MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------- LE THI PHUONG CHI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF HUMOR IN FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT HUE UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES MA THESIS IN EDUCATION HUE, 2012 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------- LE THI PHUONG CHI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF HUMOR IN FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT HUE UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.10 MA THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: DR. TRUONG BACH LE HUE, 2012 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ----------------- LÊ THỊ PHƯƠNG CHI ĐIỀU TRA VỀ VIỆC ỨNG DỤNG CÁC LOẠI HÌNH HÀI HƯỚC VÀO CÁC LỚP HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HUẾ CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY - HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.10 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SỸ GIÁO DỤC HỌC NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TRƯƠNG BẠCH LÊ HUẾ, 2012 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that the information reported in this paper is the result of my own work, except where due reference is made. The data and findings are true and with permission from associates.
The thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or diploma or appeared in any other media. Author Le Thi Phuong Chi Acknowledgements I would never have been able to finish this thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from my friends, and support from my family. I would like to begin by offering my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Truong Bach Le, for his enthusiastic guidance and insightful supervision throughout the research.
He both guided me to orientate the study and allowed this research to grow into what it has become. His knowledge and commitment to the highest of standards inspired and motivated me. Most importantly, he has spent time correcting and giving advice to my every piece of work. I do owe him a thank you for his patience and tolerance of all my downsides as well as an apology for my shortcomings as a toddler going through life.
I would like to thank my lovely respectful colleague, Hoang Thi Khanh Tam, for blowing up my courage and determination throughout this process. We never stopped laughing all along the way. She has spent time on giving comments to my pieces of work and substituted for me to go to school during the days I was busy with this thesis and had problems with my health. I am grateful to my buddy, Ngo Thi Hong Tham, my good friend, Nguyen Nu Anh Hong, and my junior colleagues for their available help and warm support when my time budget ran out.
I am indebted to my families for their boundless support and love, for all encouragement, and sacrifice they have been making for me. I keep here a thank you and an apology to my mother for what she gave me. A special thank to my husband, my eternal cheerleader, my flame holder, for his presence in my life to love me and never lose faith in me. These days when I had health problems and was not able to move or get out of home, his burden of workload seemed to multiply on his shoulder.
His dedicated sleepless nights to formatting my thesis before the due day after continuously sleepless nights working at the hospital made me moved when I suddenly woke up at midnight and saw him ceaselessly clicking and typing on the keyboard. ABSTRACT English humor is an instrument with great potential benefits for teachers and learners as it is a rich source of authentic and cultural input. It can be considered as a catalyst, a stimulus to motivate students, enliven the classroom atmosphere, build up the teacher-student rapport, and cognitively help students‟ learning procedure. This study is an attempt to make an investigation into the use of humor in first-year English speaking classes at Hue University - College of Foreign Languages.
It has been constructed to obtain the aims of examining the students‟ favorite humor types during the teacher-researcher‟s use as well as the students‟ challenges in comprehending humor. Most importantly, the extent to which humor has beneficial effects on second language learning in speaking classes at HUCFL, the researcher‟s local context, would be definitely illuminated. The data collection tools consisted of 2 sets of questionnaire, evaluation forms, interviews, and teacher‟s diaries. Data collected from quantitative instruments were transferred into tabulation in form of statistical frequency and percentage.
Transcripts of the interviews and the diaries were also cited for interpretation. The analysis showed that humor noticeably benefited learning in first-year English speaking classes at HUCFL in many perspectives. Plus, the results from both qualitative data and quantitative data indicated that the appropriateness of humor types to students was different from type to type in the researcher‟s oral skill teaching context. The challenges causing the students‟ difficulty in humor comprehension were also explored and ranked as follows: vocabulary, background knowledge, and grammar.
By the way, the limitations of the study were examined, and a number of potential avenues for future research were suggested. THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………….Error! Bookmark not defined. TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF TABLES.
ix LIST OF FIGURES. Background to the study. Organization of the research .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of humor.
Theories of humor. Psychological Humor Theories. Linguistic Humor Theory. The Value of Humor in Language Class.
Instructional/ Communication benefits. Socio-linguistic and cultural benefits. Types of humor. Appropriate and Inappropriate use of Humor in education.
Situation of teaching oral skill in Viet Nam .38 Lê Thị Phương Chi vi M. THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 2.39 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. The Research Site. Data analysis methods .47 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
The appropriate types of humor for the first-year students in English speaking classes at HUCFL. The extent to which the use of humor benefits learning in first-year English speaking classes at HUCFL. Humor and speaking classroom atmosphere. Humor and teacher-student rapport.
Humor and students‟ interest in learning speaking English. Humor and students‟ speaking learning. Students‟ generation of funny English communication in each speaking class session. The students‟ desired amount of humor for a typical class session ………………………………………………………………….
The importance of humor to language learning in the classroom. Students‟ overall evaluation of the humor effectiveness in speaking classes .70 Lê Thị Phương Chi vii M. THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 4. First-year students‟ challenges in understanding humor in English speaking classes at HUCFL.
Restatement of the Study Purposes. Summary of the Findings. Implications of the Study. Limitations of the Study.
Recommendations for Further Research .Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined. Lê Thị Phương Chi viii M. THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.a: Types of Humor .b: Types of humor (Hay, 1995).a: Twenty-item Taxonomy of High School Teacher Humor .b: Categories and Subcategories of Appropriate Teacher Humor .c: Categories and Subcategories of Inappropriate Teacher Humor .5: Description of data collection instruments .4: Challenges of using humor in first year English speaking classes at HUCFL. 71 Lê Thị Phương Chi ix M.
THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students‟ favorite types of humor .2: The extent to which students like types of humor applied in class .3 The extent to which learners find the types of humor applied easy to understand .4 The effectiveness of humor types applied in class .5 Humor and speaking classroom atmosphere .6 The approachable level of teacher when using humor in class .7 Humor and students‟ interest in learning speaking English .8 The extent to which humor help students learn speaking.9 Students‟ use of humor to communicate in the foreign during each class session .10 The students‟ desired amount of humor for a typical class session .11 The importance of humor to language learning in the classroom .12 Students‟ overall evaluation of humor effectiveness applied in speaking class. 70 Lê Thị Phương Chi x M. THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study For a long time, humor has been highly appreciated as a great remedy for tension since “Laughter is the best medicine” and a miraculous catalyst in communication.
Every day, we, of all languages, laugh, tease one another, tell humorous stories for entertainment, and make fun for amusement. It is obvious to recognize that humor is indispensable in our daily life as it is genuinely present in many conversations of all languages throughout the world (Kruger, 1996; Trachtenberg, 1979, as cited in Askildson, 2005). A good sense of humor can bring about high effects of communication. Simply, it assists a person in a challenging dilemma that leads to blooming and successful interchange.
The following example is such a case (Muqun & Lu, 2006). A woman accosted Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister of Britain, after a speech. She gushed, “Before I saw you in person, I thought you were a much taller man.” He carefully replied, “Madam, in Wales, where I come from, we measure a man from his neck up, not from the neck down.” The clever and witty response of that Prime Minister turns the potentially embarrassing moment into a fun. In place of being overwhelmed in difficulty, the speaker, with a sense of humor, has defused the barrier by expressing his humorous prowess and convincingly conquered all participants.
Likewise, humor places an integral role in English teaching and learning in which communicative competence is focused as the final target. With regard to the importance of humor in the second language classroom, Morrison (2008, p. 6) asserted that “look for laughter, joy, spirit, and enthusiasm in both the school and classroom and you‟ll find an environment in which learning thrives.” Used with prudence, humor can create incredible contributions to class atmosphere thanks to joy and ease. Consequently, humor nurtures an optimal Lê Thị Phương Chi 1 M.
THESIS IN EDUCATION Academic Years: 2010 - 2012 environment for teaching and learning and brings high effects to the instruction as it gets students out of anxiety, maximizes brainpower, enhances creativity, and facilitates communication (Morrison, 2008). Accordingly, Sullivan (2000, as cited in Cabrera, 2008) acknowledges the beneficial roles of humor on mediating between L2 students and enhancing students to use language. In line with this idea, Hurren (2001, as cited in Jonas, 2010) shares his point of view that in addition to facilitating attention and motivation, improving teacher-student rapport, fun makes all subjects more accessible. In particular, students from classrooms where laughter, smiling, and amusement are present are likely to take risks.
These learners are more confident when using second language without the agitation of being ridiculed or criticized (Chiasson, 2010). For all the above reasons, there is a probability to admit that, “One can never speak enough of […] the power of shared laughter" (British Council). Morrison (2008) goes to the conclusion that humor is a tonic, a sweet drink for tired educators and bored students without which it is possible for learners to fall asleep causing a zero-accumulation of knowledge and inefficiency in learning. Passing the time with hundreds of research and practical settings, the pros of humor has been proved to be undeniable; as a certain result, Deneire (1995, as cited in Schmitz, 2002) heightens the need for a harmonious integration of humor into existing language teaching approaches.