exercises. From the University of Victoria.
Learning Chocolate: A Vocabulary Learning Platform
- Categories of basic words, including: animals, body, clothing, community, food, holidays/celebrations, household objects/rooms, jobs, nature, people, school, sports/hobbies, transportation, and others.
English Listening Lesson Library Online
- Audio and video lessons with English speakers. Includes quizzes.
- A wide array of exercises where students can watch videos and answer questions based on those videos. From low to intermediate levels.
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
- Audio for listening. Includes quizzes.
- An interactive Canadian Phonetic Alphabet (CPA) with animations demonstrating proper pronunciation. Include audio exercises, videos, and comic dialogues. From Athabasca University.
Reading and writing
- English language skill building resources for a range of skill levels. Worksheets and quizzes covering reading comprehension, verb tenses, sentence completion, synonyms & antonyms, phonics, writing practice, parts of speech, pronouncing “ed” endings, and much more.
- This site is designed to assist students with academic writing assignments.
- Practical guidance on how to write a variety of academic papers. Include case study reports, lab reports, literature reviews, reflective writings. From the Tri-Group Universities.
Resources for Writers: Paraphrasing & Quoting
- Learn how to use quotations, as well as how to paraphrase and summarize. From Norquest College.
Short writing activities for beginners
- Short writing exercises for ESL learners. Ranked by difficulty.
Learning English Online: Writing
- Improve your writing skills and comprehension with help from exercises on many topics.
- This resource assesses a reader’s skills and allows them to build on their skills through simple reading exercises and activities. From Bow Valley College.
ELC Study Zone Reading Practice
- Choose a story and complete exercises to practice reading comprehension.
- Follow these four steps to ensure your paper is free from plagiarism.
Grammar and Vocabulary
- Fun ways to learn English Grammar. Includes quizzes, practice reading, and games to improve your English.
- Learn all aspects of written English so you can improve your writing skills in both personal and formal communications.
- A large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources.
- Learn basic grammar, punctuation, and idioms. From Athabasca University.
- A-Z list of grammatical terms. From Athabasca University.
10 Best Grammar Resources for English Language Learners
- This website provides a list of the top 10 grammar resources for ESL students.
- Designed for mobile use. Covers basic grammar and contains several exercises. From Athabasca University.
- Practice grammar, vocabulary, speaking, and other English skills.
- A grammar guide for ESL students.
- Interactive lessons on grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
- Work through free exercises and tests on many different grammatical concepts.
Reference
- Allows users to choose from among the following Cambridge dictionaries: Advanced Learner’s, Learner’s, American English, Idioms, and Phrasal Verbs.
- This dictionary can be searched using individual word or browsed by topic. Includes audio pronunciations for selected words and sentences.
- Offers dictionary and thesaurus searching, plus additional links to word quizzes & games, word of the day, new words, etc.
- This online dictionary offers explanations for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level words.
RhymeZone: rhyming dictionary and thesaurus
- This tool provides help with writing poetry, song lyrics, greeting cards, witticisms, and more.
- From HarperCollins Publishers. Includes British & American English dictionaries, a thesaurus, and translation dictionaries for French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
YourDictionary: Foreign Language Online Dictionaries
- A large collection of translation dictionaries. Includes links to language learning materials.
Research
- The Assignment Planner breaks down research and writing projects into manageable steps based on your due dates. Includes annotated bibliography, lab report, research essay, STEM poster, policy brief, literature review, critical reflection, and article review.
CRAP Criteria for Evaluating Resources
- Use the CRAP criteria to evaluate the quality of information resources.
Tests
- The homepage of IELTS, the International English Language Testing System.
Educational Testing Service: TOEFL
- The Official TOEFL Website.
Leisure Reading e-books
- An open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Read, borrow, and discover more than 3M books. Browse by K-12 student library. Include resource guide.
BITS English Language Learning
- Collection of recorded books, novellas, short stories, speeches, and songs with read-along text.