Abstract
The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of humor in the classroom environment. To this end, a qualitative study with 30 participants was implemented in two English language institutes in Iran. Equally, 15 male and female EFL teachers were selected by convenience sampling and their classes were audio-recorded and later transcribed for the examination of the types of humor they used and their frequency. Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszcyk, and Smith’s (2006) method of humor analysis and categorization of appropriateness was exploited for the analysis of the types of humor collected from the participants of the study. The results suggested that the use of humor by male teachers was more frequent than that of female teachers. It was revealed that 57% of the humor production was by male EFL teachers and 43% was produced by female EFL teachers. The results revealed that the most frequent humor type in male teachers’ classrooms was “funny comments” (27%), with “teasing students” (3%) being the least frequent one. In the case of appropriate humor use, similarly, female teachers used “funny comments” (52%) as the most frequent one, while there was no instance of “providing humorous examples”. Considering inappropriate humor use, both male and female teachers used “funny comments” (45%) as the most frequent type. The findings of the present study can be of use to EFL teachers and suggests the need for workshops and training courses on the integration of humor into EFL classes.
Highlights
The topic of humor and its impact on the performance of language learners has gained considerable attention during the past two decades (Heidari-Shahreza & Heydari, 2018)
Appropriate humor leads to higher teacher evaluations, while inappropriate humor and sarcasm lead to lower teacher evaluations and can negatively impact student learning
Of the total instances of humor used by male teachers (n = 49), 82% were appropriate to the context
Summary
The topic of humor and its impact on the performance of language learners has gained considerable attention during the past two decades (Heidari-Shahreza & Heydari, 2018). Humor or language play is believed to alleviate learners’ anxiety (Booth-Butterfield & BoothButterfield, 1991), increase self-confidence and motivation to learn (Gorham & Christophel, 1992), help learners shape their own identity (Pomerantz & Bell, 2011), and lead to joyful class atmospheres (Bell, 2012; Carter & McCarthy, 2004; Cook, 2000; Heidari-Shahreza & Heydari, 2018; Wagner & Urios-Aparisi, 2011). On the whole, entangling a complex and complicated construct like humor can facilitate teaching, and in particular, interaction in EFL classrooms.
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