Self-Access & Independent Learning

Writing

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/SEP/links.htm
Choose from a wealth of activities to practise essay organisation, paragraph development, style, cohesion. Activities on application letters and reports also available.

www.esc.edu

An essay writing workshop, from the pre-writing stage of developing ideas to shaping information into coherent paragraphs.

http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/
Writing guidelines for Engineering and Science students. Information and exercises are available on formal reports, proposals, journal articles and academic writing style.

http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/writing/style.html#Paragraphing
Activities on essay and report writing as well as links to writing sites
 

http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/AcademicWriter/Organization/organization.htm
Tips on the organisation of academic essays. Useful frameworks to follow for beginners.
 

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/reports.htm
A thorough presentation of the different parts of a formal report with related writing tasks (acknowledgment, contents, literature review, methodology, findings, recommendations, appendices…)
 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
The Purdue University online writing lab. A wealth of resources and exercises on academic and professional writing with a good collection of sample letters.

Speaking

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/pronunci.htm
Resources and activities on pronunciation features and the use of the IPA.
 

http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-mngs.html
Collection of useful expressions and idioms classified in alphabetical order.
 

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/ipa.htm
Practise recognizing the IPA symbols by clicking on them and listening to how they are pronounced.
 

http://www.edict.com.hk
A selection of useful daily conversations with gap fill activities.
 

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/ipatypewriter.htm
A typewriter to use phonemic fonts in your word documents.

Listening

http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm
A wealth of conversation and listening comprehension exercises classified by level and themes. Each listening comprehension task is followed by a revision exercise.
 

http://ec.hku.hk/epc/telephoning/
Some sample telephoning conversations. The rest of the site offers good practice of business English skills.
 

http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_Activities Effective_Listening_Practice.htm
Listening quizzes and tips at various levels.
   

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/podcast
Weekly listening texts related to the news. Additional information is given on the podcast’s vocabulary page.
 

http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/engnews/index_news.htm?engnews
News summaries prepared by the RTHK news team at hourly intervals. High level.

Reading

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/archive_2004.shtml
These articles on recent news have been simplified and have related vocabulary explanations.
 

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/
Our local news in short, simple articles.
 

http://www.newscientist.com/home.ns
Interesting, short articles about new scientific developments.
 

http://www.newsweek.com/
Longer articles for higher levels.
 

http://www.linguarama.com/ps/reading.htm
A series of texts related to business or workplace themes with comprehension exercises.
 

http://www.economist.com/
Articles for higher levels.
 

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
Articles on geography, ethnography, wildlife and nature.
 

Vocabulary

http://web.uvic.ca/%7Egluton/awl/
Texts and exercises to help you master the list of 450 academic words.
 

http://esl.about.com/od/vocabularyadvanced/Vocabulary_for_Advanced_Level_English_Learners.htm A wealth of activities for learners of advanced vocabulary.
 

Grammar

http://esl.about.com/od/advancedgrammar/Advanced_Level_Grammar_for_ESL_Learners.htm Rules and exercises on a wide range of grammar structures.
 

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Grammar_and_English_Usage/
A list of links on a wide range of grammar topics.
 

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/grammar.htm
Many exercises and explanations of grammar structures.
 

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Detailed explanations on grammar, sentence structure, part of speech and writing skills.
 

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/exercises/main/grammar.html
Many exercises on part of speech, tenses, sentence structure, etc.
 

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/claustyp.html
An online writing centre with explanations on sentence structure, relative clauses, parts of speech, tenses, etc.
 

English Language Tests

www.ielts.org
All the information you need about IELTS and many downloads available (candidate handbook, etc)
 

www.bulats.org
An increasingly popular English Business Test in Hong Kong.
 

Dictionary, corpus and thesaurus

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx

http://www.answers.com/
Meanings, explanations, examples, pronunciation of words.
 

Learning styles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles
A reading text about learning styles.
 

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
A learning style quiz.
 

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/
Information which will help you determine your learning style.
 

http://www.ldpride.net/learning_style.html
A questionnaire with feedback which will help you determine the type of learner you are.
 

Games and fun activities

http://www.ohiou.edu/linguistics/esl/webquest/index.html
A series of webquests which you can complete in groups.
 

http://www.gunnar.cc/quotes.html
Some interesting quotes on a variety of topics.
 

http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?sectionType=listsummary&catid=59817
A selection of free, fun games to practise simple areas of English grammar.