Humor Strategies in the Foreign Language Class

Humor can provide a multitude of benefits for language learners, including improvement of classroom atmosphere (Dewaele et al. 2018) and a reduction of anxiety (Tarone 2000). Moreover, the integration of humor into language lessons has been strongly endorsed by both students and instructors (Askildson 2005; Azizinezhad and Hashemi 2011). What is less clear is which types of humor strategies are seen to be most effective, as well as the degree to which learner characteristics affect their responses to humor. This study examines the influence of L2 proficiency, foreign language enjoyment (FLE), and attitudes about humor language learning on L2 learners' (N = 243) reactions to a variety of humor strategies used in the language classroom. Regression analysis revealed that proficiency had little bearing on learner preferences, whereas FLE, and especially attitude towards in-class humor, had a much greater influence on preferred strategies. Overall, spontaneous humor, memes and cartoons were the most strongly endorsed strategies.