S

Laugh and Learn: Mixed methods and Interdisciplinarity in Educational Humor Studies

Mary Yakimowski and Manuela Wagner,University of Connecticut

AAAL 2013

“’I have experienced it again and again: just one single bright and general laugh-and the whole hour was under a friendly star. Such a laugh runs like a rippling brook, like a fragrant wind or forest breeze through the soul. Cheerfulness is indeed not learning, but it is a disposition to learn. Brightness, furthermore, is the sister of confidence. To the child the teacher still seems-I do not wish to use the worst word 'enemy'--only too often a sort of oppressor, one who drives, a gloomy admonisher, in short, a sort of tormentor. A feeling of tension and of antagonism is more frequent than the nature of the individuals should demand. But he who laughs with us, with him we drink out of one cup. When the master laughs, then even the most timid and most reserved scholar says to himself: 'He is a man', and receives the gifts of the teacher no longer as dubious ones that carry nothing but anxiety and trouble in their wake. School is certainly not a vaudeville and comedy-stage, but it is a vineyard which needs abundant sunshine and which will produce sour fruit for lack of it.” (Krause,1917, p.236)

Background

“Laughing Matters: Humor in the Language Classroom” (Medgyes, 2002)

“If they’re Laughing, They Just Mght be Listening: Ideas for Using Humor Effectively in the Classroom – Even if You’re Not Funny Youself” (Lundberg and Miller Thurston, 2002)

“To be sure, we cannot turn the irregular verbs directly into a regular pleasure, but we can do indefinitely much to make their treatment pleasurable. In this, humor is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and ready aids.” (Krause, 1917, p. 236)

Complexity of humor studies

“After the painful planning of my master’s studies on humor in education I was so disappointed that I did not find a direct link between the use of humor and student learning that I changed my topic for my dissertation to something more doable.”

What role(s) does humor play in the language

classroom? What are the (perceived) benefits of using/introducing humor in the language classroom?” (e.g., Davies, 2003; Ketabi & Shahla, 2009; Ziyaeemehr, Kumar & Faiz, 2011; Pomerantz & Bell, 2011; Golchi & Jamali, 2001; Aboudan, 2009) What are the (perceived) risks of using/introducing humor in the language classroom? (Ziyaeemehr, Kumar & Faiz, 2011)How much humor do teachers and students use in different settings in language education? (Downs, Javidi & Nusbaum, 1988; Neuliep, 1991; Aziz, Abdullah, & Annalamai, 2011; Wagner & Urios-Aparis, 2008)

What role(s) does humor play in the language

classroom? What types of humor do teachers and students use in different settings in language education?” (Wagner & Urios-Aparisi, 2007, 2008; Aziz, Abdullah & Annalamai, 2011)Does humor facilitate (language) learning? If so, what kinds of humor (can) lead to increased student learning and in what setting(s)? (Aziz, Abdullah & Annalamai, 2011) Does the use of humor create a more relaxed classroom atmosphere and reduce student anxiety with a second language?” (Aziz, Abdullah & Annalamai, 2011; Wagner, Yakimowski & Urios-Aparisi, 2012).

Is humor a content area in the language classroom? What should students learn?

Does humor uptake and/or the ability to produce humor in the target language facilitate our students’ interactions in the target culture? Should they learn how to understand humor? Should they learn how to produce humor in interactions with native speakers?

How is humor related to the various cultural backgrounds in the classroom as well as in the target cultures? What is the connection between humor and intercultural competence?

Is there Interlanguage Humor just as there is Interlanguage Pragmatics? Is there a developmental model for the types of humor that should be introduced to language learners at different levels and at different ages? How does study abroad contribute to a student’s development of humor comprehension and production?

Qualitative Design

Figure 1. The iterative qualitative research process to inquiry. (Crabtree & Miller, 1992)

Quantitative Design

Comparing Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Design

Qual. Vs. Quant. Ct’d

Qual. Vs. Quant. Ct’d

Qualitative Methods

Mixed Methods

Quantitative Methods

Quantitative Methods

Mixed Methods

Qualitative Methods

The Gold StandardEmbracing the

complexity of the field

 

Encouraging collaboration

Willingness to include multiple methods

The Gold Standard

Some challenges

1) Embracing the complexity of the field interdisciplinary collaboration

2) Interdisciplinary collaboration can lead to PTR issues advocacy

3)Designing mixed method studies requires knowledge of and familiarity with both paradigms and also experience with mixed methods interdisciplinary collaboration

4) Adding another paradigm involves collecting more data and/or conducting more analyses collaboration, databanks

“The goal of TalkBank is to foster fundamental research in the study of human and animal communication. It will construct sample databases within each of the subfields studying communication. It will use these databases to advance the development of standards and tools for creating, sharing, searching, and commenting upon primary materials via networked computers.” http://talkbank.org/ (1)

Aboudan, R. (2009). Laugh and learn: humor and learning a second language. International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3, 3, 90-99. Aziz, A. R. A., Abdullah, A. G. K, & Annalami, T. (2011). Humor in teaching Malay language: a Malaysian case. Journal of Studies in Education, 1, 1, 1-10.Bell, N. D. (2009). Learning about and through humor in the second language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 13, 2, 241-258. Binsted, K., Bergen, B. & McKay, J. (no date). Pun and non-pun humor in second-language learning. University of Hawaii,1-4. Crabtree, B. and Miller, W. (eds) 1992. Doing qualitative research. Newbury Park Ca: Sage Publications Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and qualitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Creswell, J. (2004). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Downs, V. C., Javidi, M. & Nusbaum, J. F. (1988). An analysis of teachers’ verbal communication within the college classroom: Use of humor, self-disclosure, and narratives. Communication Education, 37, 128-148. Evans Davies, C. (2003). How English-learners joke with native speakers: An interactional sociolinguistic perspective on humor as collaborative discourse across cultures. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 1361-1385.Golchi, M. M, & Jamali, F. (2001). The effect of teacher’s verbal humor on advanced EFL learners’ classroom anxiety. European Journal of Social Sciences, 26, 2, 185-192.Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (p. 34). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Ketabi, S., & Simin, S. (2009). Investigating Persian EFL teachers and teachers’ attitudes toward humor in class. International Journal of Language Studies, 3, 4, 435-452.Krause, C.A. (1917). Humor in Education. Monatshefte für Sprache und Pädagogik, 18 (8), 234-236.Lundberg, E. & Miller Thurston, C. (2002). If they’re laughing, they just might be listening: Ideas for using humor effectively in the classroom – even if you’re not funny yourself. Fort Collins, CO: Cottonwood Press.Lichtman, M. (2006). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide (pp. 7-8). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Lincoln, Y.S. & Gube, E.G. (1985), Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Marshall C., & Rossman, G. (1980). Designing qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Michew, S. S. & Hopper, P. F. (May/June 2008). Techniques for using humor and fun in the language arts classroom. The Clearing House, 81, 5, 232-236.Medgyes, P. (2002). Laughing matters: Humor in the language classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Merriam-Webster: An Encyclopedia Britannic Company. Retrieved from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collaborateNeuliep, J. W. (1991). An examination of the content of high school teachers’ humor in the classroom and the development of an inductively derived taxonomy of classroom humor. (1991). Communication Education, 40, 343-355. Patton, M. Q. (1978). Utilization-focused evaluation. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Pomerantz, A. & Bell, N. D. (2011). Humor as safe house in the foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal, 95, 148-161.Santagata, R. (2004). Are you joking or are you sleeping? Cultural beliefs and practices in Italian and U.S. teachers’ mistake-handling strategies. Linguistics and Education, 15, 141-164. Schmitz, J. R. (2002). Humor as a pedagogical tool in foreign language and translation courses. Humors, 15, 1, 89-113.Shiyah, Said. (no date) Pedagogical effect of humor on teaching. United Arab Emirates University. US Department of Health and Human Services. Best practices for mixed methods research in the health sciences. Washington, DC: USDHHS. Retrieved from: http://obssr.od.nih.gov/mixed_methods_research/section1.aspx#Mixed methods Wagner, M., Urios-Aparisi, E. (2011). The Use of Humor in the Foreign Language Classroom: Funny or Effective? HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. 24 (4), 399–434.DOI: 10.1515/humr.2011.024 Wagner, M., Urios-Aparisi, E. (2008). Eine empirische Studie zum Einsatz von Humor im Fremdsprachenunterricht in den USA. In Hoffmann, T., Lercher, M.C., Middeke, A. & Kathrin Tittel (Eds.) “Humor. Grenzüberschreitende Spielarten eines kulturellen Phänomens.” Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen. Wagner, M., Urios-Aparisi, E. (2007). Pragmatics of Humor in the Foreign Language Classroom: Learning (with) Humor. In Pütz, M. and J. Neff (Eds.), Contrastive Pragmatics: Interlanguage and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 206-224.Wanzer, M. B. & Frymier, A. B. (1999). The relationship between student perceptions of instructor humor and students’ reports of warning. Communication Education, 48, 48-62.Xavier University. Qualitative versus quantitive reseach. Retrieve from: http://www.xavier.edu/library/help/qualitative_quantitative.pdf.Ziyaeemehr, A., Kumar, V. & Adullah, M. S. F. (Sept 2011). English language teaching, 4, 2, 111-119.