Humor strategies in the foreign language class

ABSTRACT

Humor can provide a multitude of benefits for language learners, including improvement of classroom atmosphere (Dewaele et al. 2018) and a reduction of anxiety (Tarone 2000). Moreover, the integration of humor into language lessons has been strongly endorsed by both students and instructors (Askildson 2005; Azizinezhad and Hashemi 2011). What is less clear is which types of humor strategies are seen to be most effective, as well as the degree to which learner characteristics affect their responses to humor. This study examines the influence of L2 proficiency, foreign language enjoyment (FLE), and attitudes about humor language learning on L2 learners’ (N = 243) reactions to a variety of humor strategies used in the language classroom. Regression analysis revealed that proficiency had little bearing on learner preferences, whereas FLE, and especially attitude towards in-class humor, had a much greater influence on preferred strategies. Overall, spontaneous humor, memes and cartoons were the most strongly endorsed strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Humor strategies
• foreign language education
• foreign language enjoyment
• foreign language proficiency
• humor in language learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Neff

Peter Neff, Ed.D., is a Professor in the Faculty of Global Communications at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. He has lived and worked across Japan for the past 20 years, and his research interests include intercultural communication, second language writing, and study abroad.

Jean-Marc Dewaele

Jean-Marc Dewaele is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism. He has published widely on individual differences in psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, psychological and emotional variables in Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism and the European Second Language Association. He is General Editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.