Laugh and Learn: Perceptions of Pakistani ESL Learners about the Use of Humor in English Classrooms

Abstract

In ESL settings humor could be seen as widely adopted by teachers and the perceptions of students let us know what role does it play in their English classrooms. The aim of this study is thus to explore the perceptions of ESL students to know what practical implications should be made in their language learning context and what role (positive and negative) does instructors’ humor play in students’ English classroom. The present study is qualitative in nature and an interpretative research design by Cohen, Manion and Morrison, (2013) has been used. Twenty five participants have been selected from the Humanities Department of COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore. The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through Nvivo software following the thematic analysis provided by Braun & Clarke (2006). The findings showed that humor is a positive tool that makes the classroom environment appropriate through students’ participation and removing stress from class. Humor further helps in facilitating learning through using abbreviations, jokes, puns and breaking cultural barrier. In learning process one drawback of humor is that students pay less attention to the main topic. The positive perceptions regarding humor includes, removing anxiety, students’ participation, critical thinking and making students to speak up their ideas. Furthermore the negative side of humor according to students’ perception involved making fun of students’ appearances, criticizing and body shaming. It is concluded that humor should be implemented by teachers and curriculum designers in Pakistani ESL contexts and negative aspects of humor should be avoided.