This guide suggests resources and strategies for research on TESOL.

Background Information  |  Facts & Figures  |  Find Articles  |  Find Books  |  Organizations  |  Web Resources 

Background Information (Overview Sources)

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading.

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (R 418.003 En198)
The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course (428.007 C33g)
One Child, Two Languages: A Guide for Preschool Educators of Children Learning English as a Second Language (372.6521044 T1149o)
Teaching English as a Second Language: A Resource Guide (428.007016 C231t)

Use dictionaries, statistical works, atlases, handbooks and similar works to find and check facts about topics, people, or events.

The American Heritage Thesaurus for Learners of English (R 428.1 L49a)
The Australian Oxford Dictionary
The Cambridge Guide to English Usage (R 423.1 P44235c)
The Cassell Dictionary of Slang ( R 427 G8235c)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary
The Facts on File Visual Dictionary (R 423.1 C81f)
Longman Dictionary of English Idioms ( R 423.1 L863)
Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (R 423 M118l)
The New Oxford American Dictionary
NTC's Dictionary of American English Pronunciation (R 421.54 Si39n)
NTC's Thesaurus of Everyday American English (R 423.1 B462n)
The Oxford American Thesaurus of Current English (R 423.1 Ox22)
The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style
The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms
Prentice Hall Encyclopedic Dictionary of English Usage (R 428.003 M272e2)
Random House Webster's Dictionary of American English (R 423 R1598)
Visual English Dictionary
Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (R 428.003 W399)
Webster's New World Guide to Current American Usage (R 428.00973 R158w)

Search indexes, abstracts, and databases to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  For a complete list of Kent Library's online indexes and databases, see the Find: articles page (http://library.semo.edu/find/articles.asp).

To find historical/source materials, use the following print sources:

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900+
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Humanities Index, 1974+
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
New York Times Index, 1851+
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

To find recent articles and scholarly/peer-reviewed articles use the following online databases:

Academic Search Premier
ERIC
MLA
Project Muse
ProQuest Research Library
Wilson OmniFile

Use the Kent Library Catalog (http://library.semo.edu/find/books.shtml) to find books, periodicals (journals, magazines, & newspapers), videos, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.
Subject heading searches use Library of Congress subject headings. Printed volumes of these headings are located near the Reference Desk on the main floor.

Bilingualism
English Language -- Study and teaching
Language arts
Language transfer
Multilingualism
Psycholinguistics
Second Language Acquisition
Sociolinguistics

Browse the shelves by call number.  Use the Dewey Decimal chart (http://library.semo.edu/learn/guides/dewey100.shtml) to get you in the right subject areas or try the following:

370   Education
410   Linguistics
422   English etymology
423   English dictionaries
425   English grammar
427   English language variations
428   Standard English usage

Professional organizations and/or societies often provide very useful topic related information.

The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL)
   (http://www.iatefl.org)
MidAmerica Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
   (http://www.MidTesol.org)
NAFSA:  Association of International Educators
   (http://www.nafsa.org)
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
   (http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp)

Dave's ESL Cafe
   (http://www.eslcafe.com)
English Club
   (http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm)
ESL Gold
   (http://www.eslgold.com)
ESL Lessons, Games, Ideas, and Links
   (http://members.aol.com/Jakajk/ESLLessons.html)
ESL Monkeys
   (http://www.eslmonkeys.com)
Interesting Things for ESL Students
   (http://www.manythings.org)
The Internet TESL Journal
   (http://iteslj.org)
Language Learning and Technology
   (http://llt.msu.edu)
Lesson Plans and Resources for ESL Teachers
   (http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslindex.html)
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
   (http://www.merriam-webster.com)
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
   (http://www.esl-lab.com)
TEFL.Net
   (http://www.tefl.net)
TESL-EJ
   (http://tesl-ej.org/ej44/toc.html)
The Tower of English
   (http://towerofenglish.com) 

For a list of Web searching tools, see the Find: web resources page (http://library.semo.edu/find/webpages.html).