Putting Laughter in Learning: Humour and Vocabulary Comprehension among ESL Students with Low Proficiency Levels

• Published in: AIP Conference Proceedings
• Main Author: Zabidin N.; Dellah N.F.; Nordin N.A.; Kamaludin P.N.H.; Sharif N.F.M.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Physics 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85192009482&doi=10.1063%2f5.0181867&partnerID=40&md5=296f61f8cc8e4767519b5d8ed614e052

Vocabulary is the backbone of a language, making it a vital component in successful language acquisition. However, vocabulary teaching and learning remains one of the challenges in the language classrooms due to mechanical and monotonous teaching methods employed and lack of authentic supplementary materials, among other reasons. Meanwhile, many studies have reported the benefits of inserting humour in teaching in these recent years. Hence, one suggestion to address the challenge in developing learners' word knowledge is by introducing humour in this study. This paper aimed to present short narrative jokes as one example of such material and explore their effects on word comprehension of ESL learners with low proficiency levels. The study involved an experiment with two intact groups of tertiary level students. Prior to the exposure to the materials, the participants were asked to answer a vocabulary test (pretest) to assess vocabulary recognition of the target words. The experimental group was then exposed to humorous texts while the control group received comparable non-humorous texts, followed by another vocabulary test (post-test) to measure vocabulary comprehension. Their pre-test and post-test scores were later compared as gain scores. Further analysis was also done using the t test. The findings of this study revealed that humour could indeed assist in word comprehension as a statistically significant difference was detected between the experimental and control groups. One of its significant implications is for language instructors to include humour as an example of authentic supplementary material in vocabulary teaching and learning, especially for learners with low proficiency levels. © 2024 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.