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Humor in Pedagogy: How Ha-ha can Lead to Aha!

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Several studies have examined the pedagogical implications and cautions concerning the use of humor in teaching. Humor has been associated with a host of positive physiological and psychological effects. Researchers have identified that educators who use humor in their instruction are more positively rated by their peers and their students; others have suggested that humor may enhance learning. Although much of this evidence has been anecdotal, the present study assesses the impact of curriculum-specific humor on retention and recall, as well as student evaluations of the course and the instructor. The appropriate use of humor in a classroom setting is discussed and cautions against tendentious humor are addressed.

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... Humor is a powerful communication tool with considerable pedagogical potential (Neff & Rucynski, 2021). Almost half a century of research has been dedicated to investigating how the instructional use of content-related humor influences students' learning and emotional outcomes, contributing to teaching and learning effectiveness (Banas et al., 2011;Bieg & Dresel, 2018;Daumiller et al., 2020;Garner, 2006;Wanzer et al., 2010). Specifically, content-related humor is linked to positive affect, increased student motivation, attention and learning (Banas et al., 2011;Bieg et al., 2017;Bieg & Dresel, 2018;Goodboy et al., 2015;Wanzer & Frymier, 1999;Wanzer et al., 2010). ...
... Humor allows teachers to engage students' attention owing to its entertainment value (Davis & Arend, 2013;Strick et al., 2010). In this regard, student-perceived content-related humor of teachers is positively associated with increased attention, motivation, interest, and confidence in the topic (Garner, 2006;Goodboy et al., 2015;Wanzer et al., 2010). Extending this further, researchers have found that a more relaxing learning environment resulting from humor helps to reduce anxiety and stress (Bieg et al., 2019(Bieg et al., , 2022Torok et al., 2004;Wellenzohn et al., 2018). ...
... Drawing on the above studies, we contend that student-perceived content-related humor of teachers as exhibited in their teaching style is positively associated with changes in students' learning competence (i.e. better understanding and recall) (Bieg et al., 2022(Bieg et al., , 2017Wanzer et al., 2010), personal attributes (i.e. higher motivation and confidence) Garner, 2006;Martin, 2007), and future behaviors (i.e. effective learning behaviors and helping other students) (Cooper et al., 2018;Wanzer & Frymier, 1999). ...
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Teachers' content-related humor is highly relevant for student outcomes in higher education (HE). Yet, teachers' use of different types of humor and frequency and other factors make generalizations about the effective use of humor on students' learning hard to establish. Specifically, little research attention has been paid to the impact of the use of a systematic humor pedagogical framework across different disciplines in HE. Here, we developed a standardized planned humor pedagogical framework, termed Planned Humor Incorporation System for Teaching and Learning Enhancement (PHISTLE), to systematically incorporate content-related humor into teaching practices to consistently generate beneficial learning outcomes across different disciplines. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, we investigated the impact of content-related humor as exhibited in the identification with teachers' teaching style on students' learning outcomes in the sciences, humanities and social sciences disciplines. Retrospective pre-post surveys were distributed and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain insights into the ways humor was used and their effects. Pearson correlation analysis of the surveys and thematic analysis of interview transcriptions indicate that content-related humor as exhibited in the teaching style was positively correlated to students' learning competence, personal attributes, and future behaviors, and may contribute to a more relaxed and stress-free classroom environment. Therefore, the strategic use of PHISTLE can likely generate positive learning outcomes in a replicable and generalizable manner.
... Teachers' humour (unspecified) can be a useful tool to grab students' attention (Minchew & Hopper, 2008), deal with situations (Gerouki, 2011), increase retention and recall (Garner, 2006), and enhance learning (McGhee, 2019) by creating a reflective learning space (Stengel, 2014). Furthermore, early years research supports humour (unspecified) as a pedagogical tool that can develop divergent thinking (Borgia & Owles, 2008). ...
... Educational experiences during adolescence are important because they have the potential to impact students' wellbeing (Sakyi et al., 2015) and achievement in higher education (Veldman et al., 2014). Yet, despite suggestions that humour could impact students' educational experiences (Garner, 2006;Wardman, 2021), there is still a lack of understanding of how humour could impact students aged 11-18. Although some research has focused on teachers' use of humour in adolescent classrooms (Bieg et al., 2017;Minchew & Hopper, 2008;St-Amand et al., 2024;Stengel, 2014;Tsukawaki et al., 2020), there is minimal empirical research of this age range compared with higher education and early years environments. ...
... The findings of this scoping review also support the existing literature on humour (unspecified) use on students' educational experiences, which report a mix of positive and negative outcomes, including benefits to learning (Garner, 2006) and the negative outcome of increased disruption (Kavandi & Kavandi, 2016;Seidman & Brown, 2013). This evidence of effects on students' educational experiences was extended by the findings of this scoping review as additional negative outcomes on students' educational experiences were highlighted, such as increased confusion and missing important information. ...
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Teachers frequently use humour, but it is unclear how this affects the academic experiences and psychosocial development of students. There is sparsity in the literature regarding the impact of teachers’ humour on adolescent students. Teachers and the use of humour in the classroom have the potential to foster healthy development of social and academic skills during this key formative stage of maturation, but equally may be detrimental. This scoping review aimed to determine how and why teachers used humour in the classrooms of students aged 11-18, and the effect humour may have on students’ educational experiences. The Joanna Briggs methodological framework and PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews checklist were used. The narrative synthesis generated six themes from 43 empirical papers. Many studies have considered humour as a single construct, reporting improved classroom management and students’ learning processes. However, other reports have suggested that humour use could lead to a loss of class control and for important information to be lost. Studies considering specific humour styles have identified affiliative humour as increasing engagement in deeper thinking. However, aggressive and course-related humour have reported mixed effects on educational experiences. This review identifies the humour styles and sub-styles reported in the sparse literature. It also highlights the lack of a comprehensive humour styles measure that adequately captures humour use and perceptions in teachers of adolescents and, importantly, how teachers’ humour is perceived by this population. Such a tool is vital to enable understanding of how teaching humour styles may directly affect adolescents’ educational experiences.
... Teachers who practice humor in the classroom are seen as more appreciated by students (Fortson & Brown, 1998). Even humor can reduce anxiety, tension, and stress, increase self-confidence and understanding, foster strong curiosity, improve self-motivation, and improve the quality of life of students (Garner 2006;Bakar & Amran 2020). Furthermore, students' personal problems that arise at school can be controlled by the implementation of humor in the classroom (Lovorn & Holaway, 2015). ...
... According to Nguyen (2014) and Şahin (2021), humor in education is seen as fostering critical and creative thinking. The achievement of any activity in the classroom, whether individually or in groups, increases even stable and happy emotions (Cohen 1996;Hamidin, 2015), as well as skills (Garner 2006). This supportive environment eventually has an impact on student mastery (Hassed 2001;Berk 2001). ...
... Researchers from other countries, such as Hassed (2001), Garner (2006), Nadeem (2012) have conducted studies on the use of humor in teaching languages from the perspective of its effectiveness and role. In Malaysia, however, studies on the use of humor in language instruction, particularly in relation to teaching Arabic, are still lacking and sparsely studied. ...
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The use of humor by teachers in classroom interactions can stimulate students and change their attitudes toward learning. The study aims to determine the level of humor applied among Arabic teachers (GBA) and students' speaking anxiety in the Arabic language class at the Government Aided Religious Secondary School (SABK) in Kerian, Perak, Malaysia. A total of 152 out of 258 fourth-form students were selected as a sample by stratified random sampling technique. The research instrument was a questionnaire that was adapted from the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz et al., 1986) and the Students' Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness Rating Scale (SETERS) (Toland & Ayala, 2005). The study found that the frequency of GBA humor practice was moderately low (M = 2.88, SP = 0.50). At the same time, the frequency of students' speaking anxiety in Arabic is relatively high (M = 3.12, SP = 0.74). Pearson's correlation test shows a significant relationship with weak negative strength (r = -.197, p =.000) between the frequency of GBA humor practice and the level of students' speaking anxiety in Arabic. In conclusion, although the frequency of GBA humor practices is medium-low, most GBA use cheerful humor practices compared to hostile ones. However, the method of GBA humor alone is not enough to reduce the frequency of students' speaking anxiety in Arabic. Therefore, every party, especially teachers, must significantly diversify other effective teaching practices in teaching Arabic to improve students' speaking skills.
... Earlier studies conducted by Baysac (2017), Banas, et al. (2011), Lems (2011), Skinner (2010), Garner (2006), James (2004), and many others have documented the positive pedagogical effects of humor at a variety of educational levels. ...
... February 2024 edition Vol. 20,No.4 www.eujournal.org ...
... Wanzer, et al. (2006), in line with the prior researchers by Bryant et al. (1980), Gorham and Christophel (1990), also asked students to recall and February 2024 edition Vol. 20 Wanzer's, et al. (2006) research by attempting to elicit instructors' and students' perceptions on appropriate types of humor that were employed and could be employed in EFL classes in a Lebanese university context. ...
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This paper focuses on scrutinizing the attitudes and opinions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors and learners on the use of humor in higher education in Lebanon as a pedagogical tool in classroom contexts. It is used in building a harmonious relationship between instructors and students, lowering affective barriers to learning, keeping students attentive to class activities, developing creativity and increasing instructional effectiveness as well as students’ learning. It also aims to describe the instructors’ experiences in employing it in their classrooms and to determine the students’ perspectives on its potent roles in learning. In this exploratory study, a mixed-method design and a convenient sampling of participants were utilized. A total of 13 EFL instructors, working at 1 public and 4 private universities in Lebanon, and 86 EFL students participated in the study. To describe and quantify their perceptions of the potent roles of employing humor in EFL classes, two online surveys of two sets of questions each, including closed-ended and open-ended, and four focus group discussions were administered. The overall qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data indicated that Lebanese EFL instructors and students have positive attitudes towards integrating humor as a pedagogical tool and as a fundamental part of the teaching strategies in EFL higher education classes. This is because it creates an open communication climate, captures students’ interest in the subject matter, boosts attention, reduces anxiety, makes the instructor more approachable, and yields better instructor evaluation. The findings of this study also revealed the need to train teachers to use humor artfully.
... Finally, we integrated the instructional humor processing theory (IHPT) (Wanzer et al., 2010) as a boundary condition in the relationship between loneliness, ASE, and student engagement. Using humor in teaching is one of the instructors' pedagogical abilities (Garner, 2006) to engage students creatively and produce effective interactions (Lei et al., 2010). Thus, we advance our knowledge by adding new empirical evidence to cover the role of humor in learning to minimize the negative effect of loneliness on ASE and increase its effect on student engagement. ...
... (Lei et al., 2010). Humor in learning is one of the instructors' pedagogical abilities (Garner, 2006) to engage students creatively and interestingly (Lei et al., 2010) in a university environment. The IHPT (Wanzer et al., 2010) is a theoretical foundation that explains how humor in classroom learning affects student learning. ...
... Moreover, the IHPT relies on students' perceptions (appropriateness) of the instructor's humor, which can positively or negatively affect their learning effectiveness. In contrast, humor does not directly influence learning but can create conditions for learning activities (Bains et al., 2015;Garner, 2006;Lujan & DiCarlo, 2016). ...
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This study investigated the impact of loneliness on academic self-efficacy (ASE) and student engagement in the context of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, as a boundary condition, we examined the role of intermediate ASE in the relationship between loneliness, student engagement, and perceived humor in learning. A total of 367 undergraduate students from six universities in Indonesia completed an online questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Macro Process version 4 to test the moderating mediation model hypothesis. As expected, the study results show that loneliness is negatively related to ASE and student engagement. ASE is proven to affect student engagement positively; concurrently, it plays an intermediate role in the link between loneliness and student engagement. Finally, humor had a significant moderating effect on learning in the tested model. This study contributes to the existing literature on loneliness and student engagement by uncovering the intermediate role of ASE. Drawing on the social cognitive theory (SCT) and instructional humor processing theory (IHTP), we explored how perceived humor in learning moderates the relationships between loneliness, ASE, and student engagement.
... In the academic exploration of humor in educational settings, various studies have investigated its impact and implications. Garner (2006) and Wanzer, Frymier, and Irwin (2010) have highlighted the beneficial effects of humor on student motivation and engagement, with Garner emphasizing the advantages of humor related to class material for enhancing lesson retention and enjoyment. Wanzer, Frymier, and Irwin further elaborate on humor's role in improving student-teacher relationships and the overall classroom climate, underscoring the importance of appropriate humor in cultivating a positive learning environment. ...
... The findings show that humor, particularly appropriate humor, plays a crucial role in the classroom, contributing to student engagement, reducing anxiety, and fostering a positive learning environment. The large proportion of humor directly related to class material (related humor) reinforces previous research by Garner (2006) and Wanzer et al. (2010), which emphasizes the pedagogical value of humor in enhancing comprehension and promoting student involvement. This type of humor serves as a tool to bridge complex concepts with more approachable, relatable content, reinforcing Ziv's (1988) argument that humor can improve retention and understanding. ...
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A pleasant environment is essential for student motivation and interaction, and effective classroom management plays a key role in this. Utilizing humor in teaching creates a more welcoming and humanistic classroom atmosphere, thereby improving the overall teaching-learning process. This study aims to identify the categories of humor employed by English teachers in the classroom. A qualitative descriptive method was used for the research. Six English class sessions were observed and recorded. The data for this study consisted of humor-containing utterances made by English teachers. The analysis classified teacher humor into two main categories: appropriate and inappropriate forms. Most of the humor used by teachers fell into the appropriate category, with the majority being related to the class material, followed by humor unrelated to the subject being taught. A small portion of inappropriate humor included self-deprecating humor, while another small portion was unintentional or unplanned. In contrast, inappropriate humor was rare and typically involved derogatory comments directed at others. These findings highlight that most of the humor used was lesson-related and aligned with pedagogical objectives, while inappropriate humor was infrequent. The results suggest that humor in the classroom is primarily used as a positive pedagogical tool, contributing to an engaging and supportive learning environment. Future research should explore the impact of different humor categories on student learning outcomes and classroom dynamics.
... We feel more relaxed, less defensive, and by laughing with someone, we experience a perceived social bond (Martin 2007). This may be exemplified in Garner's (2006) study, where University students watched lectures which either did or did not have humour involved. Compared to students in the non-humorous condition, students in the humorous condition had higher opinions of lecturers, felt the lecturers communicated more effectively, and rated the lecturers more positively (Garner 2006). ...
... This may be exemplified in Garner's (2006) study, where University students watched lectures which either did or did not have humour involved. Compared to students in the non-humorous condition, students in the humorous condition had higher opinions of lecturers, felt the lecturers communicated more effectively, and rated the lecturers more positively (Garner 2006). Billig (2005) elaborates that using humour and laughter can assist in teaching social norms and values. ...
... Истраживања о ефектима хумора су бројна (Ziv 1979;Cornett 1986;Korobkin 1988;Gorhamand Christophel 1990;Herbert 1991;Fisher 1998;Berk 2002;Torok, McMorris et al 2004;Garner 2006;Morrison 2007;Jeder 2015), а предности његове употребе могле би се свести на четири најважније: мотивисаност ученика, квалитет односа наставник-ученик, атмосфера у учионици и трајност усвојеног знања. Међутим, хумор се и даље мало користи на часовима српског језика и књижевности. ...
... То је ствар личног приступа, интуиције, потребе, а не обавезујуће одредбе или професионалног оспособљавања. Треба ипак имати на уму да се ученици лакше присећају градива ако је хумор повезан са садржајем (Garner 2006), јер се у опуштенијој атмосфери наставни садржаји много лакше усвајају. ,,Учење уз хумор је перцептивно дубље и доживљајно снажније" (Сузић 1995: 354). ...
... It also allows for closer cultural and emotional ties between students and teachers, reflecting the educators' ability to bring the topics closer to the students, and can serve to remove social barriers and generate a sense of group feeling (Booth-Butterfield et al., 2007;Hoad et al., 2018). In short, humorous content achieves better results in a learning paradigm than non-humorous material (Garner, 2006;Sambrani et al., 2014). ...
... However, some research has found that certain types of educational humour can also have negative consequences . In addition, methodological and conceptual discrepancies in educational humour research have hindered clear conclusions about how humour works inside the classroom (Banas et al., 2011;Garner, 2006). ...
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This article is an exploratory analysis of the use of humour in Environmental Education, from the perspective of 10 Spanish specialists and educators. Research is carried out using a qualitative methodology through semistructured interviews and a focus group of specialists. The results point to a positive perception of the use of humour and the need for flexibility on the part of the educator to adapt to the particularities of the group and the topics addressed. The differences of opinion lie in the limitations in the use of humour as well as in the recommendations made by the specialists participating in the study, which, given their background, can be considered relevant to the use of humour for environmental education in the Spanish context.
... There is no consensus on whether comedy enhances or obstructs classroom learning, though the topic has long been studied (see Banas, Dunbar, Rodriguez & Liu, 2011). On one hand, several studies suggest the positive outcomes for students whose instructors use comedy can include deeper learning, increased retention, and increased student enjoyment of course material (Bingham & Hernandez, 2009;Garner, 2006;Wanzer et al., 2010). ...
... Using popular media in class can help students apply sociological thinking to everyday life (Platts, 2019;Stout et al., 2020). Instructors who effectively use comedy can also create a more comfortable learning environment, and students are more likely to engage with these instructors outside of class time (Appleby, 2018;Garner, 2006). ...
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This pilot study analyzes student responses to two political cartoons which satirize racism in varying national contexts. Eight moderated focus groups viewed political cartoons then shared reactions via survey and discussion. We found that participants responded negatively to a French cartoon which they perceived endorsed racist attitudes. Participants had more positive responses to an American cartoon which they perceived to “punch up” at the racial hierarchy. A third, unanticipated set of findings relates to participants' spontaneous feedback that though they welcomed the use of popular comedy in teaching, political cartoons felt less engaging than other media formats. This left us with a new question to explore in a future second phase of our project: How can instructors consider generational differences regarding media preferences when selecting popular comedy materials for use in classroom discussions of racism? We speculate that memes, rather than political cartoons, may provide a more effective springboard for discussion. We plan to incorporate memes in the second phase of this project, a cross‐national study regarding the use of popular comedy materials as springboards to classroom discussions about racism.
... Regarding the social component, studies have demonstrated a positive impact of humor in terms of students' perceptions of their teachers (e.g., Frymier et al., 2008;Garner, 2006), particularly their credibility (e.g., Houser et al., 2007;Wrench & Richmond, 2004), student-teacher interactions (e.g., Bieg & Dresel, 2018), and the classroom climate (e.g., Stuart & Rosenfeld, 1994;Tsukawaki et al., 2020). ...
... Several studies featuring more complex learning content have reported a positive effect of humor on learning performances. For example, students have been found to perform better following the addition of humor to verbal examples in a remote video-based statistics lecture (Garner, 2006), jokes and cartoons to face-to-face statistics and psychology courses (Ziv, 1988), and cartoons to a textbased methodology course (Piaw, 2012). Others, however, have failed to find any effect of humor on learning, whether the material consists of humorous verbal messages embedded in a communication course video (Houser et al., 2007), humorous videos incorporated into online courses (Anderson, 2011), or cartoons added to a psychology course (Özdo gru & McMorris, 2013). ...
Article
Although humor is frequently used in face‐to‐face courses and computer‐based training, there is no consensus in the literature on its effects on students' learning. The aim of the present study was therefore to assess the cognitive effects of adding humorous drawings in a computer‐based course on both learning outcomes and learning behaviors (eye movements). It was assumed that humorous drawings would improve learning through the active resolution of incongruity. To isolate this effect from those of the illustrations, a nonhumorous drawings condition was also compared with the text‐only condition. Eye‐movement data showed that humor increased visiting duration for the drawings. Learning outcomes were not affected by the nonhumorous drawings, whereas humor had a positive effect on comprehension, though not on retention. This effect of humor was not mediated by visiting time for the slides. Our results argue in favor of the use of content‐relevant cartoons to improve students' learning.
... It has been argued that humor reduces stress, increases attention and motivation, helps build relationships between students and teachers, and creates a positive learning environment (Garner 2006;Torok et al. 2010) ultimately impacting on learning. Humor is particularly recommended for content that is more tedious and challenging, for example, statistics (Kher et al. 1999), although this has not yet been empirically tested. ...
... Humor has been found to influence student perceptions of lecturers (Garner 2006). Students have been found to show a preference for lecturers using humor, particularly positive uses of humor, although, unexpectedly, sarcasm, normally seen as a negative form of humor, was perceived by some students as appropriate (Torok et al. 2010). ...
Article
Previous research has shown that humor can have an impact on people’s interpersonal relationships and the way they are perceived by others. In addition, it has been suggested that use of humor by teachers can be positive, but also negative. The aim of the research was to examine students’ perceptions of lecturers described as using different ‘humor styles.’ Using an online study, a sample of undergraduate students ( n = 201) were presented with one of 20 vignettes of a male or female lecturer using a particular style of humor (affiliative, aggressive, self-defeating, self-enhancing) or no humor, while they were teaching content described as ‘easy’ or ‘challenging.’ They responded to questions to assess: approachability of the lecturer, feelings of engagement, perceptions of the learning environment, and general perceptions of the lecturer. It was found that a lecturer using aggressive humor was perceived more negatively compared to when using the other humor styles, and that the adaptive styles of humor (particularly affiliative) had a positive impact on student perceptions, compared to when no humor was used. Self-defeating humor was perceived more positively compared to aggressive humor, but, unexpectedly, no differently to the other styles of humor. The findings will add to the growing literature on the use of humor in an educational context.
... By incorporating elements of enjoyment into language teaching, educators can help students develop the resilience and skills necessary to navigate the intricacies of language acquisition successfully. Researchers have identified that teachers who integrate humor in the teaching process are generally positively rated both by their colleagues and students (Garner, 2006). Dörnyei (2001) also considers humor as a motivational teaching practice and mentions the importance of integrating humor in teaching to establish an enjoyable classroom atmosphere. ...
... For this reason, Deneire (1995) warns that humor should be used with caution both in the class and other public contexts. Garner (2006) also states that the use of humor could be most effective when it is appropriate to the students, the topic, and the place. These discussions, of course, need to be based on research findings. ...
... Indeed, the literature on the utility of humour in teaching seems unequivocal. Laughter in the classroom acts to relieve stress and anxiety (Shibinski & Martin 2010), helps students retain information (Garner, 2006) and improves teacher-pupil relationships (Nesi, 2012) and students' enjoyment of the subject (Torok et al., 2004). Of specific importance here, the use of humour in the lecture theatre focuses student attention (Ulloth 2002) and helps students engage with the subject matter (Glenn, 2002). ...
... Students' narratives about teachers' assertiveness supported previous research, which found that students valued a respectful and a clearly structured learning environment (Klem & Connell, 2009). Furthermore, the present results confirm studies which found a positive association between teachers' perceived humor and students' learning (Garner, 2006;Wanzer &Frymer, 1999). In line with Raufelder's finding (2007), the current results provide evidence that students expect a good teacher to show empathy for their individual needs. ...
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This paper looks at the top students final year in their program for the last semester from the Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. There were seven-programme offered in the Faculty of Psychology and Education which is seven top students were served as a subject in this study. We present an exploratory multiple case studies of comprehending and categorising the learning styles of top students. The purposed of this study was conducted to find out and specify their learning and studying style that allowed them to achieve the high rank in their program. This research was used a rigorous multi-step approach for its qualitative methodology. In order to find out the top students' Universiti Malaysia Sabah learning style were preferred more than 10's learning styles model was used. As a base line in this research, there are six themes were used in this case studies, which is T1-Lecture, T2-Tutorial, T3-Individual Assignment, T4-Group Assignment, T5-Study Tactic and T6-Lecturer. Results indicated that the six themes of learning style preferences considered in the interview questions were positively preferred.
... Humor has also been deemed one of the most crucial characteristics of an effective teacher (e.g., Daumiller et al., 2020;Fortson & Brown, 1998). Students in a humor condition have been reported to have better communication with their instructors (Garner, 2006), and to perceive less stress in the classroom (Chiarello, 2010), than their non-humor condition counterparts. Empirical results about using humorous materials to reduce anxiety and improve students' ability have been mixed, however. ...
... Ziv (1988) found that an intervention group taught with humor-i.e., relevant jokes and cartoonsoutperformed a control group on an exam. Garner (2006) conducted a similar study in a distance-education format, and reported that an intervention group that had been given humorous video segments scored better on a test covering the information in the videos than a control group whose segments were not humorous. And when Ford et al. (2012) provided funny cartoons to a group of students before a math exam, its members not only had better exam results, but also felt less anxiety while taking it. ...
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Amid widespread concerns about the mental health of teenagers, this quasi-experimental study examines the effects of a classroom humor intervention on 268 seventh graders’ positive emotions, as well as their sense of humor and language ability. The participants completed self-report measures and a language exam before and after the intervention, which lasted six weeks. Analysis of covariance and mediation analysis were used to evaluate the effects. The results supported the researchers’ hypotheses that the humor intervention would significantly increase learners’ positive emotions, sense of humor, and language ability. The mediation analysis revealed that sense of humor mediated the relationship between the humor intervention and positive emotions, and that neither sense of humor nor positive emotion was the sole factor contributing to the observed learning gains. The study concludes that the intervention helped foster a learner-friendly environment in which the participants increased their positive emotions, sense of humor and language ability simultaneously, and makes recommendations for practitioners and future researchers on that basis.
... This may incentivize students to make greater efforts in engaging with the topic at hand Frego 2006). Research has also shown that humor has the potential to intensify the effects of learning Garner 2006;Violanti et al. 2018;Wanzer and Frymier 1999). Humor allows educators to engage students' attention because of its entertainment value (Strick et al. 2010;. ...
... By engaging with irony as method in environmental and sustainability education in line with a Didaktik tradition of focusing on content and the experience of that content, we also align ourselves with this special issue's objective, which we see as to create a dialogue between environmental and sustainability education research and research on humour in education. As this paper focuses on providing examples of irony as method and exploring irony as method in a Didaktik-inspired approach to environmental and sustainability education, we will not engage directly with research on humour in education (Banas et al. 2011;Garner 2006;Gordon and Mayo 2014). However, we embrace such engagement with humour and see laughter not as a negative, exceptional reality of social life (Morreal 1983), but as something that sensitizes individuals to the strangeness and uncanniness of life. ...
... Previous research has noted that the utilization of humor in classrooms can be a strategic decision taken by educators, as it has demonstrated positive impacts in terms of memory retention, information processing performance, and students' positive perception of their teachers (Garner, 2006) as it provides some form of psychological comfort (Hassan & Tahir, 2022), reduce affective barriers, and stimulate pro-social behaviors (Ravichand, 2013). Another example of a specific social goal that can be achieved through instructional humor includes social influence by exhibiting a form of affinity-seeking behavior, where people who are well-liked are more likely to hold more influence (Cialdini, 2001). ...
... All our behaviors seems accessible to a sense of humor, both to enrich the experience itself and to recognize it as parts of contexts that we can also transcend. There is a range of research now available showing a number of dimensions of learning that are aided by humour (for a good summary of this material, and further support, see Garner, 2005; see also Garner, 2006). ...
... This specific activity provides a humorous, engaging way for students to practice speech delivery. Research by Garner (2006) found that humor in the classroom creates a more relaxed and welcoming environment for students to learn. By incorporating humor to practice public speaking delivery skills, the goal of this activity is to provide a lighthearted environment where some of the pressure is eliminated. ...
... This view led to incorporating humor in educational materials and pedagogy (Banas et al. 2011). Contemporary research supports this notion and highlights the benefits of humor in the classroom, such as reducing anxiety, increasing self-motivation, and fostering teacher-student relations (Garner 2006). Humor was also found to enhance solidarity among students (Woods 1990), foster a comfortable and conducive learning environment (Askildson 2005), promote interest and enjoyment (Woods 1990;Bell 2009), and encourage timid students to participate more actively (Chaisson 2002). ...
... The respondents have reported that they most of the time opt for both since they, especially humour, motivate students, help them feel at ease, and create a good rapport between the teacher and his learner. These findings are supported by Garner (2006) and Jones (2010) who stressed the positive psychological and cognitive effects humour has on learners. Consequently, both authentic materials and humour are welcomed and appreciated in the Algerian EFL classrooms given their merits. ...
... Die kommunikative Funktion von Humor im Kontext von Gesundheit zeigt sich aber auch allgemein in der Vermittlung von gesundheitsbezogenen Informationen: So erhöht Humor die Aufmerksamkeit sowie die kognitiven Leistungen der Informationsverarbeitung (Blanc & Brigaud, 2014;Sternthal & Craig, 1973) und fördert zudem die Erinnerung an die Botschaftsinhalte (Blanc & Brigaud, 2014;Eisend & Kuß, 2009). In diesem Zusammenhang hat sich auch gezeigt, dass Humor und Lachen Bedingungen schaffen, die das Lernen fördern (Bains et al., 2015;Garner, 2006;Lujan & DiCarlo, 2016). Neben der Förderung von Aufmerksamkeit bietet Humor auch eine kurze Unterbrechung, welche die Stimmung aufhellen sowie den Lernprozess angenehmer, einprägsamer und eindrucksvoller machen kann (Banas et al., 2011). ...
... Other scholars working in educational fields with close ties to social movements have also pondered humour, typically building on more general inquiries into the pedagogical potential and pitfalls of using it (e.g. Banas et al. 2011;Garner 2006;Gordon and Mayo 2014;Morreall 2014). For example, Anita Bright (2015) and Raúl Alberto Mora, Simon Weaver and Laura Mae Lindo Using humour to tackle major societal injustices is tricky, however, and certainly can backfire by trivialising issues and reproducing rather than disrupting oppression (Chattoo and Feldman 2020;Goebel 2018;Tsakona and Popa 2011). ...
... Nevertheless, humor alignment with course content is appreciated similar to its identification by other scholars (Gutiérrez et al., 2023). This highlights the need for teachers to understand its proper use as its effectiveness appears to depend on the teacher-student relationship, indicating its implementation should be welltimed and appropriate (Garner, 2006). Interestingly, the students in the study all remarked on the importance of humor, irony (Fadel & Al-Bargi, 2018), spontaneous wit (Neff & Dewaele, 2023), and different tones (Pawlak et al., 2020). ...
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The study provides an exploration into the dynamics of the teacher-student relationship within an EFL context. Through the use of qualitative analysis, it investigates the effect of immediacy, credibility, and pedagogical love on student engagement and motivation within a Saudi Arabian higher education setting. The study reveals that the three dispositions, when interconnected, can foster a conducive learning environment that encourages active student participation and enhances academic learning. The importance of prioritizing emotional connections over purely linguistic goals and integrating cultural and social beliefs into pedagogical practices were also explored. It also underscored the importance of using the vernacular in promoting cultural identity and positioning teachers as influential role models. The study further identifies student perceptions of respect from authoritative figures as significant and that teacher energy, both physical and intellectual, as critical in shaping student acceptance of the learning environment. Lastly, it highlights a generational shift in teaching methodologies towards a more modern, humanistic style in line with changing generations. The research ends with recommendations for professional development to engage language learners effectively and improve educational outcomes.
... Meyer (2000) argues that politicians use humour to make their speeches memorable, build a rapport with the audience, show friendliness, and/or reduce negative reactions when critiquing their opponents. In the context of teaching and learning, humour is used to assist or facilitate learning in the classroom (Chabeli, 2008;Garner, 2006). Bakar (2019) asserts that contrary to a stand-up comedians and politician's use of humour, teachers' use of humour serves more than just the goal of eliciting laughter, but they serve as an instructional tool for teaching and learning purposes. ...
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In the world today, co-operative societies are important to the extent that cooperators have opted to ensure their sustainability by establishing guiding principles, education and training. With this regard, the Tanzanian government has made efforts to ensure regular provision of Co-operative Education and Training (CET) in each co-operative society. However, CET provision in Tanzania remains unevaluated and mal-evaluated, resulting in unsustainable, dormant and extinct co-operative societies. Yet, the extant studies on CET are too general as they cover the overall performance of the co-operatives, leaving out CET evaluation unexplored. This study evaluates CET in Tanzania by determining the status of CET and examining the practice of CET evaluation in Ukerewe and Sengerema districts. Findings were drawn from 64 respondents using purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews and documentary review. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. The study used a context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model of education evaluation to examine the practice of CET evaluation. The findings revealed that regardless of the existence of CET evaluation both formative and summative, there were some shortfalls. In terms of practice, the findings revealed that CET was seasonal while the context, input, process and product evaluation were unsatisfactory; hence confirming the poor trend of cooperative societies’ development. The study concludes that CET is still a necessity to ensure both the status of CET and practice. The study recommends CET institutions to prepare a centralised curriculum for all co-operatives and review CET regularly to suit societal needs. The government should set aside funds for CET and needs assessment to avoid irrelevant knowledge to the co-operators.
... Meyer (2000) argues that politicians use humour to make their speeches memorable, build a rapport with the audience, show friendliness, and/or reduce negative reactions when critiquing their opponents. In the context of teaching and learning, humour is used to assist or facilitate learning in the classroom (Chabeli, 2008;Garner, 2006). Bakar (2019) asserts that contrary to a stand-up comedians and politician's use of humour, teachers' use of humour serves more than just the goal of eliciting laughter, but they serve as an instructional tool for teaching and learning purposes. ...
Conference Paper
Humour as a pedagogical tool has been recommended for every grade level from preschool to university and for various subjects. The current study investigates English instructors and students understanding of the role of humour in English literature classes towards teaching and learning English as a foreign language at tertiary level. The participants included 4 English literature instructors and 12 student teachers from the department of languages and literature at Mkwawa University College of Education. The qualitative approach was employed using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and focus group discussions as data collection methods. The findings revealed that participants had a better understanding of the role of humour in English literature classes as a pedagogical tool to help learners understand the lesson content and learn English as a foreign language. Also, participants confirmed that learning English literature cannot be separated from learning English language as well as humorous materials are indispensable towards teaching and learning English literature. Moreover, the findings revealed that instructors sometimes had to code switch from English to Kiswahili to help learners understand the meaning of humour and connect to the content of the lesson. Based on these results, the study recommends that English literature instructors should use humour in their teaching to motivate students during the teaching and learning process; improves students’ ability to retain information more easily and for a long time; and helps learners avoid boredom, anxiety and stress when learning in English as foreign language. Finally, instructors are urged not to use code-switching frequently when practicing humour in English literature classes to help students build positive attitude towards English language and advance the knowledge of the language.
... When the literature is examined, it is seen that educational games are the researches (Akgun, Nuhoglu, Tuzun, Kaya & Cinar, 2011;Conati, 2002;Habgood & Ainsworth, 2011;Karamustafaoglu & Kaya, 2017;Topcu, Kucuk & Goktas, 2014;Yurt, 2007) that reveal their effects on success in the teaching process. Same way, the research of teacher candidates in this study to make jokes to add fun to the teaching process is match with researchs (Altinkurt & Yilmaz, 2011;Asilioglu, 2013;Aydin, 2006;Balta, 2016;Garner, 2006;Jeder, 2015;Lei, Cohen & Russler, 2010;Sahin, 2010;Topcuoglu, 2007) indicating the importance of humour in the educational process in the literature. ...
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Photos are a good opportunity for teaching the concepts of change and continuity. At the same time, photos provide the ability to interrogate, looking at different angles, and thinking multidimensionally. In this context, photos are the most important bridges that open the door to the mind. The main problem of the research is how to achieve academic success in teaching Social Studies. In this context, efforts to upgrade the academic achievement of students will be important. The aim of the research is to attempt to determine the effect of photos on the students' academic achievement and attitude towards the course in the "Journey in the Turkish History" unit in the book of the 7th grade Social Studies lesson.
... When used appropriately in classroom, humour can be very beneficial as it leads to a more relaxed atmosphere, affects students' motivation and learning, develops good rapport among the students and the instructor and relieves tension and negative emotions, inspiring novel ideas (Powell and Anderson 1985, Ziv 1988, Berk and Nanda 1998, Cook 2000, Schmitz 2002, Garner 2006. The same applies to the learning process: students' ability to perceive and appreciate positive humour may be beneficial for their learning and retention. ...
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The overall aim of this book is to view humour, as a specific type of language use, in the social and cultural context and describe some of its main features both in the theoretical and applied sense. Written from a cultural linguistic perspective, the main idea behind this book is to deconstruct the patterns on which multimodal humour is based, to determine how it gets its full potential in social interactions, and to explore how we can apply these findings in the domains of translation and education. Hopefully, this would represent a step towards a more holistic understanding of underlying humour mechanisms, its production and comprehension.
... When used appropriately, humor in the classroom effectively boosts student engagement among postsecondary students. Research has shown that integrating humor into classroom teaching improves student enjoyment of the course and knowledge retention (Banas et al., 2011;Garner, 2006) and motivation to learn (Banas et al., 2011). It also enhances overall student performance (Hackathorn et al., 2011). ...
... Researchers suggested that humor can harm (if misused) or strengthen social relationships between students and teacher; in addition, humor is thought to help students and teachers feel good and closer together (Friedman & Kuipers, 2013;Ho, 2016). This strategy is extensively used to establish or restore authority, as well as to help students adopt the values of the school code of conduct (Garner, 2006). Research has indicated that teachers' use of humor is significantly associated with students' motivation (Conkell et al., 1999;Luo et al., 2023), classroom and school climate (Kosiczky & Mullen, 2013), and the quality of social relations (AbdAli et al., 2016). ...
Article
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This study used the instructional humor processing theory to test how different humor subtypes employed by teachers (course-related, course-unrelated, self-disparaging, other-disparaging) relate to students’ well-being, sense of belonging, and engagement. The participants comprised 395 students (107 boys, 278 girls) from 12 elementary and six high schools in the province of Quebec (Canada) aged between 10 and 17 years (Mage = 14.11). Correlational and structural equation modeling methods were used to analyze these relationships. Results showed that only humor related to course content (positive association) and other-disparaging humor (negative association) were significantly associated with the sense of belonging, which, in turn, was positively associated with a cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement. Results also showed that only course-related humor (positive association) and unrelated humor (negative association) were significantly associated with students’ emotional well-being, which, in turn, was positively associated with cognitive and affective engagement. As far as this study is concerned, humor in the classroom should be course-related when it comes to supporting students’ emotional well-being, sense of belonging, and engagement.
Article
Educating children as future agents appears crucial to achieving sustainability goals, and tourism settings are considered high-potential places for learning and education. This research note explores the importance of humour in children's learning by reviewing the educational literature and identifying a research gap in tourism. Findings highlight humour as a pedagogical tool, categorising different learning contexts and their features to determine how humour can be successfully utilised in various tourism environments for young tourists. The research note showcases instances of humour application within the tourism industry to engage and educate children. Having identified the gap, the authors propose fresh directions for future tourism research and potential strategies for industry practitioners.
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Over the past two decades, there has been a growth in humor-related studies and their effect in different contexts, such as workplace and military settings (Edwards & Jones, 2018). These studies focus on humor as a stress-management technique for coping with stressful or demanding situations. Correspondingly, the literature of general psychology has embraced the use of “coping humor," which is found as a reliable moderator upon the stress–mood relationship. Specifically, the coping humor mechanism acts through facilitating positive appraisal, allowing distancing from negative experiences, increasing team cohesion, and more. Sport in its essence is dynamic, unexpected, and consists of complex situations, which set the ground for the usage of humor (Snyder, 1991). While there is initial scientific support for the benefits of coping humor skills, this mechanism is not addressed yet in the domain of sport and exercise psychology. Therefore, this review will present the theoretical foundations and principles of humor, psychological mechanisms of coping humor, and imbedding humor as a coping strategy in sport and exercise settings. Together, many parties, such as individual athletes, sport teams, sport psychology consultants, coaches, and scholars may acquire new knowledge regarding the implementation of humor as a coping method in sport.
Chapter
This study analyses humour in a school context in Portugal and Spain. The study aims to respond to the following questions: (1) Do mathematics teachers consider that they have a sense of humour? (2) What conception do they have of humour? (3) Do they consider humour to be compatible with the teaching of mathematics? and (4) If teachers use humour in the teaching of mathematics, how do they use it and for what purpose? To carry out this study, we adopted a mixed methodology. Mathematics teachers, Portuguese and Spanish, teaching from primary school level to higher education, were asked to respond to a questionnaire, comprising open and closed questions. Data analysis combines statistical with content analysis. The main results reveal that most teachers claim they appreciate/value humour and acknowledge its educational relevance. Most teachers claim they use it regularly and present examples of its use. These examples show small differences between Portuguese and Spanish teachers.
Conference Paper
In increasingly polarized political contexts, exacerbated by concerns over student safety, mental health, and media hysteria over “safe spaces” and “cancel culture”, teaching contentious political science topics has become more challenging than ever before. At the same time, students do not enter as blank slates on these topics and are likely to bring their own ideas – sometimes vociferously – into the classroom. Political science topics can be inherently binary, they can carry a high risk of pre-existing biases among participants, and they can be tense and uncomfortable to discuss. Under such circumstances, how can course tutors ensure that all perspectives on a given topic are adequately addressed while ensuring that discussions are held in a respectful and collegiate manner? In this paper, we offer reflective accounts of our own experiences of political science teaching in two particularly contentious areas in the UK higher education context – nuclear weapons and Brexit – where all of these risks are high. The paper offers three techniques for overcoming tension and ensuring that the topics are covered in a balanced manner to foster good faith discussion and debate. We emphasize the use of counter-balancing case studies which challenge existing biases, the “weaponization” of expected pre-existing biases to provoke critique, and the use of humor to create a positive, open and free learning environment. We conclude that the use of these techniques can be helpful in teaching contentious topics – helping practitioners to navigate the “stormy seas” of today’s challenging political science teaching context.
Chapter
This book presents a novel framework, Thinking the Unthinkable, aimed at cultivating teacher assessment capacity. The framework includes four fundamental capacities: epistemic, embodied, ethical, and experiential. In this chapter, the experiential capacity is explored through literature, preservice teacher reflections and narratives, and interpretive analysis. The experiential capacity is purposefully presented last in the framework, as it is the culmination of the previous three capacities in action. Experiential capacity involves constructing knowledge about assessment through first-hand experiences across contexts of practice. Fundamentally, teachers develop this capacity by reflecting on the questions: What assessment actions am I able to implement, and why? What events have persuaded me to act in this way? The chapter concludes with guidance for developing experiential capacity in initial teacher education.
Article
The subject of the paper is the analysis of memes in the teaching context of higher education, with a focus on their functionality in the teaching process, from the adoption of new material to the renewal and synthesis of the acquired knowledge. Due to the fact that the meme is one of the theoretically insufficiently studied phenomena in the teaching context, in this paper we approach it through the diachrony of its study in the theory of art, and the process of its introduction into the teaching context from the role of an auxiliary teaching tool to the curriculum of university study programs fully aimed at the study of meme creation and the study of meme in the context of social and humanities studies. In the final part of the paper, we provide a concise overview of our empirical research into the functionality of meme in university literature teaching, from which we derive certain conclusions specific to the use of meme in this educational domain.
Article
This study, which was conducted with 364 preschool children and 47 preschool teachers in order to determine the relationship between preschool teachers' sense of humor and children's appreciation of the value of humor in their classrooms, is a relational survey model. The data of the study were collected with "Personal Information Form", "Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale- Updated Turkish Form" used to determine teachers' sense of humor, "Humor Observation Form'' prepared by the researcher to determine children's appreciation of the value of humor, and "Humor Observation Form" and used with a 5-minute video with examples suitable for the stages in Paul McGhee's humor development theory. It was determined that preschool teachers' sense of humor was at a good level, and there was no significant difference between teachers' sense of humor and teachers' age, class size, and age of children in their classes. It was determined that the sense of humor of teachers with a seniority of 11-15 years was significantly higher than those with a seniority of 16 years and above. It was determined that children's appreciation of the value of humor was at a moderate level, and there was no significant difference between the gender of the children and both their appreciation of the value of humor and their level of finding the video funny. It was determined that there was a significant difference between the ages of the children and both their appreciation of the value of humor and their level of finding the video funny. 61-72 month old children's levels of appreciating the value of humor and finding the video funny were higher than 48-60 month old children. It was determined that there was no significant relationship between teachers' sense of humor and children's appreciation of humor.
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Historical theories of humor rely on a classic distinction in philosophy, the distinction between reason and emotion. Such a distinction lends itself to qualitative rather than quantitative research. In the last 40 years, quantitative scholarship on laughter and comedy has become very popular, and often includes international and indigenous examples of laughter as a healing or teaching tool. This paper addresses the historical research on laughter and mockery, then shows the broad range of quantitative studies that have provided important data on the usefulness of humor in teaching and in memorization of material. While there are a variety of items that one might laugh at, there are also certain commonalities that transcend social groups.
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Resumo: Introdução: A pedagogia freiriana aponta a educação como uma prática social consoante a uma realidade em transformação e direcionada às demandas de seu público. Na educação médica, aplica-se tal concepção quando o ato pedagógico é um modelo de cuidado para os discentes. Nesse sentido, estratégias que promovem a expressão de sentimentos de forma livre, lúdica e criativa são práticas que promovem o cuidado e contribuem para uma formação humanista e reflexiva, como preconizado nas DCN para o curso de graduação em Medicina. O objetivo deste relato de experiência é compartilhar uma experiência bem-sucedida da utilização de memes em uma atividade de feedback do componente curricular de Saúde Coletiva de um curso de Medicina de uma universidade federal brasileira. Relato de experiência: No último encontro do semestre, os estudantes, reunidos em pequenas equipes, foram orientados a criar memes que refletissem suas principais percepções acerca do módulo, ou seja, que destacassem os momentos mais marcantes e os aprendizados compartilhados ao longo do semestre. Em seguida, a turma toda se reuniu por videochamada, e um representante de cada equipe fez o feedback apreciativo do semestre utilizando o meme criado, além de compartilhar o “momento a-há” elegido pelo grupo, ou seja, o mais marcante e transformador do módulo. Discussão: Percebe-se que a utilização de memes e outros recursos lúdicos na educação médica é importante e recomendada, pois, além de tornar o processo de aprendizagem mais ativo e efetivo, o que está de acordo com os princípios das DCN, é uma forma de cuidado em saúde com os discentes. Além disso, essa dinâmica permite uma maior interação entre os alunos e estimula o senso de pertencimento. Ademais, a realização de feedbacks na graduação de Medicina é fundamental para o processo de aprendizado e também para o aprimoramento de habilidades necessárias à prática profissional, e essa atividade se mostrou facilitada e efetiva quando feita por meio do uso de memes. Conclusão: A utilização de memes na sessão de feedback se mostrou benéfica, criativa e salutogênica, além de ser uma estratégia que preza o cuidado e a expressão de sentimentos dos alunos, e, por isso, deve ser encorajada.
Article
This study examined the use of humour in EFL classrooms in Islamic higher education in Indonesia. It intends to find out whether Indonesian EFL teacher educators used humour as pedagogy and how they used it. Using a narrative inquiry method, it involved 25 EFL students undertaking English Writing courses working in groups of two or three members to write descriptive texts on the humorous moments in their classroom process. Nine of them were purposively selected for analysis using humour theories and removed the rest because of not humorous moments. It revealed that the teacher educators used various kinds of humour in EFL classrooms, such as humorous comments, lecturers’ humorous life stories, puns, and teasing students. However, most were unrelated to the course materials they taught and did not reflect Islamic values. In conclusion, this study has provided insights into humour used in the Indonesian Islamic higher education, which is crucial for academics to pay attention to using humour, such as not harming students.
Article
This study examined the use of humour in EFL classrooms in Islamic higher education in Indonesia. It intends to find out whether Indonesian EFL teacher educators used humour as pedagogy and how they used it. Using a narrative inquiry method, it involved 25 EFL students undertaking English Writing courses working in groups of two or three members to write descriptive texts on the humorous moments in their classroom process. Nine of them were purposively selected for analysis using humour theories and removed the rest because of not humorous moments. It revealed that the teacher educators used various kinds of humour in EFL classrooms, such as humorous comments, lecturers’ humorous life stories, puns, and teasing students. However, most were unrelated to the course materials they taught and did not reflect Islamic values. In conclusion, this study has provided insights into humour used in the Indonesian Islamic higher education, which is crucial for academics to pay attention to using humour, such as not harming students.
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This three-year study evaluated the effectiveness of 10 system-atic strategies for using humor as a teaching tool: (a) humorous material on syllabi; (b) descriptors, cautions, and warnings on the covers of handouts; (c) opening jokes; (d) skits/dramatiza-tions; (e) spontaneous humor; (f) humorous questions; (g) humorous examples; (h) humorous problem sets; (i) Jeopar-dy! ™ -type reviews for exams; and (j) humorous material on exams. Student ratings at the end of three undergraduate and five graduate statistics courses assessed the extent to which each strategy reduced anxiety, improved the ability to learn, and made it possible to perform at one's best on problems and exams. Median student ratings of the three outcomes for all of the strategies across all of the classes over three years indicated consistent evaluations of Very Effective to Extremely Effec-tive.
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In a field study, 70 college students unobtrusively tape-recorded 1 class presentation and evaluated the teacher as to appeal, competence, delivery, and teaching effectiveness. The presentations were content analyzed to identify key features relating to humor usage. Following a factor analysis of aspects of evaluation, correlation coefficients were computed between the teachers' frequency of use of the various types of humor and students' evaluations of their professors. Results indicate that for male teachers, usage of humor was generally positively related to appeal, delivery, and teaching effectiveness. For female teachers, only the use of hostile humor was associated with enhanced appeal. In contrast, female teachers' usage of some nonhostile forms of humor was associated with loss of appeal. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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This study quantifies the effects of student behavior, teacher attributes, and course characteristics on class attendance and performance. Several notable factors that influence attendance and grades are motivation, prior grade point average (GPA), self-financing by students, hours worked on jobs, quality of teaching, and nature of class lectures. This study provides strong empirical evidence of the positive influence of class attendance on student performance.
Article
The use of humor by teachers in the college classroom was examined through a systematic content analysis of sample presentations from university classes. In addition to an assessment of the frequency with which humor was employed, characteristics of the type of humor used by college teachers were examined. It was determined that a substantial proportion of college teachers employ humor in presenting educational material. Moreover, several patterns of humor usage were discovered.
Article
The biographical and educational backgrounds, the teaching careers, and classroom performances of nine professors who had won teaching awards were studied, based on interviews and classroom observation. Five of the professors were male, four were female, and they ranged in age from the early forties to late sixties. Six had doctorates and three had masters degrees. Common background elements noted were nonaffluent families, strong academic preparation, and motivation to seek a teaching career through an inspiring teacher. Common classroom performance elements were an enjoyment of teaching, an enthusiasm for the subject, excellent command of the language and delivery, the injection of humor, and the comparison of teaching to a theatrical performance. All subjects made an earnest attempt to make their students learn and tried to actively involve them through questions and discussions. Little use was made of notes or the lecture method. The teachers were divided on the necessity for them to conduct research and to publish. They questioned the priority given to research/publishing over teacher excellence in salary and promotion considerations. Attention is also directed to the way these professors would have been rated for merit salary increases at their university. (Author/SW)
Article
Unless a relational base is developed, the teacher's effort to incorporate humor into instruction may go unrewarded.
Article
Two studies investigating the influence of a humorous atmosphere on students' creativity scores are presented. In the first study 78 adolescents were shown humorous film clips and given a task requiring them to write captions for cartoons. A creativity test was subsequently administered to these students and to a control group. In the second study, Form A of the Torrance creativity test (TCT) with standard instructions was given to 130 adolescents. These were then divided into two groups, one experimental and one control. The experimental group was instructed to complete Form B of the TCT with humorous responses, while the control group was instructed to proceed as before. Results of both experiments showed that a humorous atmosphere significantly increases creativity scores. Several explanations for the findings were proposed and the practical applicability of the results in education were stressed.
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A famous writer and editor uses a novel approach to recover from a crippling disease in which he had a 1 in 500 chance of recovery. The method he uses offers new evidence that Vitamin C may have virtues unrealized. His account has raised many eyebrows in medical circles.
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Lectures and other class meetings are a primary means of instruction in almost all undergraduate courses. Yet almost everyone who has taught an undergraduate course has probably noticed that attendance at these meetings is far from perfect. There is surprisingly little systematic evidence, however, about attendance and its effects. There are three natural questions: What is the extent of absenteeism? How much, if at all, does absenteeism affect learning? Should anything be done about absenteeism? This article presents quantitative evidence on the first two of these questions and speculative comments on the third.
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