Resources for Language Enthusiasts
By Viktoria Shabanova, manager at the Academic Writing Center. She graduated from Russian State University for the Humanities with a degree in Foreign (British) Philology.
Lost in resources? No wonder. Do you know how many people are searching for useful tools and websites to help them in learning languages? According to Yandex’s Wordstat, there are about 4,000 “websites for learning English” requests a month!
You’re lucky; the AWC has been selecting resources that will be definitely helpful both for academic writing purposes and for the pleasure of learning English. The AWC site update will bring to you a voluminous list of different sites, apps, online articles, and more. Go to the Resources section. Most of the resources are free; some require free registration. For the ease of navigation, we’ve divided the page with online resources into topics: you will find 15 topic-based sections from checking your language level to electronic glossaries.
Writing help
The largest part of our list of resources is focused on Research and Writing. One of them is Tom March’s website. It can help you create a strong basis for your future writing paper. You can formulate your topic and thesis of the text, using numerous clues and supporting questions on this website. There are such instruments as Thesis Builder, Topic-o-Rama, and Causinator — if you are ready to start writing, these tools will become your indispensable helpers.
Proofreading tools
We’ve also collected several instruments that can help you improve the quality of your writing. One of them is Grammica, a modern tool that uses an advanced machine-learning algorithm to identify grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax errors in your writing. This and other grammar checkers are in the section called Grammar and Vocabulary. If you are looking for tools that can make your paper not only grammatically correct, but also legible and well thought-out — welcome to this section!
Listening
If you are an auditory learner, then you should visit the section Audio and Video Resources. We have gathered the best audio resources for your language practice, one of which is ESL-LAB. There are lots of quizzes focused on mastering listening comprehension skills. For your convenience, the resources are divided into three levels based on content, voices, vocabulary, and natural speed.
E-books
We’ve brought together plenty of e-libraries, dictionaries, and media sources for you. For example, you can check this digital library. This website provides access to over three million free e-books. The catalog is constantly enriched and updated. You can find this collection and plenty of other vast media catalogs in Reading Resources.
Useful applications
If you think that the best way of learning languages is speaking with natives, we’ve selected some apps to help you, like Yask — a quick and free tool for your Android or iOS gadget. Yask is a community of people from all over the world who learn languages or who need them in their daily lives. Find this and other tools in the section Tools, Games, and Task Generators.
That was just a tiny bit of carefully selected resource abundance for work and fun. All in all, there are 15 topic-based sections on the Useful Links page. We do hope that you will find what you really need for comfortable and exciting learning. Have a great link to share? Write to us, we’ll include it in the list.
