Keith S. Folse, Professor of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the UCF Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, published two books in September, bringing his total number of published books to 78.
Enseñar con Zoom: Una Guía para Principiantes, from Wayzgoose Press, is the Spanish version of a previously-published book called Teaching with Zoom: A Guide for Complete Beginners. Folse says this publication challenged him to translate and publish a book that is understood similarly by Spanish speakers in Spain, Latin America, Mexico, and more.
“One of the biggest challenges of producing a Spanish translation is the selection of words that are appropriate in not only Spain but also in Latin America,” says Folse. “Lexical items can vary tremendously between any two Spanish-speaking areas, let alone multiple countries, so a particular word may mean one thing in Mexico, another in Colombia, something completely different in Spain, and yet nothing in Peru or Argentina.”
Available only on Amazon Kindle, Teaching Vocabulary is the Writing Teacher’s Job: Why and How was published with the University of Michigan Press in late September. This work discusses relevant research on the teaching and learning of vocabulary in a second language, arguably one of the most important components in mastering a new language, according to Folse.
“When addressing language challenges, most writing teachers and courses focus on grammar,” says Folse. “However, this book explains how vocabulary is a much larger component of successful writing and therefore should be addressed explicitly and frequently in our writing courses.”
Folse has taught English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language for 40 years in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kuwait and Japan. His 78 books cover research on vocabulary, reading, speaking, writing, grammar, and listening, including the popular Keys to Teaching Grammar (University of Michigan Press) and Great Writingseries (National Geographic Learning). He has won many teaching and research awards. Folse teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses at UCF, including a course on research on vocabulary acquisition in UCF’s PhD in TESOL program.