Integration of the humour approach with student’s engagement in teaching and learning sessions

ABSTRACT

Literature reveals that the inclusion of humour in lecture sessions has been accepted differently, especially by adult learners. Previous studies reported that humour was associated with students’ engagement, while some studies reported that humour interrupted learning sessions and distracted students’ attention from learning. Consequently, this survey was conducted to investigate the perception of students towards humour and its connection to students’ engagement in learning. A total of 109 undergraduate students completed a questionnaire comprising two major constructs, namely students’ perception towards humour and students’ engagement in learning. Data were descriptively analysed and the results show that students had a positive perception towards humour and there was a strong relationship between students’ perceptions and the engagement of students in learning. It is suggested that teachers should understand the nature of humour and apply suitable and relevant types of humour during their teaching sessions.

KEYWORDS:

• Humour
• classroom engagement
• teaching and learning; perception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.