"The common-core knowledge in this series is the next big step for ELT to take in the 21st century."

"Extremely well-planned and constructed and very impressive."

"At last a course that truly prepares students for IELTS by developing the necessary skills from the pre-intermediate level."

"Skills in English has formed the backbone of our 2008 Intensive English Course and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a skills-based course with an academic focus."

"I would thoroughly recommend this series to any centre running academic English courses."

"We have finally found a textbook which caters for international students at tertiary level."

"A very useful addition to the EAP tutor toolkit, which has received positive feedback from students too."

"Attractively presented, with interesting topics and a number of language tasks which engage the students' interest and enhance the four language skills."

"The topics are very interesting because they reflect today's world and what surrounds our students."

"Very appropriate for mixed-ability groups having different degrees of confidence in their English abilities."

"We are now using this series very successfully."

"The Skills in English Listening books fill a big gap in the market."

"The single most useful tool you could buy, if you are going to invest in a resource for embedding ESOL into a mainstream Science or other study curriculum, or is you are resourcing a Language Support provision."

"The topics and tasks are appropriate for all learners and the course is preparing them well for future university study."

"This is a listening skills course for students in tertiary education that aims to build up students' vocabulary and listening ability so that they can cope with lectures in English. The materials consist of a Course Book, Teacher's Book, CDs (or Cassettes) and a Test Pack, all available separately. Each level in the Skills in English series is organized into ten themes, ranging from education through science and nature to business, psychology and health. This common thematic organization allows for simultaneous use of, say, writing and listening skills materials, even if the materials are on different levels. The thematic units in the listening series are divided into four parts, each with a different skills focus: (1) core vocabulary, (2) listening practice, (3) new listening skills and (4) applying new skills. Thus there is a principled build-up of knowledge and ability with appropriate practice. The topics chosen are attractive. For example, in the unit on economics, business, students listen to parts of a lecture recounting findings in motivation and needs research. Or in the unit on health, they hear a talk on food safety. The accompanying activities are well planned, and the listening mini-skills chosen for practice are useful ones. Unlike most course materials, the Teacher's Book for Skills in English: Listening is longer than the Course Book. That is because it advises teachers on the set-up of each activity as well as providing an answer key, methodological and cultural notes and tapescripts. The CEF level of Skills in English: Listening is not C1, as indicated on the cover, but something more like B1/B2 (upper-intermediate), which is what the publisher's catalogue suggests. The chief reason for this classification is the audio material, which is mostly in the form of lectures. Lecturing is clearly the most important genre for an academic listening course. However, the lectures in these materials are not authentic, being merely high-quality recordings of actors or teachers with a variety of British accents reading lecture scripts slowly and clearly. Consequently, there are no false starts, no half-finished sentences, no 10-clause utterances, no changes of pace, which are all characteristics of real lectures that sometimes make them difficult to understand. I cannot therefore imagine that Swiss university students, who are generally beyond level B2, would find the listening activities challenging. Overall, this is a well-conceived academic listening package that provides a great many listening opportunities for students and substantial didactic support for teachers. Considering its wide range of interesting topics, it might prove popular in academic-track upper secondary schools, where students are preparing for university life. Swiss university students, on the other hand, need practice in coping with the 'messier' aspects of speech in impromptu lectures."