Textbooks for ESL students in Japan: Vocabulary & Grammar Edition

It is often said that in language study, “how much” you do is more important than “which” materials you choose. Please use this as a reference to find truly “good” study materials that you can stick with for a long time!

It is not that popular materials are “good” because they are popular, but that materials that suit you and that you can “keep doing for a long time” are truly “good” materials.

Useful textbooks for ESL students in Japan 

These books will help students improve their scores on the TOEIC language exam.

These textbooks were selected from a survey of adults 20 years old and over, who improved their TOEIC scores by 100 points or more.

1st Place DUO 3.0

2nd Place New TOEIC Test: English Grammar from the Beginning to the End

3rd Place　Official TOEIC Listening & Reading Training Listening Edition

Since the survey focused on the TOEIC test, naturally there were many TOEIC-related materials, but we were surprised to see DUO 3.0 in first place.

DUO 3.0 is a vocabulary book that allows students to learn important words and phrases from example sentences.　

It is also very popular among university students.

Popular (featured) vocabulary books are

「中学英単語でいきなり英会話」English Conversation with Junior High School Vocabulary

「アルクのキクタンシリーズ」ALC’s Kikutan series

「百式英単語 最速インプット」Hyakushiki Eikou Eikoumonogatari Saimoku Input (Hyakushiki English Vocabulary: The Fastest Input)

Recommended books for learning English grammar basics.

「中学3年分の英語が3週間で身につく音読」

Reading aloud is a good way to learn grammar while training your mouth and ears.

「Mr. Evine’s Drills for Completing Junior High School English Grammar」

If you have some basic knowledge of English grammar, you can use

English Grammar in Use

Japanese Edition of Murphy’s Cambridge English Grammar

these books are highly recommended!

English Grammar in Use is a great way to learn grammar in a different way.

You may get an a-ha moment for things in the Japanese grammar explanations with how things are explained in the book.

If you do it right, I think you’ll be on top of your English grammar game!

If you are just starting out on your learning Journey, read about the advantages of Adults learning English.