Transcript Is Learning Languages Fun? Perceptions of Humor in the

INCORPORATING HUMOR AS PART OF PEDAGOGY IN
FOREIGN LANGUAGE MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS
Manuela Wagner, Mary Yakimowski and Eduardo Urios-Aparisi
University of Connecticut
AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION 2012
All cartoons by Alejandro Yegros
(http://alejandroyegros.com)
Humor in the
World Language Classroom
Can create a more relaxed classroom
atmosphere
Humor as content to be acquired
Humor as an “instrument for cultural and
social transmission” (Alexander 1997:7); sociolinguistic characteristics of the target culture
(e.g., Gumperz and Hymes 1972, Davies 2003)
 Multidisplinary approach
How do we understand humor?
• One common characteristic of humor in most
theories: the presence of incongruity
(discrepancy between what is said/written and
what is implied)
• In an even wider sense, humor as
“playfulness” or the contrary to seriousness
(cf. Achakis and Tsakona, 2005)
Teachers’ use of humor has
been linked to…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Teaching effectiveness (Bryant, Comiskey, Crane, and
Zillman, 1980; Norton and Nussbaum, 1980)
Student learning (e.g., Gorham and Christophel, 1990)
Creating an enjoyable classroom environment
(Neuliep, 1991)
Lower student anxiety (Long, 1983) and higher student
motivation (Gorham and Christophel, 1992)
More positive evaluations of teachers by students
(e.g., Bryant, Comisky, Crane, and Zillmann, 1980,
Neuliep, 1991)
Enhanced teacher immediacy in the classroom (e.g.
Gorham and Christophel, 1990; Mehrabian, 1981;
Neuliep, 1991, Plax, Kearney, McCroskey, and
Richmond, 1986)
A personal example of
humor
• A personal example of humor… from my
mother in her hospital bed just two weeks ago
…humor used under a stressful situation
• By the way … this presentation is dedicated to
my mom who just passed away.
Objectives
• Design / implement an instrument that measures
“humor and student attitude” in a foreign language
middle school classroom.
• Assess / study the effects of humor pedagogy. More
specifically, study the link between the perception of
humor and the level of willingness to participate in the
foreign language classroom.
• Explore any differences between girls and boys and
between German and Spanish classes observed.
• Interpret the findings and present their implications
Research Questions
1) Is there a relationship between use of humor in a
foreign language class and comfort in the foreign
language classroom?
2) Does the use of humor in the foreign language
classroom increase students’ willingness to
participate?
3) Are there any interactions in the students’
perceived humor between girls and boys and
between German and Spanish classes observed?
Research Design
• Mixed-methods design
• Quantitative (humor survey, Wagner and
Urios-Aparisi, 2008)
• Qualitative component (coding of videos,
coding scheme, Wagner and Urios-Aparisi,
2011)
(Videos of three beginning Spanish and German class
periods at three different times during the school year, one
period could not be recorded, total of 17 videos)
Survey
Participants
Methods cont’d
• Files were transcribed using CHILDES
(MacWhinney 2000).
• Each instance of humor was coded.
• Students completed a survey containing
questions related to their attitude towards
learning the target language and to their
teacher’s use of humor at the beginning of the
semester and the end of the semester.
Results: PCA of Humor Rating Scale
Reliability Analyses of Humor Rating Scale
Factor Scores by Overall and by
Gender and Language
MANOVA
Gender, Language, G*L for all three factors
Comfort level in the classroom and Teacher’s
openness and enthusiasm are influenced by
the combination effects of gender, language,
and their interaction
Girls were more comfortable in the classroom in Spanish
class, while boys felt more comfortable in German class.
German teachers were perceived as more dynamic and
enthusiastic than Spanish ones.
Direct humor is not influenced by the combination effects;
girls perceived more positively direct humor than boys
Sample of Frequency of Humor Instances:
Comparison MS and HE
File
min
Teacher
Student
Stud. group
Unin-tended
Spanish 1
44:30
2
4
13
0
Spanish 2
48:30
0
3
5
2
Spanish 3
48:03
2
0
4
0
German 1
25:36
0
0
2
5
German 2
30:52
2
5
19
0
German 3
23:24
0
3
2
4
HE Span
50:00
1
0
0
0
HE Span
50:00
11
3
2
1
HE Germ
50:00
1
5
2
1
HE Germ
50:00
14
20
3
1
Results: Description of Humor
• almost exclusively universal (Schmitz 2002)
• mostly fun activities but not necessarily
humorous in the stricter sense (play)
• many instances of in-group humor among
students
• very few instances of teacher-initiated humor
Comparison of MS and HE
• humor was not part of the content in MS data (and
not much at the elementary level in HE)
• MS: certain level of playfulness, exercises in form of
games, somewhat playful – humor not in the strict but
in the wider sense
• HE: greater variety of humor types (irony, funny
stories, funny comments, puns, teasing, hyperbole,
linguistic, cultural and universal types of humor), and
student- and teacher-initiated humor (Wagner and
Urios-Aparisi, 2007).
Discussion
• Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ use of humor
can be measured and related to their comfort level in
the foreign language class .
• The study sheds light on variations in intercultural and
gender aspects of the classroom setting but
particularly on the users’ perceptions of humor.
• The current study is an important first step toward
exploring the effects of humor in the foreign language
classroom in middle school by including students’
perception of their teachers’ use of humor and their
sense of comfort in class.
Topics of Future Investigations
• Identification of humor topics to be included in the
content of the class
• Teaching style: based on close connection between
student’s perception of humor and their motivation
and comfort in quantitative study
• Gender differences
• Importance of humor as a tool for class participation
• Comparative analysis of the use of in various settings