By Robert Onsare
In the play The Government Inspector, the author Nikolai Gogol portrays a history teacher who over exaggerates to illustrate Second World War by destroying chairs and other school properties. This book brings home hard facts in a cup of humour among other teaching interventions.
Many researchers and educators have suggested a wide range of benefits connected to the use of humour in the classroom, with some suggesting that humour can help create a positive environment that is conducive for learning because it can help capture and retain learners’ attention in the classroom.
She enumerates that humour may reduce stress or anxiety, improve attitudes, boost morale, increase self – esteem, make teachers more likeable, set up a less-adversarial relationship between teachers and students, as well as promote a sense of acceptance in the classroom that allows students to think in creative and divergent ways.
Several researchers have demonstrated that humour is related to increased comprehension and improved understanding of course materials.
Modechai Gordon in ‘Learning to Laugh at Ourselves: Humour, Self-transcendence, and the Cultivation of Moral Virtues,’ observes: “When teachers are able to transcend their immediate, self-centred perspective and view themselves from the stand of others (perspectives that are often humorous), they are likely to become more humble, honest, open-minded, and patient in their interactions with students”.
A pre-school teacher says that humour with young children can help them see their teacher as understanding and gracious, and it may help ease the tension when behaviour problems cause a conflict.
Humour has been shown to improve reading and writing skills, and can even help develop critical-thinking habits. Children can begin to develop their own humour-related skills at a young age – such as making up jokes or games related to their course materials.
At secondary school level, students can create humour related to the curriculum, such as cartoons or even filming humorous videos. Nevertheless, teachers should watch out that humour is used in a comfortable, non-threatening manner in which nobody is singled out or mocked.
At institutions of higher learning, humour may be seen as inimical to learning (often to the dismay of their students). In one survey, many college students could not name even three teachers they regarded as having demonstrated a sense of humour. In particular, these researchers noted, teachers of English are often stereotyped as humourless.
By contrast, when surveyed, 96 percent of the students said they would use humour if they were professors.
Further, Lei and colleagues in ‘Humour on Learning in the College Classroom’, reveals that the use of humour can actually improve students’ performance, particularly in ‘dreaded classes,’ such as college-level statistics. Students indicate that humour can actually increase their level of attentiveness and help them learn course material.
According to these authors, the psychological benefits of humour include improved mental and physical health, alleviation of negative emotions, and enhancement of student self-perception. Social benefits include improved classroom morale, better relationships between students and instructors, reduced tension, and more relaxed atmosphere. Educational benefits include increased interest, attention, problem-solving, and creativity.
However, Gordon warns that while humour can have many beneficial effects, it can also have unintended negative consequences. A teacher’s self-deprecating humour for example can make students feel uncomfortable and perhaps cause them to mistrust the teacher’s abilities. Gordon offers this cautionary statement:
“Humour is really no different than other interventions and techniques that teachers use (such as pushing their students to work harder or critiquing their ideas), which can have both positive and negative effects. Experience shows that there is often a thin line between the sensible use of humour and laughter and their overuse or misuse. An expert teacher usually knows when humour is called for and how not to cross this line.”
Jim Flower in his book Technology Teacher, advises against telling offensive jokes or making fun of students. He says it should be kept in mind that different things may be considered offensive by students from various cultures, so comments that could be regarded as insensitive to specific students or ethnic groups should be avoided.
Flower is of the idea that humour that is used to make points about specific course content works better than random or “aimless” humour. He adds that teachers need to be aware of the developmental levels of their students to ensure that they will understand and appreciate the humour employed.
Prof Linda Ivy, a psychology lecturer at Walla Walla University and an expert in human development and psychology, says teachers should be careful not to turn the classroom into a ‘comedy club’ like that of The Government Inspector where students are not sure whether to take any of the materials seriously.
Excessive humour is said to have damaging consequences such as undermining the credibility of the teacher, making students feel self-conscious, bored, or frustrated, or at a loss to focus on the purpose of instruction.
The Writer is a trainer at Kisii National Polytechnic and a post-graduate student at Multimedia University of Kenya and Kisii University. robert.onsare@gmail.com
