Using lateral thinking in teaching English

Abstract

Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term "Lateral Thinking" was developed by Edward De Bono. According to him lateral thinking involves looking at a situation or a problem from a unique or unexpected point of view, it deliberately distances itself from standard perceptions of creativity as either "vertical logic" (the classic method for problem solving, working out the solution step-by-step from the given data) or "horizontal" imagination (having thousands ideas but being unconcerned with the detailed implementation of them).