Noël Houck is associate professor in the English and Foreign Languages Department at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Southern California, with a dissertation on pragmatics, in 1984. Her research centers on cross-cultural pragmatics and discourse analysis, with a focus on microanalysis of classroom discourse. She has taught and conducted research in Brazil, Mexico, and Japan. Books include Interlanguage Refusals, with Susan Gass; Grammar Connection 4: Structure Through Content, with Sharon Hilles; Pragmatics – Teaching Speech Acts and Pragmatics – Teaching Natural Conversation, edited volumes with Donna Tatsuki.

Education
Ph.D., University of Southern California