Laughter and ESL

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how laughter can be an important tool for teaching and how one of the areas in which it can be especially helpful in teaching students is that of ESL, or English as a second language. It looks at how understanding humor requires an analysis of language on the level of syntax, grammar, and semantics, and unlike other exercises that require an equal amount of linguistic "work", in the case of humor there is a reward, "getting" the joke. It also discusses how the complexity of humor that combines cultural, ethnic, national. and religious backgrounds can help the second-language learner to recognize that humor contains many hidden cultural meanings and, therefore, functions as a social unifier within groups.

From the Paper:

"Puns can server as useful "pedagogical tools for several functions. . . . enlarging vocabulary and in explaining the anomalies of English spelling, syntax and phonology" (Monnot, 1974, p. 71). Teaching bilingual students requires a great deal of flexibility on the part of the teacher. This is especially true if there are several different cultures and languages represented in any given classroom of the second language learners. Monnot (1974) recognizes that ESL classes usually require special emphasis on cultural background as well as the language being spoken."

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