Fooling Around in the Classroom?
Does humour detract from the quality of teaching and learning? I would say that joking in the classroom is a high risk activity for educators. It depends on the quality – and quantity – of the humour, as well as its timing. Personally, on the rare occasions that I do use humour, I relate jokes to the subject matter I am teaching, and the first joke I tell in any class usually receives a positive reaction from students. Beginning with the second or third witticism (if there is one), students’ reactions vary. Alarm bells seem to start ringing for the paranoid in the audience. Yet while some appear uneasy, others may start imitating the humour in an effort to reciprocate.
Psychologist Ted Powers has written on the usefulness of humour in both teaching and assessment, citing Boughman’s famous statement, “One of the greatest sins in teaching is to be boring”. Powers’ definition of humour is a broad one, including any event that elicits laughter: “It is not limited to jokes or humorous stories but can include props, puns, short stories, anecdotes, riddles, or cartoons. It can be anything that creates a positive feeling in students and makes them smile and laugh.” He refers to studies that have shown the benefits of occasional appropriate humour: increased attention and focus, a more liberal atmosphere, helping with class management, better retention of information, and reduction of anxiety on a test or quiz ("Engaging Students With Humor"). Similarly, Melissa Wanzer’s “Use of Humor in the Classroom” discusses research on the benefits and challenges of using humour.
Retired linguist and humour specialist Don Nilsen advises caution regarding the timing of humour, which could be counterproductive when students are under stress, such as before exams or when major projects are due. Additionally, he warns against the use of sarcasm ("Humor Studies: An Interview with Don Nilsen"). However, he and his wife Alleen are great advocates of humour, having started a conference about it in the 1980s, which was always held on April Fools’ Day weekends. They published a journal and wrote books on the subject, including an encyclopedia of American humour ("Twenty Five Years of Developing a Community of Humor Scholars"). Don Nilsen also gave undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistic humour and language play. He illustrated language devices such as chiasmus (the use of criss-cross structures) through funny examples, as in a bumper sticker that read “Marijuana is not a question of ‘Hi, how are you’ but of ‘How high are you?’”.
The field of humour studies is a well-established one now. Take a look at the International Society for Humor Studies, for example. You’ll see a journal, conferences, seminars and workshops, and resources galore.
Humour, then, may be more serious than you think! Language teachers, especially, should try some language play every now and then to lighten up their material. While this may be a challenging activity, it may be quite rewarding.
Posted by May Mikati on 24 March 2012, 10:14 PM
Does humour detract from the quality of teaching and learning? I would say that joking in the classroom is a high risk activity for educators. It depends on the quality – and quantity – of the humour, as well as its timing. Personally, on the rare occasions that I do use humour, I relate jokes to the subject matter I am teaching, and the first joke I tell in any class usually receives a positive reaction from students. Beginning with the second or third witticism (if there is one), students’ reactions vary. Alarm bells seem to start ringing for the paranoid in the audience. Yet while some appear uneasy, others may start imitating the humour in an effort to reciprocate.
Psychologist Ted Powers has written on the usefulness of humour in both teaching and assessment, citing Boughman’s famous statement, “One of the greatest sins in teaching is to be boring”. Powers’ definition of humour is a broad one, including any event that elicits laughter: “It is not limited to jokes or humorous stories but can include props, puns, short stories, anecdotes, riddles, or cartoons. It can be anything that creates a positive feeling in students and makes them smile and laugh.” He refers to studies that have shown the benefits of occasional appropriate humour: increased attention and focus, a more liberal atmosphere, helping with class management, better retention of information, and reduction of anxiety on a test or quiz ("Engaging Students With Humor"). Similarly, Melissa Wanzer’s “Use of Humor in the Classroom” discusses research on the benefits and challenges of using humour.
Retired linguist and humour specialist Don Nilsen advises caution regarding the timing of humour, which could be counterproductive when students are under stress, such as before exams or when major projects are due. Additionally, he warns against the use of sarcasm ("Humor Studies: An Interview with Don Nilsen"). However, he and his wife Alleen are great advocates of humour, having started a conference about it in the 1980s, which was always held on April Fools’ Day weekends. They published a journal and wrote books on the subject, including an encyclopedia of American humour ("Twenty Five Years of Developing a Community of Humor Scholars"). Don Nilsen also gave undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistic humour and language play. He illustrated language devices such as chiasmus (the use of criss-cross structures) through funny examples, as in a bumper sticker that read “Marijuana is not a question of ‘Hi, how are you’ but of ‘How high are you?’”.
The field of humour studies is a well-established one now. Take a look at the International Society for Humor Studies, for example. You’ll see a journal, conferences, seminars and workshops, and resources galore.
Humour, then, may be more serious than you think! Language teachers, especially, should try some language play every now and then to lighten up their material. While this may be a challenging activity, it may be quite rewarding.
Posted by May Mikati on 24 March 2012, 10:14 PM
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