16 Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI)
Bilingualism Studies (BIL)
No suggested OER at this time.
English as a Second Language (ESL)
51 Bite-Size Lessons on Verbs∗
Lin Cui (Harper College)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The book addresses some of the most frequently occurring verb errors made by English as a Second Language (ESL) students.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, and PDF
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 0120 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
ESL 0130 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
ESL 1113 What’s the Rule? Grammar at the Beginner Level
ESL 2113 Honing the Rule: Grammar at the Intermediate Level
ESL 2371 Bending the Rule: Oral and Written Grammar at the Advanced Level
Advanced Academic Grammar for ESL Students∗
Rebecca Al Haider (Reedley College)
2021
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This textbook was created for an advanced academic grammar course for ESL students. By the end of the course, students will recognize and demonstrate the appropriate use of advanced grammar structures. To meet these outcomes, students will listen to aural language that includes the target structures, identify and edit grammar errors in written language, read and analyze texts that include the target grammar structures, and demonstrate the correct and appropriate use of target structures in written and spoken language.
Formats: Google Doc and PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 0130 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
ESL 2371 Bending the Rule: Oral and Written Grammar at the Advanced Level
Advanced English∗ 
Allison Kilgannon (University of the Fraser Valley)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This text introduces students to reading and writing at the college level and was designed to fulfill the requirements for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Advanced English Course. This text included examples, exercises, and definitions for many reading- and writing-related topics encountered in college courses.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, and PDF
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 0130 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
ESL 2121 Creating Meaning: Reading to Improve Writing Skills
College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success
Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace (Georgia State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success is designed as a comprehensive grammar and writing etext for high intermediate and advanced level non-native speakers of English. We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger academic assignments. Following that, we provide instruction in paragraph and essay writing with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments.
We have structured the etext into three basic parts. Part I, Composing Strategies and Techniques, includes a sequenced discussion from composing effective sentences through paragraph and essay writing. This includes the prewriting and planning stages of writing as well as the revising and editing stage in the first five chapters. Part II, Language Use, Grammar, and Mechanics, is meant to be used as a grammar and mechanics handbook as well as the practice and review of idiomatic wording. Part III, All About Writing: Samples, Topics, and Rubrics, has chapters with additional writing topics for practice, sample student papers, and rubrics for evaluating writing.
Formats: PDF and Word
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ESL 2113 Honing the Rules: Grammar at the Intermediate Level
ESL 3361 Write to Be Read: Writing Academic Papers
Communication Beginnings: An Introductory Listening and Speaking Text for English Language Learners
Della Jean Abrahams (Portland State University)
2017
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This textbook is designed for beginning-intermediate English language learners. It is composed of 7 chapters, each of which covers specific speaking and listening learning objectives and includes dialogues, interviews, discussions and conversation activities. Each chapter includes listening and speaking components such as dialogues, interviews, discussions and conversation activities. Each chapter also focuses on 10 target words from the New General Service List of English vocabulary. The textbook includes an audio component that consists of recorded conversations of native and non-native English speakers, as well as links to additional listening resources on the web.
Formats: Online, PDF, and Word
Reviews: Open Textbook Library – BCcampus
Suggested for:
ESL 1112 Welcome to English: First Steps to Oral and Written Communication
ESL 2111 Interactions in English: Improving Oral and Written Proficiency – Intermediate I
Daily Departures: Speed Reading Passages for English Language Learners∗
Regina D. Weaver (Portland State University)
2019
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Daily Departures: Speed Reading Passages for English Language Learners is a collection of twenty 200-225 word reading passages written primarily within the 1,000-word level of the New General Service List and designed to provide fluency support for English language learners at the Waystage level of the Common European Framework Reference.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Word
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 0120 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
A Digital Workbook for Beginning ESOL∗
Eric Dodson, Davida Jordan, and Tim Krause (Portland Community College)
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Three levels of interactive grammar and reading activities for beginning and intermediate students of ESOL. This book contains three levels of interactive grammar lessons and reading activities for beginning students of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). The grammar section includes a select set of YouTube videos, and the three original readers include short picture or chapter stories. Each lesson is accompanied by self-correcting exercises.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 1112 Beginning Steps to Improving Oral and Written Communication in English
ESL 1113 What’s the Rule? Grammar at the Beginner Level
In the Community: An Intermediate Integrated Skills Textbook
Bow Valley College and NorQuest College
2016
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
The textbook:
- helps learners notice, learn, and practice English that will be helpful in your community
- gives learners practice in the four main language skills–listening, speaking, reading, and writing
- helps learners learn about intercultural skills
- helps learners develop some important essential skills
- can be used as an online textbook with interactive activities or downloaded, printed and used as a regular textbook
The textbook is aimed at Canadian Language Benchmarks levels 5/6 and has been designed to be facilitated by an instructor.
Formats: Online and PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library – BCcampus
Suggested for:
ESL 2111 Interactions in English: Improving Oral and Written Proficiency – Intermediate I
ESL 2112 Interactions in English: Improving Oral and Written Proficiency – Intermediate II
Oral Communication for Non-Native Speakers of English∗
Timothy Kochem, Monica Ghosh, Lily Compton, and Elena Cotos (Iowa State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
This textbook includes materials on listening, speaking, lexicogrammar, pragmatics, and pronunciation.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 2372 Did you say ‘can’ or ‘can’t’? Clarity in Speech and Pronunciation
Provincial English∗
Allison Kilgannon (University of the Fraser Valley)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
This textbook was designed to fulfill the requirements for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Provincial English course. This text provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking skills, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, and PDF
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
ESL 0130 Academic Development in English as a Second Language
ESL 2361 State your Position: Writing with a Purpose
Transition with Purpose: Pathways from English Language to Academic Study∗
Michelle Miller and Anne Greenhoe (Portland State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This Open Access Textbook will guide students through their English language to academic degree studies. Part one of this textbook is a guide for moving from ESL study to academic study at Portland State University. It includes the resources students will use to understand policies and processes governing their degree study and their transition to academic coursework. Part two focuses on how academic skills are used across various disciplines and is comprised of activities and assignments designed to practice these skills. Key elements include culture and expectations in an American university, transferring academic skills from ESL to content-specific academic courses, and helpful exercises to be academically successful.
While much of the content of this book relates specifically to Portland State University, it is our hope that the structure of the text and the activities within it may inspire adaptations to fit the needs of other colleges and universities.
Formats: PDF and Word
Suggested for:
ESL 0120 Academic Development in English as a Second Language [as supplementary resource for reading and writing skills]
French as a Second Language (FLS)
See other suggestions in the French version of the guide under “Français langue seconde (FLS)”.
Au boulot! First-Year French
David A. Dinneen (University of Kansas), Hope Christiansen (University of Arkansas), Madeleine Kernen (Missouri State University) and Herve Pensec (St. Olaf College)
1995
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Au boulot! is a two-year college French program consisting of: a textbook, workbook and 21 accompanying audio exercises; as well as a reference grammar, to be used the entire two years.
Formats: PDF and MP3
Includes: Audio exercises, vocabulary lists at the ends of chapter with translations
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 1511 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner I
FLS 1512 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner II
FLS 1611 Oral and Written Communication in French as a Second Language: Elementary Levels I and II
Chapeau! First-Year French
David A. Dinneen (University of Kansas) and Madeleine Kernen (Missouri State University)
1989
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Chapeau! is a first-year college text. Although it may appear, at first glance, to move very fast and introduce a large amount of material early, the vocabulary and grammatical structures that we expect students to control actively by the end of the year are limited in accord with our notion of a reasonable application of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. As a result, while some instructors may be surprised at such things as the absence of the possessive pronoun, no insistence on the use of optional subjunctives, and no active treatment of the relative dont, others may be disturbed by what we still include in a first-year text. What we do expect students to acquire (which is quantitatively less than what we present in the text for them to know about), we believe they will acquire well, providing a sound basis for further study (formal or informal) and permitting us to say to them, both during and at the end of the course, “Chapeau!”
Formats: PDF and MP3
Includes: Audio exercises, vocabulary lists at the end of chapters with translations
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 1511 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner I
FLS 1512 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner II
Défis de parole : fiches FLS pour l’expression orale 
Janna Saïd, Alexandra Charland-Froment, and Paco Lalovic (University of Ottawa)
2024
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Les fiches pédagogiques comprises dans cette ressource éducative libre (REL), « Défis de parole », offrent des activités de groupe et des exercices d’apprentissage autonome qui permettent de se perfectionner à l’oral en une variété de contextes ancrés dans la vie étudiante au Canada.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and OpenDocument
Includes: H5P activities and videos
Suggested in preparation for:
FLS 3500 Second Language Certification Test
Français interactif
Karen Kelton, Nancy Guilloteau, and Carl Blyth (University of Texas)
Last updated: 2011
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This open textbook accompanies course content that explores the French language and culture by following the lives of students participating in intensive French-language programming.
Formats: Online and PDF
Includes: Videos, audio vocabulary recordings, phonetics lessons, and online activities
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 1511 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner I
FLS 1512 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner II
Introduction to French
Rita Palacios (Conestoga College)
2019
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Introduction to French is a basic French-language textbook designed to develop reading, writing, and speaking skills of college students in classrooms across Canada.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, EPUB, and more
Includes: Audio files
Suggested for:
FLS 1511 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner I
FLS 1512 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner II
Let’s Read French Books∗
Edited by Somayeh Kamranian (University of British Columbia)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Reading books is a great way to learn a language. It helps to discover the culture, to learn new words, to be exposed to different language structures in the context. But, one of the biggest challenges in the language and literature classes is to encourage the students to read. This project aims to make reading literary books easier for the students by creating an open textbook reader using Public Domain 19th century French literature. Along with the text, there are activities for students to engage with and discover the text.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
FLS 2521 Lire pour écrire en français [as supplementary resource]
Liberté
Gretchen Angelo (California State University)
2012
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Liberté is a first-year college French textbook with a true communicative approach. Each chapter is built around communicative strategies. Clearly defined objectives in communication, culture, and grammar are given at the start of each chapter, and summary exercises at the end allow students to measure their mastery of these objectives. It has been adopted by instructors at over twenty-five colleges and high schools.
Format: PDF
Includes: Instructor and student volumes, end-of-chapter exercises, and audio files (by request)
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 1511 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner I
FLS 1512 Oral and Written Communication in French – Beginner II
Le littéraire dans le quotidien
Joanna Gay Luks (Cornell University)
2015
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Le littéraire dans le quotidien is an open textbook for use in French courses. The Literary in the Everyday represents a new pedagogical approach to reading and writing at the lower levels and is applicable to all languages. Teachers of foreign languages besides French can read about the approach in the Teacher’s Guide. Go to Google Drive for individual chapters.
Formats: PDF and online
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 2521 Lire pour écrire en français
FLS 2741 Mieux lire en français
Le pont: From Intermediate to Advanced French∗
Gillian Weatherley, Clarisse Barbier Lee, Christina Lord, Jacob Hendrix, Ousmane Lecoq Diop, and Danielle Schablitsky (University of Kansas)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
A complete French curriculum that provides a bridge for students transitioning from intermediate to advanced proficiency. Chapters are being released serially through the Summer of 2022.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested as supplementary resource for:
FLS 2511 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire I
FLS 2512 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire II
FLS 2731 Compréhension de l’oral en français – Avancé
FLS 2741 Mieux lire en français
FLS 2771 Grammaire française – Avancé
Sons & Lettres: A pronunciation method for intermediate-level French
Stephen Walton (Portland State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This textbook provides a set of classroom materials to train students to hear and produce the sounds of French and to recognize the regular spellings used to represent those sounds in print.
Formats: Online flipbook and PDF
Includes: exercises, audio on supplementary website.
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
CSuggested for:
FLS 2511 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire I
FLS 2512 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire II
FLS 2611 Communication orale et écrite en français langue seconde : Niveaux intermédiaires I et II
Tout un monde: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Intermediate French
Alicia L. Soueid (University of Texas Arlington)
2019
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This book is intended for use with intermediate level college French classes. Its multidisciplinary approach introduces students to topics and vocabulary associated with fields such as medicine, advertising, travel, business, agriculture, and relationships.
Format: PDF
Includes: Exercises
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
FLS 2511 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire I
FLS 2512 Communication orale et écrite en français – Intermédiaire II
FLS 2611 Communication orale et écrite en français langue seconde : Niveaux intermédiaires I et II
