HUMOUR IN THE CLASSROOM
HUMOUR IN THE CLASSROOM

Author(s): Gabriela Tutunea
Subject(s): Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Stylistics
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: classroom; humou; teacher; student; laughter;
Summary/Abstract: This study attempts to explore the ways in which humour is used in the classroom. The underlying assumption is that humour relies on ambiguity, representing an intermediate space between different meanings. The paper starts with a theoretical presentation of several theories of humour, such as the incongruity theory, the hostility theory, and the release theory, and includes a review of different types of humour – irony, satire, or sarcasm. The practical part consists of data recorded in the classroom, which are identified as humorous. This part aims to classify the humorous instances. The conclusions are that humour occurring in the classroom is mostly innocent and inclusive; however, teachers may use humour in order to indirectly criticize students, and students may resort to humour as an attempt to challenge teachers’ authority.

• Details
• Contents