I've been reviewing various grammar websites for the CWRL Pedagogy group, and I've discovered that English Club offers a very useful site for ESL students struggling with grammar issues an instructor may not have time to address in class.

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/index.htm

The web contains numerous sites directed at ESL students, but English Club’s page is one of the most comprehensive and complete. It provides clear and correct information in a straight-forward, easily accessible manner to students at various stages of English mastery.

Some ESL students may seek online help because they have already identified an area of weakness in their writing. Those students who already know the topic they need to address can find links to articles about that particular grammatical concept at the top of the page. After reading the relevant articles, students can then test their comprehension by taking one of the many, clearly-labeled self quizzes at the bottom of the page. The presence of multiple quizzes enables students to take more than one, ensuring that they have truly mastered the concept. If they find the quizzes difficult or confusing, however, the site has more help to offer.

A message board called The Grammar Help Desk allows students to post short questions about grammar or usage, questions that can be general or very specific. A teacher named Alan answers these questions, clearly, succinctly, and correctly. The posts remain on the message board and accessible to the public for some time, allowing students too timid to post to seek help in Alan’s responses to others.

Not every ESL student looks for help with English with a particular weakness in mind, however, and this site can help such people, too. If students have only a vague idea of their weaknesses, they can simply quiz themselves first, then move on to the lessons on concepts on which they did not quiz well. The site would also help students to realize when they need more help than they can get from a computer. A student asking Alan multiple questions about every assignment, for instance, might find a visit to the writing center or a conversation with the instructor more valuable uses of his or her time.

Drawbacks:

The site would probably not be helpful to students attempting to understand an instructor’s comments about their grammar mistakes throughout an essay. The questions posted to the Grammar Help Desk are generally brief.