Discover a wealth of open educational resources (OER) tailored for Asian language studies. These open digital textbooks, which include videos, images, course modules, lectures, quizzes, and more, are copyright-free or licensed for free use, adaptation, and distribution. By leveraging these materials, educators and students can access high-quality educational content without the financial burden of traditional textbooks.
OERs are designed to make education more affordable, accessible, inclusive, and equitable. They allow for the free, online dissemination of learning content, software tools, and digital curricula, adhering to the principles of retaining, reusing, revising, remixing, and redistributing (the 5Rs). This approach is supported by UNESCO (2002)'s definition of OER as resources available for non-commercial use and adaptation by a community of users.
The benefits of OER textbooks are manifold. They eliminate the cost of textbooks, align with the proficiency levels of language learners, and incorporate diverse pedagogical methods suitable for both heritage and non-heritage learners. These materials are interactive and multimedia-rich, fostering an engaging and equitable learning environment for digital natives.
The listed OER language textbooks were created with support from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI and International Research Studies (IRS) grants administered by the MSU Asian Studies Center (ASN) in collaboration with the MSU Libraries, MSU Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures (LiLaC), and MSU International Business Center (CIBER). Some of these books were also supported by partners including the University of Michigan's Center for Southeast Asian Studies (U-M CSEAS), the University of Hawaii's Center for Southeast Asian Studies (UH-Manoa CSEAS), and American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS). These digital language textbooks are open and freely accessible for educators to adapt and adopt, ensuring that they meet the diverse needs of their students and course objectives.