We are delighted to announce that four of our titles have made it to the shortlist for the English-Speaking Union’s English Language Awards 2014!

The Oxford Online Skills Program has been shortlisted for the ESU President’s Award which celebrates and encourages the widespread use of technology in the teaching and learning of English. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English, Focus on Content-Based Language Teaching and International Express have been shortlisted for the HRH The Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Awards, which recognise the best book published each year in the field of English language teaching and learning.

The Oxford Online Skills Program supports and develops Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing skills online using a sequence of media-rich activities, enhanced with video, animated presentations, interactive info-graphics and striking photography, to engage students. The judges commented, “The Oxford Online Skills Program contains high quality content for students, across a range of different topics. This resource is easy to use, including the function of tracking student progress”.  The program is an ideal companion to any Adult English course, and gives students plenty of support to study independently, including cultural glossaries, automatic marking and instant feedback.  Teachers can use the management tools to communicate with students outside class, and monitor progress.

The judges were also impressed by the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English, which they described as providing “clear and useful information for students both in the classroom environment and as a reference text for essay writing”.  Focusing exclusively on Academic English, this dictionary is specifically designed for learners studying, or preparing to study academic subjects on English-medium university courses. Based on the 85-million-word Oxford Corpus of Academic English, it provides all the tools students need to develop their academic writing skills.

Focus on Content-Based Language Teaching, written by well-known language educator and applied linguist, Patsy Lightbown, is described by the judges as “an innovative resource” which “gives a clear representation of ideas in an increasingly important sector of the ELT market”. Following on from the success of How Languages are Learned (now in its fourth edition), it is the flagship title in a new series which bridges the gap between research and classroom practice.

The all new, five-level International Express is specifically designed for adult professionals who need English for life and work.  The judges commented that the course “displays sound practice in the field of English Language Teaching”, and praised it for its “interesting texts” and “good amount of digital content”.  This new third edition retains the popular student-centred approach and strong communicative focus of earlier editions, while adding a range of new features.

We are obviously thrilled with this news and looking forward to the announcement of the winners in December.