“Put a little bit of humor into it”

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the use of teacher humor in whole-group interactions in beginning-level Spanish foreign language (FL) classes. Previous research has focused primarily on student humor and on humor in intermediate- and advanced-level FL courses. Hence, the goals of the research were, first, to determine whether teachers use spontaneous verbal humor in beginning-level courses and, if so, in what ways. Second, we considered whether the amount of teacher humor was related to the amount of student humor. The findings indicate that many of the instructors in the study did, indeed, joke around with their students. Most teacher humor was affiliative or rapport-enhancing, delivered in the target language, and designed with students’ L2 abilities in mind. Finally, in classes in which teachers joked more often, there was a tendency for students to joke more often as well, suggesting that teacher humor may encourage student humor.