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

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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); socio- linguistic 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.Teaching effectiveness (Bryant, Comiskey, Crane, and Zillman, 1980; Norton and Nussbaum, 1980) 2.Student learning (e.g., Gorham and Christophel, 1990) 3.Creating an enjoyable classroom environment (Neuliep, 1991) 4.Lower student anxiety (Long, 1983) and higher student motivation (Gorham and Christophel, 1992) 5.More positive evaluations of teachers by students (e.g., Bryant, Comisky, Crane, and Zillmann, 1980, Neuliep, 1991) 6.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 FileminTeacherStudent Stud. group Unin-tended Spanish 1 44: Spanish 2 48: Spanish 3 48: German 1 25: German 2 30: German 3 23: HE Span 50: : HE Germ 50: :

Results: Description of Humor almost exclusively universal (Schmitz 2002) almost exclusively universal (Schmitz 2002) mostly fun activities but not necessarily humorous in the stricter sense (play) mostly fun activities but not necessarily humorous in the stricter sense (play) many instances of in-group humor among students many instances of in-group humor among students very few instances of teacher-initiated humor 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