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Through the lens of conversational analysis (CA), humor or funniness is not an inherent property of a message, nor an internal state of any social action, but as something interactionally achieved (Glenn, 2003). Teachers are often encouraged to utilize humor to reduce anxiety, lower affective filters, and make language more "memorable" (Bell, 2005; Tarone, 2000; Ziyaeemehr et al., 2011). In the current research endeavor, we focused on an activity called "Drama and Creativity," an extracurricular activity which is offered to firstyear undergraduate students at a public university in Thailand. During the activity, students worked in groups of three to four to collaboratively create a role-play which they later performed in front of their peers. Twenty-four students participated in the activity, and a total of seven role-plays were video-recorded. The goal of this study was to offer evidence of student achievements of humor construction in an EFL classroom context. We analyzed the sequences where laughter occurred in the data and identified linguistic and sociolinguistic resources that students used to construct incongruity and project laughable tokens in their role-play performances. The findings revealed that students were able to mobilize category-bound practices (Housley & Fitzgerald, 2015), embodied gestures, and activity-bound expectations to create unexpectedness which resulted in laughter among the audience.

Self concept is an experiential formation gained as a result of certain experiences. The concept of self-concept has an interesting intersection with the psychological field of humour. The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between the humor styles and self-perceptions of primary school 4th grade students and to conduct the validity-reliability study of the humor styles measurement tool. The study group of the research was carried out with 525 students attending the 4th grade of primary school. "Humor Styles Questionnaire for Young Children" (HSQ-Y) and "Self-Perception Profile for Children" (CIBAP) were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the research, first of all, the validity-reliability study of the humor styles questionnaire was conducted and the correlational scanning method of the general scanning model was used to examine the relationship between humor styles and self-perceptions of primary school students. In the results of the research; The humor styles questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable. In the relationship between; The sub-dimension of the humor styles questionnaire reveals the positive and significant relationship of the "participatory humor style" with all the sub-dimensions of the self-perception profile for children, and the "self-enhancing humor style" with the sub-dimension of "social acceptance". In the study, it was also observed that "aggressive humor style" was negatively related to "educational competence", "behavioral management", "social acceptance" "general self-worth" sub-dimensions, and "self-destructive humor style" was negatively related to "athletic competence" sub-dimensions.

This manuscript is a conceptual article that intends to address 'playful creativity' as an underexplored but potentially insightful component of TESOL programs. To this aim, playful creativity is first defined under a critical purview of traditional and recent conceptualizations of creativity. Afterward, 'creative TESOL' is briefly addressed. 'Pedagogical humor' is next put forth as a practical outlet for playful creativity in language education. To further elaborate on (and operationalize) such creative TESOL, 'humor-integrated language learning' (HILL) is outlined. HILL is argued as an innovative pedagogical approach with far-reaching effects. The article anchors the contention for humorizing creative TESOL in a) the literature-informed benefits of pedagogical humor, b) new directions in creativity programs, and c) the criticality of creativity. Several instructional designs and a sample activity are also outlined to better familiarize readers with this approach. The paper finally addresses practical considerations and further developments in HILL within the framework of playful creative TESOL.

In recent times, the number of studies examining the use of humor in teaching English as a second language (ESL) in Asian countries has increased as researchers have acknowledged the positive effects that humor has on language teaching. This study presents a systematic review focused on the use of humor in ESL teaching within Asian countries. Its objectives are to acquire comprehensive knowledge of the current research status, research participants and methods, and research perspectives, and to examine the outcomes of incorporating humor into ESL instruction in Asian contexts in order to pinpoint research gaps for future studies. This study included the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (2020). Moreover, 35 articles relevant to the use of humor in Asian ESL teaching were identified as of the date when this study was conducted. After performing content analysis, the findings revealed that the first related articles in Asia were published in 2009, after which more and more articles emerged. These studies took place in 14 Asian countries, with most of them focusing on Turkey, Iran, and Indonesia. In addition, they involve diverse research methods and perspectives, whilst most of the participants are university students. This suggests that humor is more suitable for use when teaching high-proficiency English learners. Moreover, humor is a double-edged sword that has positive and negative impacts on ESL teaching in Asian countries. Finally, a number of recommendations for future studies have been proposed in this study.

Knowing humor development can be rather beneficial in terms of providing opportunities to better know children and evaluate their development. This study aimed to explore the process of humor development in preschool and primary school children in line with McGhee's humor development theory. The study employed a single screening model, specifically one of the commonly used screening models in general practice. The study group consisted of 101 children ranging in age from 2 to 11. Research data were collected through a 5.01-minute-long video which included scenes suitable for the stages in McGhee's humor development theory, semi-structured observation forms and a research diary. Descriptive analyses and content analyses were used to analyze research data. Children aged 2 produced the lowest amount of laughter response in the scenes in all stages, followed by those aged 3 and 4. The strongest laughter response occurred in 5-year-old children to the scenes pertaining to stages 2, 3, and 4. The scenes in stage 5 elicited the strongest laughter response in children aged 11. The humor development characteristics of the children in this study were found to be consistent with the general principles of McGhee's theory of humor development. Adopting research techniques that measure children's reactions to real-life situations could be useful in future research on the same topic. Research on children's production of humor may provide different insights into the development of humor. It is suggested that adults, such as parents and teachers, use examples of humor that are appropriate for the characteristics identified in this study and similar studies in order to build positive relationships with children.

Mathematical spaces extend far beyond the classroom and physical environments into virtual spaces. Today's students have more to consider than just their face-to-face experiences with mathematics inside or outside the classroom; they have the online perspectives of others to consider as well. To gain critical insight, we conducted this research with semistructured focus groups using an interactive mathematics Internet meme activity. Using positioning theory, this article highlights students' stances and three storylines as conceptual tools for a better understanding of their off- and online mathematics identities. Results show that the two spaces are not mutually exclusive and that students are succumbing and adhering to a larger hegemonic construction of mathematics found in the online communities with various points of tension found.

Due to numerous reforms, modern teaching now asks for the role of the teacher to be redefined as well. One of the teacher's many tasks is to master the competencies which would enable them to encourage and stimulate their learners. In this article, authors report on a research conducted at Preschool Teachers' Training College in Kikinda, which aimed to contribute to a reflexive analysis of the role of the teacher in the context of contemporary teaching process. The goal of the research was to answer the question of which teachers' activities and strategies students at Preschool Teachers' Training College in Kikinda think best encourage the learning process. This question is also th research problem. Purposive and convenience sampling was used, and the sample consisted of students of Preschool Teachers' Training College (N=133). The instrument used in the research was the Excellent Faculty Member questionnaire by Jenrette and Napoli, 1994 (in Suzic, 2005, p. 861). The results obtained, frequency distribution and the mean of respondents' estimates reveal high scores on all the items. The highest rated items indicate that respondents have a high opinion on teachers' mastery of subject matter (M=3.857) and teachers' organization (M=3.857), but also on teachers giving feedback (M=3.805), listening to them carefully (M=3.789), respecting them (M=3.782) and maintaining high professional standards (M=3.767). The lowest rated item is related to teachers setting themselves challenging goals (M=3.436). Conclusions indicate that students find it motivating for learning when teachers exhibit mastery of subject matter, when their work organization is good, when they provide students with feedback, acknowledge and respect them while keeping in mind the students' abilities, skills, and previous knowledge, as well as when they are well prepared for the class and when they innovate the teaching contents. The students emphasized the importance of a positive emotional climate in the classroom to which humour, teacher-student relationship and challenging tasks and goals greatly contribute. [Paper presented at "Contemporary Education 2022" (Online, Apr 2, 2022).]

Sense of humour can be a valuable asset for teachers in various ways. For starters, it can aid in creating a positive and enjoyable environment for learning, which can promote student engagement and motivation. Teachers who use humour in the classroom can help to break down barriers and foster a sense of community among students and teachers. This, in turn, can lead to improved relationships and a more positive classroom climate. Therefore sense of humour is an essential trait for a teacher to manage the classroom successfully. Further the humour style followed by the teacher will also impact the environment of classroom, positive style of humour will lead to positive effects while negative humour style will lead to negative effects. This study has attempted to assess the level of sense of humour and the style of humour among the prospective teachers with special reference to selected independent variables. The present study uses simple random sampling technique to select 70 prospective teachers belonging to two year B.Ed programme and Four-year integrated programme as samples. The study shows that prospective teachers have above average level of Sense of Humour and majority of them were following affiliative style of humour.

The research aimed to determine the opinions of the students and the course teacher with regard to using the comic book prepared in accordance with a context-based scenario as teaching material for the science course. Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research approaches, was used for research purposes. A context-based comic book was used as course material for 12 hours in a class of 18 5th-grade students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven students and a course teacher, following the implementation, using the interview forms developed within the scope of the current research. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed by content analysis and classified under the themes of "Academic", "Affective", "Association with Daily Life" and "Comic Books and Humor". Pursuant to the results of the research, students, and course teacher declared the comic book as effective course material on the grounds that it makes the subject matter entertaining and understandable, facilitates learning, provides an opportunity for a permanent learning experience, provides an opportunity for individual learning, increases class participation, and supports the learning processes of students with literacy and language problems. Based on the results obtained, it has been suggested to use context-based comics in different units and lessons.

Mothers of children with special needs have various difficulties, mostly as direct caregivers of the child. The level of coping with these difficulties is also related to the psychological resilience of mothers. Although there are many coping mechanisms to protect the psychological resilience of people, humor is one of them. For this purpose, it was aimed to examine the relationship between the levels of coping with humor and psychological resilience of mothers who have children with special needs. The study group of this research, which was designed according to the relational survey model, consisted of 480 mothers with children with special needs, whose educational examinations were completed by applying to various Guidance and Research Centers in Istanbul in the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. In the study, Coping with Humor Scale and Brief Psychological Resilience Scale were used as data collection tools. In the study, the relationships and differences between the variables were examined through the ANOVA test, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was found that there was a positive, moderate, and significant relationship between the mothers' scores on coping with humor and psychological resilience scores. As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that the level of coping with the difficulties brought by this situation through humor predicts the psychological resilience of mothers who have children with special needs. As a result of the study, it was seen that humor is an important coping tool in increasing the psychological resilience of mothers with children with special needs, and various suggestions were made for educators and mental health professionals.

With a runtime of 47 years, Saturday Night Live has long served as a societal mirror that captures and creates popular culture. In recent years the show has been criticized for its lack of diverse hosts, cast and staff. Out of 930 episodes only seven episodes have been hosted by an Asian host, four of whom identify as Chinese. This research examined those four episodes through quantitative analysis, finding that the qualities of each of the hosts' characters range from just below neutral to moderately positive. The use of stereotypes and satirical racial humor varied. Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu's episodes had the highest concentration of both overt and covert stereotypes, while Awkwafina had a similar number with a lower concentration. The infrequency of Chinese representation on the show is a social issue. Such a small sample size does not allow for conclusions to be drawn. Rather, this research paints a picture of how the four Chinese hosts are portrayed on SNL as influenced by their own unique identities and the year of their appearance. In addition, the insights this case study offers has implications for shows performed in colleges and K-12 schools. Directors and sponsors of school based shows can learn from this case study how to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and how to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at their institutions.

The aim is to examine the relationship between early childhood teachers' classroom management profiles and humor styles. A correlational research methodology was utilized. 274 early childhood teachers working in ECE institutions within Turkey included. The Classroom Management Profiles Scale and Humor Styles Questionnaire were applied, and data were analyzed through t-test and ANOVA. As a result, laissez-faire and self-enhancing humor were the most common among participants. Even though there was a positive correlation between affiliative and self-defeating humor styles, the authoritarian profile was negatively correlated with laissez-faire. The indifferent profile was negatively correlated with the laissez-faire profile, while the affiliative humor style was positively correlated with the authoritarian and indifferent profile. Regarding other humor styles, there were no significant correlations observed. By increasing the number of study participants and using qualitative methods, the results from this current study can be supported, and humor styles can be used for effective classroom management.

This study examined how metacognitive knowledge and locus of control are associated with understanding mathematical jokes in students with and without learning disabilities. This study looked at a sample of 60 ninth-grade students of which 30 had a learning disability diagnosis and 30 had no learning disabilities. Students were tested using three instruments: a metacognitive knowledge questionnaire, a locus of control questionnaire, and a questionnaire to gauge understanding of mathematical jokes. The results point to a significant correlation between these three variables. Students with learning disabilities presented lower performance on all measures compared with students without learning disabilities. In view of the marked gaps between the two populations of students, it is important to support students with learning disabilities in the areas of metacognitive knowledge and locus of control. This may help improve their academic achievements in mathematics and other school subjects, and may have a beneficial effect on their social interactions and on dropout rates.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the opinions of primary school and high school students regarding the role of humor as a practice in the management of educational communication on the part of the teacher. More specifically, it is investigated whether and to what extent humor affects the students' behavior towards the teacher, the educational process as well as their personality. First, a theoretical approach to the subject is made, in order to highlight the idea that teacher-student pedagogical communication is considered to be the most lively and dynamic part of the educational process, because through it all the messages that signal action, attitude and, in general, teacher's behavior is conveyed. This means that the form of communication chosen by the teacher, either consciously or unconsciously, affects not only his relationship with the student, but also the content and the result of the educational processes. In this case, we have chosen humor as a pedagogical communication practice, given that the research data identify it as an important, effective means between the teacher and the students, the effect of which is particularly beneficial for the educational process, the classroom climate and the relationship between the teacher and the students as well as for the student himself. To implement the purpose of the research, a questionnaire with closed-ended questions was created, which was distributed to primary school and high school students in the first ten days of May 2023 in the city of Ioannina. The findings of the research are considered particularly interesting confirming the majority of the theoretical data that preceded it. The paper ends with conclusions and final remarks.

Ethnic stereotype is a culture-determined portrayal of a society, culture or a nation. A comprehensive worldview of an ethnic group tends to form stereotypes, and its analysis makes it possible to identify an ethnic group's cultural identity and characteristics. This study examined ethnic stereotypes in humorous discourse as portrayed in jokes of Kazakh, Russian, Arabic, English and French languages. By making a comparative, definitional, contextual and quantitative analysis of ethnic stereotypes in humorous discourse, this study adopted the linguistic, cognitive and discursive theory of humorous discourse to identify the similarities and dissimilarities in the ethnic stereotypes of five multi-structural languages. The data was retrieved from various sources including collection of jokes (Kazakh, Arabic, English), random anecdotes, and French jokes with translation. A total of 37 jokes and anecdotes were analyzed in this study with a lingua-cognitive approach and semantic and stylistic analysis which helped to understand participants' communicative intention. The study also revealed both characteristic and universal features of each nation reflected in its national worldview, mentality and the image of the world. The study also introduced universal and national features of humorous discourse of each cultural community. The findings suggest that the formation of a stereotype depends on particular associations and repetitions, as well as social responsibilities shared by members of a community. The study implications suggest that linguacultural analysis of ethnic stereotypes in humorous discourse in a comparative aspect is considered a priority direction for further research.

Expressing emotions in a narrative requires a high degree of narrators' involvement in and reflection of personal experiences. An array of complex emotions is reflected in the narrators' use of a wide range of language and paralanguage tools when they share their feelings with their audience. This study attempted to investigate how female non-native speakers of English expressed their feelings towards their personal experiences while narrating them. The data was collected from 24 female Egyptian university students who were studying English language and literature. They narrated unpleasant personal experiences which they marked as memorable in the form of 'intense monologue narratives', collected in a series of structured openended interviews. Some of these experiences amount to 'trauma'. A qualitative analysis of narratives revealed that the density of evaluation -- as reflected by the number of evaluative clauses used in the participants' narratives -- varied. Results also showed that narrators employed 'direct evaluation, evaluation by suspending the action, embedded evaluation, and dramatized evaluation' as various types of evaluation. In many cases, participants used more than one type of evaluation within the same narrative. Besides, narrators were also able to use a wide range of linguistic (i.e. lexical, syntactic, and discursive), and paralinguistic (i.e. laughter and sighs) tools to showcase their emotions and stances towards what they had experienced.

Despite rising interests in the manifestations of second language (L2) interactional competence (IC) in online language learning activities (e.g., Balaman & Sert, 2017a, 2017b), participants' interactional practices for managing epistemic stances in online searches remains largely unexplored. This paper examines how an intermediate-level learner of English jointly managed epistemics with a tutor in a text-and-voice teleconference session designed as a conversation-for-learning. The analysis focuses on web search sequences occasioned by emergent epistemic asymmetries in the ongoing talk, and how the participants leveraged resources to negotiate knowledge positions and display affiliation during online searches. Findings reveal that epistemic stance management is a prominent aspect of the IC involved in online search sequences. For example, during an online search, the tutee demonstrates his IC by citing and attributing responsibility to the source in response to epistemic primacy challenges. In the process, he also utilised affiliative resources such as laughter and a term of endearment to delicately manage disaffiliation. By focusing on the management of epistemic stances during online searches, this study informs the use of online searches in L2 learning activities to foster opportunities to perform stance-taking practices as part of the learner's IC.

In this article I examine the perceptions of third grade minoritized emergent bilinguals (Spanish/English) in a US classroom as they articulate how family members serve as a source of jocularity. By taking a sociocultural perspective on humor as a resource, I seek to render visible the relational and linguistic connections between these students and their families while discussing implications for informing culturally sustaining pedagogy. Six findings regarding different genres of humor that students expressed through a class project called ¡Pura Risa! [Pure Laughter!] demonstrate ways they connect with family. These findings are subsequently generalized into two broad categories to discuss portability into bilingual classroom pedagogy: dispositions and iterations. Dispositions refer to the willingness to engage with students brandishing una actitud juegetona [a playful stance] coupled with confianza [relational trust] through communicative competence. Iterations of familial and cultural sustainment are rooted in affiliative exchanges between family members and these students. The unique contribution of this piece is that humor is conceptualized through a lens of linguistic and cultural sustainment, which purports to generate conversations along a continuum of academic theorizing to university bilingual preparation programs to planning lessons and cultivating community in bilingual education classrooms.

This study investigates how bullying and banter are conceptualised and rationalised by those in male adolescent community football. The authors employ a social constructivist, interpretative phenomenological analysis approach using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. These methods explore the meanings behind the perceptions and experiences of male players (N = 8, M age = 15.4) and coaches (N = 4, M age = 39). Evidence demonstrated that intent was not synonymous with bullying and that bullying and banter behaviours are highly ambiguous depending on the shared understanding of learned barriers despite participants concurring with most aspects of the definitions. Moreover, banter and bullying behaviours in community football have been experienced by participants, with acts being rationalised through moral disengagement and hypermasculinity. The research indicates that although bullying and banter are conceptualised similarly to popular definitions, concrete definitions may be limited due to the fluid nature of bullying and banter and the influence of shared social understandings. Additionally, the findings gathered show bullying and banter being experienced and rationalised in male youth community sport through moral disengagement and masculinity. The implications of these findings for safeguarding players and coaches in community football are discussed.

Basic medical sciences education is characterized by the provision of large amounts of theoretical information that leaves little opportunity for promoting student creativity or motivation. In response, the authors investigated meme-related project-based learning (PBL). Memes are humorous media that are widely exchanged online. 1477 students were requested to create memes on the scientific material they were studying in a pathology course. The project was implemented in two learning contexts (face-to-face and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic) over two batches of first-year medical students. The students created memes in greater numbers than requested by a mean of 5.8 per group. Students' satisfaction and narrative perceptions were analyzed, with 66.9% reponse rate: 91.4% of students were satisfied with the PBL; 93.3% rated the learning benefit gained from creating memes as excellent and/or good, and 85.9% rated the learning benefit from their colleagues' memes at the same level. Five themes were extracted: positive students' attitude toward the meme PBL, better development of students' skills, the feasibility of creating and sharing the project results, additional advantages and Challenges reported by students enrolled in meme PBL. The authors concluded that adopting meme PBL promotes students' creativity and boosts their motivation to learn.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of humour, teaching, gender, age, birth order, siblings, parents' level of education and income on kindergarteners' costly sharing behaviours. The participants consist of 106 kindergarteners enrolled in three public kindergartens in Sanliurfa. The participants interacted with two assistants, one of whom made them laugh (the joker) and the other taught them something new (the teacher). After the meetings, a third assistant presented 20 stickers to each child. Among the 20 stickers, the children selected their 10 favourite stickers. Another assistant asked the children to share their stickers with teaching, joker or stranger if they desired. The children's distribution of their stickers to the joker, the teacher assistants and the neutral recipients did not statistically differ. This might be the result of egalitarian tendency of young children. Multiple regression revealed gender as a predictor variable for sharing with jokers and total sharing. The girls shared significantly more than the boys.

Although the direct effects of victimization on internalizing and externalizing symptoms among children have been well documented, not much is known about the buffering effect of humour styles. The aim of this study was to examine the moderating role of humour styles in the relationship between victimization and internalizing/externalizing symptoms among 155 Greek students (10-12 yrs), using an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Victimization was positively correlated to both internalized and externalized symptoms, while boys scored higher on self-defeating and aggressive humour. Finally, moderation analysis revealed that the effect of victimization on internalized symptoms was reduced at higher levels of aggressive humour. These findings provide additional evidence for the effect of different humour styles in the school context. As the beneficial impact of aggressive humour on victims may be short-termed, prevention efforts could help students learn how to avoid malign humour and use benign styles to cope with stressful situations.

We investigated the effect of culture and social status on sarcasm interpretation. Two hundred U.K. participants and 200 Chinese participants read scenarios in which the final comment could be either literal or sarcastic criticism and the speaker had equal, higher, or lower social status compared to the recipient. Comments were rated on degree of sarcasm, amusement, politeness, and aggression. Results showed that compared to literal criticism, sarcasm was viewed as being more polite and less aggressive in the United Kingdom but more aggressive in China. When the speaker had higher social status, sarcasm was rated less amusing and marginally more aggressive in the United Kingdom but less aggressive and more polite in China. Results have theoretical implications, in that theories designed to explain the emotional impact of sarcasm (such as the Tinge Hypothesis) need to be modified to take cultural differences into account, as well as practical implications for successful cross-cultural communication.

This paper argues that the dominant modes of academic address, the conference paper, the journal article, and the monograph, reinforce problematic and exclusionary assumptions concerning what counts as legitimate research, whilst also restricting academic enquiry and impoverishing intellectual life. It makes its case by exploring in some detail the intellectual commitments of one the West's more wayward 20th century thinkers, Georges Bataille. It suggests that Bataille presents not simply a conceptual armoury (and one among many) for critiquing Western logocentrism from within, but offers an example of what a less domesticated, less stylistically narrowed mode of thinking might look like.

The purpose of this article is to show that health and physical education (HPE) teachers who implement humor in the classroom intentionally create a more relaxed classroom environment, build stronger relationships with students, and engage students in the learning process. Humor used as an instructional strategy eases teacher stress and engages students, leading to a comfortable and welcoming classroom climate. Students feel connected, relaxed and calm when humor is implemented in the classroom. Three theories of humor are briefly described, with Incongruity Theory identified as the primary way to conceptualize using humor in the classroom as a teaching practice. Different kinds of humor are introduced that can be implemented in the classroom. This article also identifies the types of humor considered inappropriate for the classroom. Strategies for implementing humor as a pedagogical practice are discussed to help HPE teachers reach the laugh-into-engagement effect.

Recently, there is a surge of interest in a wide range of learner emotions in the SLA field, underlining a holistic perspective of language learning emotions. The present study examines the relationships between the three prevalent emotions among language learners -- foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and foreign language boredom (FLB) -- and their potential correlates including a set of learner-internal and teacher-related variables among a specific sample of Chinese high school students. When it comes to the links among the three emotions, we found that FLE was negatively correlated with FLA and FLB, while FLA and FLB were positively correlated. Various learner-internal (gender, age, attitude towards the FL, attitude towards the teacher, self-perceived achievement, relative standing in class) and teacher-related variables (teacher enthusiasm, friendliness, strictness, frequency of FL use, foreign accent, frequency of joke, unpredictability) were found to be related with the three emotions to a different degree. In addition, the positive emotion of FLE was found to be more related to teacher-related variables than the negative emotions of FLA and FLB.

This study aims to bridge the research gap in the humour comprehension problems of individuals with dyslexia in Chinese culture. We conducted a nonexperimental study to examine the differences between Chinese adolescents with and without dyslexia in visual humour comprehension as well as the group differences in the correlation of visual humour comprehension with other abilities. In total, 48 Chinese adolescents (16 individuals with dyslexia and 32 individuals without dyslexia) were recruited in Hong Kong. They were all administered several tasks: tests of nonverbal IQ, Chinese character reading, visual-spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and visual humour comprehension. Our results indicated that visual humour comprehension is correlated with other abilities. Additionally, the group with dyslexia performed significantly less accurately on most tasks except humour comprehension accuracy. However, only visual spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and humour comprehension speed significantly predicted membership in the two groups. Finally, approximately half of the participants with dyslexia had significantly slower humour comprehension than those with typical development. Our findings shed light on problems with humour comprehension exhibited by Chinese individuals with dyslexia.

Although there is a body of research on the teacher first language (L1) use in English-medium-instruction (EMI) classrooms, very little research has probed into how international students perceive local teacher L1 use and their learning practices in the English as a lingua franca (ELF) context. To address the gap, the present case study explored a cohort of Chinese international students' attitudes toward German-native teacher's L1 use in EMI classes at two universities in Germany. A mixed-methods approach was adopted through a student questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with Chinese postgraduate students from different majors. Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed the attitudinal complexities of participants toward local teachers switching to German in EMI. Besides, Chinese students employed different learning strategies to deal with language-related challenges. Notably, participants highlight English as the most effective lingua franca. Nonetheless, they allow German to be conditionally used in certain circumstances without causing comprehensibility problems, such as telling German jokes, chatting with German students, or talking about trivial topics. Furthermore, the multifaceted understanding of language uses by Chinese international students offers insights to conceptualisations of language and EMI policies.

This article strives to open a window on 'eco-humour', an umbrella term for diverse forms of humour targeting ecological and environmental issues. It encourages readers to consider eco-humour as a valuable, pedagogical toolkit for environmental education and communication. To this aim, eco-humour is, first, put into perspective of humour scholarship. In particular, I discuss the critical and corrective potential of humour to address and possibly redress environmental issues. Pedagogical benefits of humour are, then, touched upon to pave the way for a discussion of 'humour-integrated environmental education'. The paper also addresses UNESCO's 2030 roadmap of education for sustainable development and the 'sustainability' component of Australian Curriculum to further justify and contextualise the use of eco-humour. Moreover, several university-based initiatives to integrate echo-humour into environmental education are considered. Likewise, I briefly address 'humour-integrated language learning' as an emerging approach in language education that may offer valuable insights into eco-humour curriculum integration. Finally, the article points out several practical considerations and future directions in humour-integrated environmental education.

In this research we aim to reproduce and extend the positive results about the effect of humor in solving mathematical word problems. We examined whether solving humorous word problems has some effect on either word problems demanding realistic consideration or word problems of the well-known routine type. Fifth- and sixth-grade students (N=1,153) solved different types of tasks including humorous, routine and "problematic" word problems, answered further questions concerning their attitude towards mathematics. Our results suggest that while sixth-graders outperformed their fifth-grade peers, the positive effect of humorous word problems proved to be even more relevant than the school grade. However, there has been some possible negative effect of humor when solving routine word problems. Furthermore, students expressed a positive attitude toward humorous word problems by selecting these as their favorite tasks compared to other types of word problems. The results obtained provide further evidence on the desirability and feasibility of introducing (more) humor in mathematics education.

For the most part, information landscapes such as libraries are structured, organized, created, and used by the dominant groups. These spaces may be unfamiliar territory for many students. Humour used in library orientation elicits enjoyment and helps to connect librarians and students. Low and high inference humour used during orientation can help connect students new to those landscapes with information and to librarians. Appropriate use of instructional humour in orientations can reduce students' anxiety about using the library, especially when they need help from library staff. This reflective write up on using humour in library orientations, is to demonstrate how we used humour to create a comfortable learning environment, to encourage students to visit the library, to improve (hopefully!) recall and retention of course content, and enable positive associations with library resources or the librarian. There are challenges with humour when the classroom is diverse or if humour is used negatively. Care should be given to use humour to support course content.

Games in the classroom is not a new concept. Simulations, board games, and online games are popular methods of incorporating game-based learning or gamification into the classroom. However, newer and more humor-based games popular with student populations, such as Cards Against Humanity, a popular card-based party game, have produced some business-level imitators that can create fun and engaging opportunities in the modern marketing classroom. This paper discusses the use of Silicon Valley Startups, Business Walrus, Wash A Pig, and Charty Party as teaching tools and provides examples of how to use them to help foster creativity, engagement, and active learning through humor and fun.

Humor is considered an educational method that can be implemented in educational processes with a wide range of educational variables. Examining the scope of research on educational humor has the potential to guide future studies. Therefore, the aim of this study is to show the conceptual trend in humor research in education over the past decade. 989 publications on the subject of humor in education were analyzed using the text mining method. A text analytic tool was used for the analysis, and the titles, abstracts, and keywords were included in the text analytics. As a result of the study, humor was studied in terms of various variables in different educational fields. In addition, the reflections of humor in education base on technological developments and the target groups applied were also revealed. The findings revealed the conceptual relationships and concept maps by year. It was concluded that the concept of humor in educational research is particularly related to the variables of motivation, attention, skill, creativity, engagement, and interest. Upon comparing 2010 and 2019, it has been observed that concepts related to online education, science, collaborative learning, and technology in humor studies have spread in recent years. In addition, humor has also emerged as a research phenomenon in language, health, and science education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected deep reflection in higher education classrooms: how do we attract and retain students to (temporary but nevertheless increasing) online learning experiences, how do we keep them at our universities and colleges, and how do we give students a learning experience from which they will remember meaningful information? In this paper, we introduce a new pedagogical framework that we call Ludic Pedagogy. We address the four elements of this model: fun, positivity, play, and playfulness. Each of the elements is described in turn, together with literature outlining how each contributes to a positive classroom environment that helps students engage with and learn course content. Examples of how the authors have used this pedagogical model are included and described. We suggest that instructors consider using the Ludic Pedagogy model so as to improve engagement, learning outcomes, and retention in their classes and broader university/college contexts.

While research on children's humour is growing, few investigations have focused on how children use humour in conflict interactions, and specifically in group early childhood settings. Using data extracts from a project that investigated children's naturally occurring conflict interactions in a multi-ethnic early childhood setting, we use interactional sociolinguistics to analyse how children used humour at unexpected moments during conflict situations. The analysis probes different meanings carried in the children's use of humour, illustrating how humour intersected with personal and relational power to resolve or defuse conflict, or to coerce compliance with existing peer relational positions. The analysis broadens understandings of the significance of humour in children's lives in early childhood settings, and particularly in the context of conflict interactions that have a 'stretchy temporality' connecting interactive moves to others in the past, and to existing power positions in peer relationships.

Students process information in two modes: cognitive and experiential. Case studies and stories are generally used as tools for experiential information processing. This article uses memes as an instructional tool to deliver information for experiential information processing in a public speaking course. The effectiveness of memes as an instructional tool is assessed through a questionnaire in terms of their overall effectiveness and its memorability, concreteness, and course orientation. The findings suggest that memes can be used effectively as instructional tools like stories to make the students understand, discuss, and engage with course content.

Teachers frequently use humour, but it is unclear how this affects the academic experiences and psychosocial development of students. There is sparsity in the literature regarding the impact of teachers' humour on adolescent students. Teachers and the use of humour in the classroom have the potential to foster healthy development of social and academic skills during this key formative stage of maturation, but equally may be detrimental. This scoping review aimed to determine how and why teachers used humour in the classrooms of students aged 11-18, and the effect humour may have on students' educational experiences. The Joanna Briggs methodological framework and PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews checklist were used. The narrative synthesis generated six themes from 43 empirical papers. Many studies have considered humour as a single construct, reporting improved classroom management and students' learning processes. However, other reports have suggested that humour use could lead to a loss of class control and for important information to be lost. Studies considering specific humour styles have identified affiliative humour as increasing engagement in deeper thinking. However, aggressive and course-related humour have reported mixed effects on educational experiences. This review identifies the humour styles and sub-styles reported in the sparse literature. It also highlights the lack of a comprehensive humour styles measure that adequately captures humour use and perceptions in teachers of adolescents and, importantly, how teachers' humour is perceived by this population. Such a tool is vital to enable understanding of how teaching humour styles may directly affect adolescents' educational experiences.

This present study aims to examine the procedure of adaptation in four selected US-based image memes adapted to the Indonesian context. Four US-based image memes and their Indonesian adaptation were selected as the source of data. They were purposively chosen from some Indonesian memes' websites and the US-based image memes. This study adopts Bastin's theory of adaptation as the theoretical framework to analyze the adaptation procedure used by the Indonesian content creators in adapting the US-based image memes. The analysis of this descriptive qualitative study reveals that from the seven modes of Bastin's adaption, the Indonesian content creators used the sixth procedure, situational or cultural adequacy for the adaptation of the US-based image memes to the Indonesian context. This study concludes that the four selected US-based image memes under the present study have been localized by using Bahasa Indonesia to accommodate the cultural transfer that suits the Indonesian cultural settings. Secondly, Bahasa Indonesia used in the memes assigns a new cultural meaning that is socially understood by Indonesian memetic society. Lastly, this study is hoped to shed a light on the pedagogical field, proposing that cultural awareness is significant in translation to bridge the cultural transfer from the source text to the new target readers.

How can comedy be used as an effective tool and truly help innovate the learning experience? This paper outlines how aspects of comedy have been creatively integrated into primary and secondary academic curricula such as English Language Arts, social studies, drama, as well as in areas of mental health and wellness. The essay demonstrates, for example, how participating in stand-up performances helped sharpen students' critical thinking abilities and presentation skills. It also underscores comedy's pedagogical utility and versatility, its value in the classroom, and its promising potential as a stand-alone option in the domain of arts education.

Taking as its point of departure a fine-tuned definition of an Internet meme (vis-à-vis a memetic construct), this paper reports the findings of the first diachronic study of memes, the focus being on mask memes on the vast COVID-19 mask memescape evolving in the wake of the pandemic, relative to the changing socio-political situation. The study capitalises on a diachronic corpus of user-tagged COVID-19 mask memes (posted online from January 2020 to January 2021) collected from Google through a Python script. Based on a grounded-theory approach, ten memetic categories (clustered into four groups) are extracted and examined through a multimodal discourse analytic lens. The diachronic quantitative analysis shows that the memetic constructs, inspired by the current socio-political situation/events and facilitated by the socio-political context (e.g. going into lockdown), seem to persist, albeit with varied intensity, for the best part of the year, with many individual memes going viral. Memes' and memetic constructs' long lifespan is indicative of users' primary goal, which is to share interesting and/or humorous (not always newly minted or relevant) items for the sake of fun, regardless of the memes' nature (i.e. autotelic humour for its own sake or users' commentaries on the surrounding reality).

This research consists of a quantitative analysis of the perspective of a group of university professors from different areas of knowledge and from 19 different Latin American countries on the use of humor and memes in virtual learning environments (VLEs) in higher education. The data have been obtained from an own-design survey, and the answers have been analyzed in a descriptive and inferential way with the aim of knowing the opinion of the 401 participants (professors) about the didactic effectiveness of humor and the benefits and employability of memes in virtual classrooms. The analysis differentiates the sample by the professors' area of knowledge as the main variable, and by gender, age and teaching experience. As results, the participants give a high evaluation of humorous didactic resources, particularly memes, although the evaluation of their usability in the classroom is intermediate. In this sense, it is shown that the area of knowledge has a significant influence on opinions in this regard.

Graphic facilitation revolves around using multimodal representations in order to drive idea generation, learning processes and collaboration among groups. The use of graphic facilitation is a growing practice in organisational contexts and is slowly emerging in educational contexts. However, there is a lack of research on the role of the facilitator when teaching graphic facilitation. At the beginning of basic graphic facilitation courses, facilitators are often met by enthusiastic participants who at the same time are hesitant and lack belief in their own drawing skills. Thus, the paper aims to provide insights into didactical considerations of facilitators when organising teaching that empowers participants to gain confidence in their own drawing abilities as an entry point to using graphic facilitation in their daily work. The empirical data used for analysis is based on participatory observations of two professional facilitators teaching two- to three-day basic courses in graphic facilitation. These observations are combined with follow-up interviews with the teachers. The analysis shows how visual metaphors and humoristic utterances are built up throughout the courses as social memories that are carried out and refined by participants. Thus, the study demonstrates how the use of humour and visual metaphors became multimodal 'hooks' of social memories, which support a playful and safe learning environment. The findings show how the teachers had a crucial role in initiating, acknowledging and supporting the use of humour in these settings. Based on the empirical findings, the paper concludes by outlining potentials and challenges specific to using humour and visual metaphors when teaching graphic facilitation.

This study examined whether instructional humor (IH) was not just another type of seductive detail when covariates such as humor pre-disposition, prior-knowledge, and working memory capacity were controlled. Participants were students (N = 228) from universities who were randomly assigned two stimuli conditions in the classic experimental design. The data analysis involved a MANCOVA in SPSS and ANCOVA in R-WRS2 package (for DVs with non-homogenous variances) to control the covariates. The data from both null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesian factor design analysis showed that the data were in favor of outcomes which demonstrated that although IHCALM was funnier (p < 0.01) it was not another type of a seductive detail that harmed learning (p > 0.05). It was less interesting (p < 0.01), yet made the participants more aware of what they did not learn (p < 0.01). The practical and theoretical implications of teaching with IHCALM were also discussed.

Play is a universal human experience. Often regarded as the unique purview of children, an emerging body of research points to the importance of playfulness in adulthood. This article reports on the research and observations of two teaching artists working in Connected, a Sydney Theatre Company adult-literacy-through-drama programme. This article conceptualises the drama room as a liminal space. Through improvisational responses participants engage in a learning style that promotes playfulness, which subsequently generates a sense of pleasure and joy and, in doing so, has an intrinsic value beyond the specific language learning outcomes. In this article we build on Guitard et al.'s (2005) components of playfulness in adults: creativity, curiosity, pleasure, sense of humour and spontaneity, in order to posit our own ideas about the conditions necessary for encouraging the freedom to play in adult language learning contexts.