Top 10 Online English Courses for Beginners

When you first start learning English, you may be tempted to use all the free resources available to you, including YouTube, language learning videos, and apps . However, it can be difficult to find everything you need using only these resources. Want to improve your English with a structured program? One of the courses below will fit your needs.

1. Preply

Knowing the theory of the English language is not enough. You need to practice it regularly. Otherwise, what you learn will have been of no use.

That’s why, at Preply, we created this course based on your English level, which is available when you connect with an online English teacher . Preply allows you to have one-on-one interaction with a teacher, but you can also join group English classes . And the best part is that you’ll be practicing speaking throughout the entire course, right from the very first lesson! You can also use quizzes to practice in your free time, either to prepare before your lesson or to test your knowledge afterward.

2. Coursera

Coursera is a world-renowned online learning platform, where you can learn through video courses, quizzes, and self-paced projects. Coursera offers a very wide range of courses in different disciplines, such as business, data science, and health and nutrition. However, they only offer two specialized courses for beginners in English

3. Udemy: Intensive Spoken English Course

Compared to Coursera, Udemy offers a large number of English courses for beginners. Their most popular course is English for Beginners: Intensive Spoken English.

No prior knowledge of English is required to start courses on Udemy. All you need is 4 hours per week of undisturbed English speaking time, a laptop, a phone, and headphones so you can hear the pronunciation clearly. The great thing about these courses is that you can start practicing your speaking skills from the very first lesson. Keep in mind, though, that you will be relying entirely on recordings for the entire course. This means you won’t have live feedback from an English teacher . Although they do require a fee, most Udemy courses are affordable, and their website often offers special deals for new learners.

4. Alison

As one of the world’s leading free online learning platforms, Alison offers a wide variety of English courses. There are many English courses focused on different topics or industries, including tourism and journalism. There are also general business courses for beginners, with free self-study exercises such as quizzes and recordings.

5. edX

edX is an online education platform backed by leading US institutions like Harvard, Berkeley, and MIT. These courses are free, but you have to pay up to $149 to get a certificate proving that you’ve completed one.

6. MOOEC (Massive Open Online English Course)

MOOEC is a website entirely dedicated to useful resources for ESL learners, with free online English courses from universities around the world. You can choose from course materials that cover all the different skills of the English language: speaking, reading, writing and listening.

7. BBC Learn English

Their study resources and course materials are all updated with new exercises, quizzes, and challenges added almost every day. One of the best features is that you can learn new vocabulary from the latest news, including the US election . There is plenty of content to improve your grammar and listening skills available. This content is completely open access, so there is no need to create an account or pay anything. But, keep in mind that the information provided is quite limited and while it is a useful resource, you may need a more in-depth course to develop your skills.

8. Future Learn

Future Learn offers a few English courses for beginners, including courses that can help you prepare for the IELTS test . The course materials are modern and well-structured, with a mix of videos, quizzes, articles and weekly exams to track your progress.

For the first five weeks, this course is completely free. After that, you are required to upgrade to a higher level for $59, which includes full access to the course and a certificate of completion to show your progress in beginner English.

9. Perfectly Spoken

Perfectly Spoken courses are created by IELTS and Cambridge English exam specialists. With their in-depth knowledge of the exams, these specialists know what it takes to create useful course materials for English beginners!

10. ESOL Courses

The courses offered by ESOL Courses are quite similar to MOOEC. They contain various free course materials on each of the language skills. A large number of vocabulary lists, games and quizzes are available to suit all language levels .

The course content is easy to use and the word-picture matching games are very simple (perhaps too simple for intermediate learners). The course material teaches you new vocabulary specific to certain situations, such as communicating personal information or polite expressions in English.