Thesis
Learning about humor: teaching second language humor in ESL
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101896
Abstract
Second language humor is something that many English as second language (ESL) learners have questions about, but do not usually have the opportunity to find a place for answers. A currently growing interest in applied linguistics research to incorporate humor into the language classroom suggests that playful uses of language may facilitate second language (L2) learning (Bell 2, forthcoming). Bell also considers the L2 classroom to be an appropriate place for discussing humor and letting students experiment with it in a safe atmosphere, which could help them think and make sense of L2 humor. This would potentially enable students to be better prepared to face spontaneous humor outside the classroom (Bell 14, forthcoming). Nevertheless, these assumptions lack sufficient empirical support, since there is not a significant amount of research about the benefits that the explicit teaching of humor can bring to L2 students. The present study contributes to offering empirical data on the teaching of L2 humor in the ESL classroom. Materials based on authentic American humor samples were created and taught to a group of ESL students. Results suggest that students benefit from the teaching of L2 humor by raising their awareness of key elements and differences between L1 and L2 humor, exploring language play when attempting to produce L2 humor, as well as increase their vocabulary and learn about second language pragmatics by increasing their humor competence (Bell, forthcoming).
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Details
- Title
- Learning about humor
- Creators
- Marlon Valencia Cabrera
- Contributors
- Nancy Bell (Degree Supervisor)Ana Maria Rodriguez-Vivaldi (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Languages, Cultures, and Race, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525389201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis