Customer Reviews

Provoking Thought: Memory and Thinking in ELT

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I am very happy to have run across this book! After many years of teaching languages and researching language acquisition, I've finally found a single volume that integrates key principles of language development and practical classroom activities. Great work! The book is arranged into five sections - thinking, memory, creativity, critical thinking, organizing - each with a crisp review of some of the relevant research in the area (appropriately acknowledging sources and suggesting extra reading) and a section of author-tested activities (about 20 distinct activities per section!), all easily adaptable to different ages, backgrounds, teaching contexts. Although I have encountered much of the research Hall sites and have used or seen many of these activities he presents, what impresses me is how clear and intuitive his approach is. Language acquisition requires lots spoken input, as well as "negotiation of meaning" (actively working out what other people are thinking and saying), "pushed output" (being compelled to express ideas and forms that you may not initially be comfortable expressing), "relearning" (revisiting partially learned content and making new connections), and "noticing the gap" (figuring out what you need to know before you can complete your idea or understand what someone else means). Provoking Thought provides concrete resources for doing ALL these things - and having a great time teaching actively. I'm sure students of all ages and backgrounds will benefit from their teachers using Hall Houston's book.

Provoking Thought: Memory and Thinking in ELT may become an ESL and EFL classic. Remember the title.

Dividened into five major sections (Thinking, Memory, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Organizing Ideas on Paper), this systematic book demonstrates how to engage students and create a far more creative, dynamic English classroom. Filled with practical lesson plans and revealing interviews, this powerful teacher's resource inspired revisions to my course curriculum to include new exercises, and modify old classics.

Hall Houston, a prolific ESL/EFL writer and English teacher in Taiwan, has assembled an impressive amount of material in this inspiring book. Part journalism, part teacher resource, and part philosophy, this original and reflective ELT textbook will "provoke thought" on how we teach English for both experienced and novice instructors.

One minor criticism: the book would have benefited from including several reproducible lessons that the author so vividly describes, saving time and encouraging more classroom applications of these creative exercises that cajole students into thinking in English.
Bottomline: This is my favorite ELT book of 2009 - by far!

Houston`s work is a valueble guide for teachers wishing to deepen their perspectives on cognitive processes in the classroom. Full of practical knowledge based on a life time`s experience in teaching. A must -read for any aspirant teacher embarking on an overseas career.

This book is a very useful tool for esl teachers. It is full of fun and practical methods for engaging esl students. It's obvious that the author is an actual teacher and knows what is needed when facing the classroom each day.

When I originally acquired my copy of Provoking Thought, I was interested in it mainly as a way to expand my knowledge base of teaching techniques in the ELT classroom, but after reading it, I was impressed by the fact that the principles and techniques it teaches are not just limited to ELT. Drawing on fields such as Cognitive Psychology, Provoking Thought shows instructors a myriad of ways to `get inside your students head', improve their understanding, increase their retention and memory, and get them to better express themselves- all things that can apply to any realm of teaching- but are especially important in the language learning environment where students don't have the luxury of communicating, and/or even thinking in their own language.

Additionally, the book does not just show the teacher the principles of `Provoking Thought' but backs them up with proven and easy to understand lesson plans that apply them from Hall's own classroom. An informative read for not just ELT instructors, but other kinds of teachers as well.