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Academic English resources

Resources for building academic English: vocabulary lists, writing guidance, reading and listening practice, and corpus tools for getting collocations right.

Optimized for English (Academic) · Learners building academic reading and writing fluency.

Showing 8 resources

Academic Word List (AWL)

intermediate

The 570 word families that recur across all academic disciplines, organized into ten sublists; the core vocabulary target for academic English.

Academic vocabularyFreeWord listOngoing

Academic Phrasebank (University of Manchester)

intermediate

A free bank of academic functional phrases for defining, comparing, hedging, and concluding; invaluable for sounding like academic prose.

Writing & styleFreePhrase bankOngoing reference
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Purdue OWL

beginner

Comprehensive free guidance on academic writing, grammar, and citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago); the standard reference for written conventions.

Writing & styleFreeWebsiteOngoing reference
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Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Williams)

advanced

The definitive guide to clear academic prose: cutting nominalizations, foregrounding actors, and writing reader-responsible sentences.

Writing & styleBook6-8 hours

TED Talks with transcripts

intermediate

Watch with subtitles then without to train academic listening and absorb stress and connected speech; transcripts let you mine vocabulary and shadow.

Reading & listeningFreeVideo & transcripts15-20 minutes/talk
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BBC Learning English

intermediate

Free graded listening, vocabulary, and grammar lessons aimed at intermediate-to-advanced learners building academic and professional English.

Reading & listeningFreeLessons & audio15 minutes/day
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Cambridge Dictionary

beginner

Strong on collocations, register labels, and example sentences, so you learn not just a word's meaning but how academic writers actually pair it.

Reference & corpusFreeOnline dictionaryOngoing reference
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Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)

advanced

Search real usage to verify whether a collocation or phrasing is natural before committing to it; the antidote to grammatically-correct-but-odd writing.

Reference & corpusFreeCorpus toolOngoing reference
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Academic English resources
Focus target: English (Academic)
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