OER Catalog

This open textbook is intended for beginning students of Arabic in their first semester.  This OER is unique in its presentation of Arabic language content through theme-based modules. Each theme is addressed through vocabulary, grammar, reading, speaking, and writing components. Each chapter includes self-check embedded quizzes that help learners digest language concepts. The book is also designed with teachers in mind. Each chapter includes pair work and group tasks that the teacher can implement in class and other parts that can be assigned as homework. The focus of the book is to build literacy in Standard Arabic structure in a simplified and sequenced approach while emphasizing speaking skills. By the end of this course, students will be well prepared for building their competence in a sequenced and organized manner in the following parts of this series.

Foundations of Neuroscience is aimed at undergraduate students new to the field of neuroscience. The first edition specifically targets students enrolled in Neurobiology at Michigan State University and primarily contains topics covered in that course. For example, only three sensory systems are discussed in this version of the text. Future editions will continue to expand the number of topics and concepts presented.

This OER is unique in its presentation of neuroscience content. The text is divided into short, easily digestible chapters that focus on one concept. Pairing the text with images, animations, and videos provides students with multiple ways of learning the content. The text is written with the undergraduate student that is new to neuroscience in mind. Neuroscience terminology is introduced in an easy-to-understand manner, and supporting content is clear and concise to minimize cognitive load not associated with understanding new material

Each chapter ends with an interactive quiz for student self-evaluation of the content. Quiz questions provide feedback, so students can self-check their understanding at the end of each concept and receive immediate feedback about their learning.

Basic Vietnamese is written by Tung Hoang at Michigan State University. This is a comprehensive, interactive textbook designed for true novice and low-novice learners of the Vietnamese language. The book aims to help students achieve Novice high or Intermediate low proficiency according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards. With 15 chapters and nine pronunciation sections, this resource covers essential grammar structures, practical vocabulary, and cultural insights.

Each chapter in the book follows a consistent pattern, featuring conversations, useful vocabulary, grammar structures, culture notes (when applicable), and further practice exercises. The book introduces phonetics in the first part, across nine separate sections. Specific learning outcomes are provided for each chapter, focusing on communication goals. Interactive activities and multimedia materials, compiled and designed with the help of native speakers, ensure authenticity and engaging learning experiences.

Drawing from a combination of pedagogical approaches, Basic Vietnamese encourages both inductive and deductive learning, allowing students to grasp language concepts through context and analysis. The book emphasizes the development of all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), fostering well-rounded proficiency.

The book comprises a total of nine chapters. Every chapter is equipped with explicit learning objectives, grammatical concepts, and cultural annotations. Additionally, every chapter includes dedicated sections for listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar, which are then followed by interactive activities. Cultural insights and a selection of online resources pertaining to the chapter’s theme are presented. At the conclusion of each chapter, there is a chapter summary that includes a list of functional expressions and a grammar summary. Additionally, there is a further practice section that offers exercises and activities for students to continue practicing the target language or the chapter’s topic.
Each chapter is structured to include three modes of communication (interpretative, interpersonal, and presentation mode) for each of the four skills, or three stages of teaching reading/listening: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. The acquisition of vocabulary in reading and listening occurs through engaging in conversations that include English translations, allowing learners to deduce the meaning within the provided context. H5P has been utilised to create learning activities that provide learners with prompt and constructive feedback.

Basic Tibetan is a first-of-its-kind, multimedia interactive online textbook designed for learners of Tibetan in higher education. Learners are encouraged to listen, repeat, and internalize the sounds of Tibetan through audio recordings. To support vocabulary and sentence structure acquisition, the book offers a wide range of interactive exercises, making learning both effective and enjoyable.

Advanced Vietnamese is designed for students at the Intermediate mid to High levels, language enthusiasts, and anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of Vietnamese language and culture. Immerse yourself in the richness of the Vietnamese language by exploring both the Northern and Southern dialects. This dual-dialect approach mirrors the media representation and presence of Vietnamese in various contexts, providing you with a holistic understanding of the language as it is spoken and used in real-life situations.

Basic Tamil is an online, interactive, and tech-enhanced textbook that promotes speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural skills. Each Chapter in this book has clearly stated learning outcomes, relevant grammatical items, and cultural notes. Each chapter is designed to teach the vocabulary needed as a building bloc as the student progresses to the next chapter. The pedagogical approach in the book is mixed and informed by the socio-cultural approaches and the generative approaches of the Second Language Acquisition theory. The mixed theoretical backgrounds match diverse learning and teaching philosophies and styles. Following the learning outcomes guided by American Council of Teaching Foreign Language (ACTFL), this textbook aims for the novice learners to attain intermediate low to mid-level proficiency level. The textbook incorporates pictures, audio-visual materials, and activities developed on the H5P platform to keep learners engaged.

This book is a modest effort to make your learning process in Telugu a practically viable experience. Though it’s great fun to learn Telugu, learning script might take a while as it contains secondary symbols and double consonants. We tried our best to make this process a simpler one. As we follow the standard Telugu patterns in planning this book, the learners who get an opportunity to visit Andhra should be aware of various dialects, slangs and colloquial practices. You should be able to transfer your knowledge of the standard Telugu to the real–life contexts accordingly.

In response to the lack of advanced Indonesian instructional materials, our lessons aim to elevate learners’ language skills to an advanced-mid to advanced-high level, aligning with ACTFL proficiency guidelines. The lessons in this textbook address the dearth of advanced Indonesian language resources by delving into current topics and events related to gender, lifestyle, human rights, environment, economy, and language preservation. We utilize authentic materials sourced from online newspapers, editorials, blogs, vlogs, journals, and YouTube, ensuring that learners engage with real-world language contexts.

This theme based, interactive, open-source online textbook is designed for beginning level learners of Bangla language. By using this book, a learner will learn Bangla vowel and consonant sounds and letters, basic grammar of the language, important vocabulary, useful expressions, and—most importantly—communicative skill.