imaocon Last updated: The 11 Best Resources for Advanced English Learners to Build Fluency
You’re already pretty advanced with English, but now you’re aiming for fluency.
To help you get there, I’ve rounded up my favorite resources from when I was at that stage of learning English.
These cover all of the core language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) so you can mix and match them to come up with your own study plan.
Contents
- 1. BBC Learning News Review
- 2. TED Talks
- 3. Daily Crossword at Dictionary.com
- 4. Go Correct
- 5. Accurate English
- 6. Hemingway
- 7. Readlang
- 8. ELSA Speak
- 9. Advanced Grammar in Use
- 10. English Learning for Curious Minds
- 11. Advanced Grammar and Punctuation Specialization in Coursera
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1. BBC Learning News Review
Best for: Picking up important vocabulary from recent news stories
Cost: Free.
If you like keeping track of the news, then you’ll enjoy listening to the News Review section of BBC Learning. They release 10-minute news stories every Tuesday, each focusing on the relevant issues of the week.
It’s very convenient for learning English because the hosts talk slowly and clearly—not like regular news reports where speech is rapid-fire.
You can download the transcript and audio for each episode. The top three key words and phrases are usually highlighted, and there’s also a multiple-choice quiz.
2. TED Talks
Best for: Listening to talks that cater to your interests
Cost: Free
Are you interested in relationship tips, street art, or technology trends? Whatever you’re curious about, there’s almost always a TED talk for that. TED talks are organized all over the world, and their tagline is “Ideas worth spreading.”
There are at least 3,800 talks available for free on the TED website—and most of them are in English. Each talk has transcripts and subtitles in more than 30 languages. You can click on any sentence in the transcript, and the video will automatically shift to that line.
3. Daily Crossword at Dictionary.com
Best for: Learning new words in a fun way
Cost: Free
Crossword puzzles are the ultimate, classic English word game, and you can get your daily dose for free at Dictionary.com.
Their crossword puzzle has two levels: regular and expert. I’d recommend regular because you can sneak a look at the right word or letter. Wrong letters also get highlighted in red. At the expert level, you’re completely on your own—no hints at all.
Aside from growing your vocabulary, you’ll also get pop culture tidbits since questions about movies, artists, and slang words often appear.
4. Go Correct
Best for: Getting one-on-one feedback on your writing
Cost: £6 for 3 days a week, £10 for 5 days
Receiving feedback when you write in English is insanely helpful. Go Correct makes this very easy by connecting you with an English teacher who’s a native speaker.
The teacher sends you a daily question either three or five days a week, depending on your subscription. You then have to type out a reply using 60 words or less. The teacher will check what you wrote and mark any corrections, complete with a quick explanation. There’s also a dashboard that logs your scores and your most common mistakes.
5. Accurate English
Best for: Understanding advanced expressions
Cost: Free
Most YouTube channels about learning English aren’t that specialized—you’ll find videos that cover all levels from beginner to advanced.
Accurate English is one of those rarer channels that only tackles advanced topics. In fact, the host specializes in accent reduction for Hollywood actors and professionals in Los Angeles.
There’s a new video around every week. Her approach is very practical because she often features clips of herself interviewing other people. Then she summarizes the words that were used and explains the nuances behind them.
6. Hemingway
Best for: Writing more clearly and concisely
Cost: Free online, $19.99 for desktop
Since you’ve reached advanced English, you’ve probably had some experience writing in English already. If you want to improve the style of your writing and not just the grammar, there’s a free online app for that: Hemingway.
Named after the writer Ernest Hemingway, it points out how you can simplify your writing. All you have to do is paste your text into the app, and it will highlight where your sentences are too long or complicated.
7. Readlang
Best for: instantly looking up words as you read
Cost: Free for 10 translations per day, $5/month for unlimited
One of the most time-consuming parts of reading in English is when you have to pause and look up new words in the dictionary. The reading experience can be a lot less difficult with Readlang, a Chrome extension that speeds up the whole process.
With Readlang, you can click on any English word online, and a translation will appear automatically above the word. This works for around 50 languages, so you’ll most likely find your native language there. The app even automatically saves the words you’ve clicked into flashcards.
8. ELSA Speak
Best for: Picking up American pronunciation
Cost: Free, with Pro at $11.99/month
If you already speak English pretty well but you want to develop a more standard American accent, then ELSA Speak is an app that’s worth looking into. Think of it as an AI-powered pronunciation coach on your phone.
You talk out loud to the app, and it points out where you can improve in terms of pronunciation and fluency. And it’s not just generic advice — the app highlights the exact sounds or syllables in your speech that sound different from native pronunciation.
9. Advanced Grammar in Use
Best for: Self-studying grammar
Cost: Check price on Amazon
This classic grammar book is recommended by a lot of English teachers and students. It’s the last book in a series, and it’s geared towards C1-C2 level English learners.
The grammar concepts are really tackled in depth. For example, you’ll learn how to tell the difference between “must” and “have to,” and the book also delves into every single verb tense in English.
What I like about this book is the emphasis on practice. Each grammar concept is explained in one page, followed by a series of exercises that include short reading passages and fill-in-the-blank questions.
10. English Learning for Curious Minds
Best for: Learning about interesting topics while practicing your English
Cost: €15 / month
With its focus on weird history and eccentric characters, English Learning for Curious Minds is one of the most interesting English podcasts you can listen to. This podcast shines a spotlight on a variety of cool topics including banned books, the greatest art theft ever, and the quest for immortality.
Aside from transcripts, you can see subtitles flashing across the screen for each episode. Advanced phrases are highlighted in the transcripts, with their meaning defined above, and subscribers can access a list of important vocabulary.
11. Advanced Grammar and Punctuation Specialization in Coursera
Best for: Learning to create more complex sentences
Cost: Free
Texting a friend casually in English is easy enough, but writing academic papers or business reports will force you to use more complex sentences and vocabulary. To get some practice with this, you can turn to Coursera’s Advanced Grammar and Punctuation Specialization.
This is a series of four online courses that take at least 20 hours each to complete. The courses cover topics such as passive sentences, adverb clauses, and conditionals. For the last course, you have to write two scripts about the grammar topics and make them into videos. It’ll be hard to forget the grammar you learned after doing that!
As an advanced English learner, you actually have the most options in terms of English resources and native material. The more you improve, the more your world widens. Instead of focusing on verb tenses and basic phrases, you can jump straight into creative podcasts and well-loved novels.
Sometimes all of the material out there can be overwhelming—and that’s where this list comes in handy. Depending on your goals and learning style, these advanced resources can be a part of your toolkit as you reach greater heights in English.