So, you’re looking for a good Business English book to buy, but you’re not sure which one to pick. I get it. There are so many to choose from that makes the task more difficult than it should be. And, I’m sure you don’t want to spend half your day researching all the books out there and reading the descriptions. What you really want, is all the most recommended books in one place, with the opinion from a business English teacher who actually uses these books. Therefore, I’ve made this post to show you (in my honest opinion) the best Business English books to buy.
Whether you’re a fellow English teacher looking to add some fresh materials to your collection, or an English learner who’s looking for a book to suit your specific needs, this post will help guide you to the right book for your situation. Or at least, it will hopefully point you in the right direction.
About me
I’m Jon Williams, Owner of Native 1, and I run a private English teaching business here in Mikołów, Poland. In my more than 15 years of teaching, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching in language schools, my private practice, the local University of Economics in Katowice, and in a number of local businesses (both big and small). And over these past 15 years, I’ve built up a collection of books, materials, and resources I use for teaching. With this post, I’m going to share some of my knowledge with you, so you can make an informed decision.
I’ve divided this post into sections, looking at some of the best business English books by series, then toward the end of the post by business English topics for special purposes. With that said, I hope you find what you’re looking for, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.
This post contains affiliate links.
I have curated the list of resources for you all in one place along with my experienced and honest opinion. The links will take you to these books on Amazon, and if you decide to buy one, I would get a small commission on the transaction.
Best Business English Books for 1-to-1 Teaching
When I first started out teaching English, I remember teaching mostly groups in a language school here in Poland. Over time however, the market has changed and trended towards one-to-one teaching. That’s why this group is first in my list.
The Business One-to-One series is one of my first choices when working with individual adult students.
There are only three books in the series: Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Advanced.
The Layout
The first thing you’ll notice about these books is how short the units are. Each unit is 2 pages long. The layout includes the following:
- Lead-in
- Case-Study (Listening-oriented)
- Follow-up Vocabulary Activity (most of the time but not always)
- Speaking Activity
- Writing Assignment
What I like
I absolutely love the cases in this book, they are just excellent tools to expose a student to the target language. As an English teacher, I’ve noticed that many teachers skip over the listening parts which I think is a real missed opportunity. I feel that in order to improve your speaking, you have to put listening at the center of your program.
I also like the writing assignments, as they make for great homework assignments once you have covered all the source material.
Finally, the units are organized differently to most Business English books. Since each unit is so short, you can think of them as micro-topics to a broader section of the book. Each book has 6 or 7 sections (broader topics), while the units make up sub-topics. For example, there might be a Meetings and Presentations Section with 7 units covering the different aspects of a presentation.
What Could be Better
Most books are organized by topics, which center around a set of target vocabulary and grammar. While these books contain the business skills vocabulary (presenting, finance, meetings, etc.) and grammar explanations, they lack vocabulary and grammar exercises.
Recommendation
If you get this/these books, you’re going to need a good vocabulary builder and a grammar exercise book to supplement.
This book will build listening, speaking, and writing, but it works more as a guide book.
Furthermore, these books are out of print so if you’re interested in getting any of these titles, you might have to search around. I’ve added links to find them on Amazon, but the availability might be out of stock.
Best Business English Books for Case Studies
I came across the upper-intermediate book in the Business Advantage Series first and the first few units really made a great impression on me. Now, I have the intermediate book as well, and I’m looking to fill out the set with the advanced book. I tend to use these books when I’m teaching executives and at university.
Layout
Each book has 14 modules divided into 3 parts (i.e., 1.1, 1.2, 1.3). Part 1 is the lead-in and usually has some great speaking topics to get the discussion going; It’s accompanied by a Business View which either contains some listening activity (an interview usually) or a text to read and discuss.
Part 2 is Case-oriented, which can be great when teaching at a university. You read and discuss the case, focus on the target grammar used in the case-study, then there’s an output – some kind of group work product for your students to accomplish.
Part 3 is more focused on business skills like networking, presenting, negotiating, etc.
Finally, after every second module, there is an additional case-study connected with those 2 modules which can be found on the course DVD, while the worksheets can be found online or in the teacher’s book. That means you get a total of 21 case studies to work with!
What I Like
I find the Theory (lead-ins) to be highly useful for speaking lessons or as an introduction to a topic. As a private teacher, I tend to mix and match materials and the theory units often make for a great speaking lead-in to a topic.
Additionally, the case-studies are designed more for group work. Therefore, when I’m teaching my university groups, I like to base those sessions around a Business English Case. Most Business English book series finish each unit with a case study that’s designed to round up and use some of your newly acquired vocabulary and grammar to discuss the case. That’s why those series’ end each unit with a case. Whereas the BA series, the case itself is the center of the lesson, and you derive the target vocabulary and grammar from the case study itself. This is quite similar to the Business One-to-One series, except for whom the books target.
The Business One-to-One’s cases are more for individual students, whereas the Business Advantage books are more for groups.
What could be better
I find it annoying that the audio cd’s have to be bought separately. If the core of the book includes audio, you shouldn’t have to buy the audio separately. It should either come with the multi-rom or be downloadable on the website
Recommendation
I find it annoying that the audio cd’s have to be bought separately. If the core of the book includes audio, you shouldn’t have to buy the audio separately. It should either come with the multi-rom or be downloadable on the website.
Best All-Around Business English Books
The very first Business English book I’d worked with was the Market Leader Intermediate book (first edition) and to this day I still use exercises from that book (15 years later). It’s a fantastic all-around book as it contains a little of everything. The units are topic-oriented such as Companies, Ideas, Stress, Performance, etc., so you or your students will have real life issues to discuss as part of the target language (i.e., not only Business Skills vocabulary).
Layout
The book is laid out with a Starter and Vocabulary section that’s usually great for speaking activities and discussion. This is followed by a Reading and then a Listening section. The reading section usually follows on from the Vocabulary, while the Listening usually ties into the Grammar section that follows it.
When you’re planning your lessons, try to organize in such a way that the Listening leads-into the Grammar.
After that, there a Skills section usually centered around additional listening activities, with a set of useful phrases accompanying the material. And finally, each unit is punctuated by a case study.
What I like
Firstly, the organization and completeness of the units makes this a great book to run with individuals or groups. Additionally, you do not need to supplement much with this book, as it contains exercises of all the target vocabulary, grammar, and business skills.
Furthermore, the multi-rom is complete. The dvd aspect functions with visual interviews and role-plays of the Listening and Skills sections, whereas in the cd aspect, you can search out the audio files and burn them to your computer as mp3s, meaning you don’t have to go out and buy an audio cd. While you cannot play the audio files directly in the dvd function, you can find them on the disc and burn them to a digital format for your own use across your devices.
What Could be Better
As the expression goes, the Market Leader series is the jack-of-all trades in business English books. However, when you’re good at everything, you’re also specialist at nothing. Each unit really introduces you to the target vocabulary and grammar, but there aren’t enough exercises to go around. If you do one or two exercises in class, there’s really not much to do in giving out homework.
This is where the workbooks (Practice Files) come in. If you have a complementary set in of Coursebook + Practice File, you are ready to learn or teach without too much of a need for any other supplementary materials.
Recommendation
Buy the book with the multi-rom and the practice file together for each level you want in your collection. I have personally done courses with the Elementary and Pre-Intermediate from start to finish. I would buy complete sets of Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, and Intermediate. For higher levels, it’s good to have these, but there are other books I’d recommend for Advanced level groups.
Best Business English Supplemental Books
As an English teacher, I don’t normally spend good money on workbooks. I would only really buy a workbook for a book I know I’m going to use a lot, and if I liked the exercises in the workbook that complement the main book.
Layout
The units in the Market Leader Practice Files follow the coursebooks, but with one important difference. The book is divided into 2 sections – Language Work and Talk Business. All of the Language Work Section goes from unit to unit covering the vocabulary and grammar and make for great homework activities. Additionally, you find writing practice exercises and output prompts. This is one of the things I think is missing in the coursebook where the writing activities are only as a follow-up to the case study. The writing activities in the workbook are much more practical and aimed at developing the writing skills.
After all 12 of the Language Work units, the book resets with another 12 Talk Business units. These units focus more on phonics and pronunciation and provide additional listening practice to follow up the Skills Section from the main coursebook’s unit.
What I Like
I bought this collection mainly because of the writing development sections. Also, it’s good to have this books for extra exercises to the main coursebook. Finally, not many books focus on pronunciation or phonics as much as this one does, so it’s good to have a resource you can go to in order to work on a student’s pronunciation.
What could be better
The low cost to high benefit of this book series’ strengths means there aren’t any downsides to getting these books.
Recommendation
Buy each one and familiarize yourself with the writing exercises. Not only can these practice files help you supplement the Market Leader coursebook series, but they can also supplement other books as well – especially the writing and business skills.
Best Business English Books to Improve Listening
The Business Result series is one I have used with more advanced classes, and I have specifically used the Advanced book from start to finish on more than one occasion. I’m a big believer in the idea that in order to improve your speaking, you need inputs. Those inputs are reading and listening to source materials. Most books try to find a balance between reading and listening, whereas this book series leans more towards the listening skills.
Layout
The book is laid out with a Starting Point which is great for getting the discussion started; then it’s followed by a vocabulary section – Working with Words. This Working with Words section combines a starter text, some vocabulary follow-up from the text, then a listening activity that further builds the vocabulary, finishing with speaking output activities to put the new vocabulary to practice.
The second section is the Business Communication Skills. This section is centered around a business skill where you study a tele-conference, meeting, presentation, etc. Again, the focus of this section is listening, processing the language, and finished with a speaking output activity.
The third section is the grammar section – Language at Work. The grammar examples are taken directly from the previous section (the Business Communication Skills).
Then there is a Practically Speaking section which teaches useful everyday language like small talk, conversations, telephoning, etc. And like all the other sections, you probably guessed that it’s based on a listening activity.
Finally, there’s the case study. These are sometimes divided into two parts where you are given a company profile to study and discuss, then a problem to solve. Sometimes, that problem-solving activity is based on the company profile you’d just studied, or based on a similar case with a related problem.
What I like
I really like the layout of this book, n that the Lead-ins are quite comprehensive with a text and listening. I also like the natural English focus on vocabulary and expressions, as your students will learn lots of great business idioms. The grammar section is excellent because it draws from live use of English from the Business Skills section. And while you only get one page of grammar exercises, at the back of the book there is a practice file which you could use for quick tests/quizzes, or as a built-in workbook.
Another thing I like about the design is it can also be cut into shorter units for workshops. You can combine the Business Skills + Grammar Section + Case Study for a more intensive, faster-paced course.
What could be better
Where this book series really shines is in its ability to teach listening and speaking skills, which is what most students want. However, due to its heavy focus on those skills, it lacks in writing activities and practice.
If you want a more complete experience with writing development, you should supplement this book with additional materials.
Recommendation
When a student tells me their highest priority is speaking, I choose this book series. If I notice there listening abilities need more work, I choose this book series. However, if you want to buy this book, make sure you have a good book to practice writing.
Best Business English Grammar Book
I only really use one when it comes to teaching Business English Grammar – Grammar for Business.
Layout
The book is organized into Presentation, Practice, a very short Make It Personal output section, and an Extension Unit which is focused on either Business Talk (using the grammar in speaking situations) or Business Writing.
The Units are typical of a grammar-only book. You start from the Present Tenses, then Past Tenses, Future, Conditionals, and so on.
What I like
With these books, you don’t build a course around these exercises, they are more meant to supplement. Therefore, I like the collection of exercises, because you can typically find one or two that exposes the grammar in a way that you like.
I also like the Extension units as they often make for great homework activities.
Furthermore, this book has extension exercises in the form of a test section after every 4 units, plus a speaking strategies section before the test. I will often use these exercises from the Speaking Strategies as a follow-up to a Business Skills section from another book.
Finally, you get a CD with this book so you can do listening activities to check the answers rather than read them out yourself.
what Could Be Better
There aren’t too many weaknesses with this grammar book. It’s quite comprehensive.
Recommendation
Buy this book and use it to supplement with additional exercises, writing, and spoken grammar. I especially pair exercises from this book to the Business One-to-One series.
Best Business English Vocabulary Books
The Business English Vocabulary in Use series is quite a flexible book in that it can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used as stand-alone lessons, as vocabulary supplements to other books (Business One-to-One), or for self-study.
The Layout
The books are organized into 66 2-page units. The units are mostly thematic, meaning these units can be used as standalone lessons with some being better than others. The last 20 units are more skills-oriented focusing on writing, telephoning, negotiating, etc.
The left page of the unit is the target vocabulary, whereas the right page of the unit has roundup exercises.
What I like
Sometimes, the left-page presentation starts with spoken English in quotation marks with the target language embedded in the quoted text. These activities make for great speaking lead-in lessons when you want to build your own lessons from multiple sources.
Recommendation
There are 3 levels of this book: Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Advanced along with some variations like the Professional English in Use. But really, you only really need two – Intermediate and Advanced.
Any student at elementary or pre-intermediate level will probably be better served with the Pre-Intermediate Vocabulary in Use book instead as general English will be more beneficial.
Best Business English Writing Books
We live in an age where writing is one of the more underrated skills. Many of my students admit to me that when they write emails and other such business correspondence, they cheat and use a translator. Just as bad, they use grammarly or Microsoft Word’s spellchecker. What do I have against these methods for writing as a non-native Business English practitioner, it de-stresses the importance of knowing and understanding how to accurately use English, and to think in English. Afterall, in business, “time is money,” isn’t it?
So, writing is then a forgotten art. However, in my lessons I still stress the importance of writing and I have a few books I use that helps me do this.
When it comes to giving out writing exercises, the better books are the Business One-to-One series, the Market-Leader Practice Files for specific types of document (CV, Report, etc.), the Business Vocabulary in Use books, and Grammar for Business.
Yet, when it comes to teaching Business writing that’s a different story altogether. There are two books I would recommend and I’ll just tell you a bit about who they are for.
English for Emails
This book is what I call a “workshop” book, meaning you could use it for a short workshop style course to develop a student’s or group’s email writing ability. It is also an exercise book in that it is loaded with targeted grammar activities to reach accurate, grammatically correct outcomes.
Collins English for Business: Writing
If you ask me, this book simply teaches you to write (the lost art). The beginning of this book is outstanding in my opinion, as it focuses on teaching sentence structure and how to get a structurally sound sentence. English grammar is so much more than tenses.
We native speakers typically learn grammar this way first, focusing on sentence parts of speech and structure before we think about perfecting the tenses.
Therefore, this book is for anyone who wants to improve their writing skill, not just clean up certain areas of their writing.
Layout Comparison
English for Emails
The book is organized into 6 units. There’s a starter activity which engages the learner on the aspect of emails and can be used as a speaking activity. Then, there is a series of exercises that target structure, phrases, and grammar. The exercises lead to the Output which is listening-based and can also be used for speaking activities. This means that the book comes with a CD-rom. Finally, at the end of the unit, there is a You’ve Got Mail role-card activity for 2-student practice. Of course, if your lessons are one-to-one, the teacher can play one of the roles. This activity acts as your writing output for that unit.
Collins English for Business: Writing
The Collins English for Business: Writing simply teaches you how to write with a particular focus on business documents and correspondence.
It’s divided into 2 parts: Effective Writing and Efficient Writing
In the effective writing part, it starts with a focus on the types of sentences there are in English, and how they are structured. You learn this with a focus on the specific document types such as: emails, reports, and meeting minutes.
The second part focuses on efficiency. When I was learning to write academically at UCLA, my teachers stressed the 4-Cs of writing: Be Clear, Complete, Concise, and Correct. This book embodies that motto, and that’s why it’s a recommended part of my collection.
What I Like about each One
English for Emails
When you’re learning/teaching the present perfect on Action and Deadlines, this book has an excellent unit on that. I think the book generally does a good job of exercising the most relevant grammar aspects of email writing.
Collins English for Business: Writing
Apart from the fact that it’s a writing book that actually teaches writing (as opposed to exercising it), it’s appendixes in the back are a goldmine of phrases, linking words, reported speech patterns, and sample documents of each type.
Recommendation
I’ve got both of these books in my collection and I can recommend them both, but for different reasons.
Buy the English for Emails book for Pre-Intermediate students who need to clean up the grammar in their emails.
But the Collins English for Business: Writing to teach your students (and maybe even yourself) the forgotten art of writing.
Looking for General English Course Books?
Look no further. Check out my review of some of the best English course book series on the market. I cover their layouts, their strengths, who they are for, and more!
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