1st Edition

Humor in the Classroom A Guide for Language Teachers and Educational Researchers

By Nancy Bell, Anne Pomerantz Copyright 2016
    222 Pages
    by Routledge

    222 Pages
    by Routledge

    Humor in the Classroom provides practical, research-based answers to questions that educational researchers and language teachers might have about the social and cognitive benefits that humor and language play afford in classroom discourse and additional language learning. The book considers the ways in which humor, language play, and creativity can construct new possibilities for classroom identity, critique prevailing norms, and reconfigure particular relations of power. Humor in the Classroom encourages educational researchers and language teachers to take a fresh look at the workings of humor in today’s linguistically diverse classrooms and makes the argument for its role in building a stronger foundation for studies of classroom discourse, theories of additional language development, and approaches to language pedagogy.

    1. Language, communication, and education  2. Humor and language play  3. Understanding classroom talk  4. Playing it safe  5. Humor, learning, and additional language development  6. Teachers and humor: Weighing the risks and benefits  7. Teaching with humor  8. Teaching about humor  9. Researching humor and language play  Appendix: Transcription conventions

    Biography

    Nancy D. Bell is an associate professor at Washington State University.

    Anne Pomerantz is a senior lecturer in educational linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.

    "In conclusion, Bell & Pomerantz’s work is innovative and provides not only answers but also strong motivation for research on humour and its functions in language education. By the end of the book, readers have become familiar with both of the benefits and the risks of the use of humour and language play in additional language learning contexts." -- Spyridoula Gasteraton, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens