Using Humor as a Pedagogical Stategy to Reduce Students' Boredom

Abstract

Many teachers fail to manage their classes because they are not knowledgeable about their students. As a result, this latter is unable to adapt to the classroom setting, and definitely feel bored. Then, the learning process will be handicapped. This descriptive study mainly aims at investigating the effects of Humor as a pedagogical strategy on teaching and learning. The study examines to what extent Humor can (1) reduce students’ boredom and anxiety,(2) increase their motivation (3) create the appropriate atmosphere to enhance learning (4)it further attempts to determine the major traits of the effective teaching based on the use of Humor. So, in order to gain deeper understanding of the impact of Humor on EFL teaching and learning, the data is collected by the means of case study. The population selected for this study has been presented by the first- year LMD students at the Branch of English at Mohammed Kheider University, Biskra. A random sampling procedure has been used in the selection of the sample for this study. The researcher has observed students’ attitudes during a period of time to examine their adaptation to humor. Moreover, a questionnaire has been designed to survey the notion of Humor as a pedagogical tool in the teachers’ point of view. Through comparing, explaining and commenting on the participants’ attitudes toward the suggested strategy, the data have been analyzed. At the end, conciliatorily, the results obtained have revealed that the research hypothesis is workable; humor can be applied as a pedagogical strategy so as to create successful EFL learners.