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COMPREHENSION OF JOKES IN B2-LEVEL ENGLISH TO FOSTER CRITICAL CULTURAL
AWARENESS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
Ulzhan S.
Master student of Suleyman Demirel University
ABSTRACT
Jokes can often be used as an effective communication strategy in intercultural situations. Considering a thorough understanding of what sort of jokes are appropriate for pedagogical purposes in ELT classes and specific situations in authentic communication is essential for a teacher. This study aims to describe some principles of selection, preparation and inclusion of jokes of different types for various communicative functions to develop EFL learners' critical cultural awareness. Naturally, there are opportunities and risks in bringing jokes to the English class, as there has to be an element of ambiguity at a certain degree that challenges the comprehension but promotes the 'fun' that emerges out of the same ambiguity. Jokes in students' first language incorporating intensive cultural codes may be rather difficult to translate into the target language, and the language teacher has to make quick decisions and strategies to employ a pragmatic competence. The findings may be useful to help develop skills of distinguishing jokes for their usefulness in the classroom discourse, particularly when teaching listening and reading comprehension skills in English.
Keywords: joke, intercultural competence, listening comprehension, intensive reading.
Introduction
Currently, many researchers and teachers of foreign languages point to the need to develop intercultural competence - students' understanding of the mentality and features of everyday life of citizens of the country of the language being studied. According to Sternin et al. (2003) it is recognized that intercultural competence is as crucial an aspect of language learning as linguistic competence, because cultural paradigms, norms, and values determine the nature and content of communication. As part of the development of intercultural competence, emphasis is placed on obtaining country-specific knowledge. However, in addition to mastering the knowledge of the country, it is necessary for students to understand the norms of behavior and mentality of the inhabitants of the country of the language is being studied. Underestimating the importance
of these components of culture can create cultural barriers to communication and significantly complicate communication (Pavlenko, 2015). Humorous literature of the countries of the studied languages is an extensive stratum of culture that cannot be ignored when teaching a foreign language, in particular, when teaching socio-cultural competence in the process of teaching English as a linguistic specialty, since English humor is less of a literary genre, and more of a way of life for Englishmen. In our opinion, one of the important layers of culture necessary for unhindered communication is humor. Verbal humor in any society is a way to Express emotions and establish contact between people. National humor reflects both cultural and historical realities, values, and traditions of society, so understanding national verbal humor provides the key to understanding foreign culture (Kulinich, 1999). In understanding
British culture, the ability to understand humor is particularly important, since humor is one of the cornerstones of British culture. According to the British researcher Kate Fox (2004), humor is the default mode of English, permeating all aspects of communication.
Literature Review
The great Goethe said: "Humor is one of the elements of genius". And he is undoubtedly right, because it is impossible to imagine a society that does not know sadness and tears, however, as well as a society without a sense of humor. One of the previous researches in this field was provided by Hidayet Tuncay (2007) within his dissertation. The author conducted research at Higher School of Foreign Languages istanbul Arel University in which he focused on the research survey based on three headings: culture - based, language - oriented and meaning - based. According to the results, Tuncay (2007) concluded that using jokes may bring some advantages and disadvantages to the classroom as well as the teacher's teaching performance. Hidayet Tuncay (2007) outlined some advantages:
- it breaks the ice during teaching
- it reduces TTT (teacher talking time), but increases STT (a student talking time)
- it can contribute to a positive learning environment
- it also helps students improve communication skills
- learner inhibitions quickly disappear and it helps develop a positive self-esteem
- for a limited time, it helps teachers stay away from the routine use of a coursebook
- it may also bring a new insight for a teacher's teaching performance
- Finally, it enables students to make use of foreign language skills.
In contrast, using humor in English as a Foreign Language classroom has some limitations that both teachers and learners should overcome as follows:
- it requires an effective joke-telling skill that most teachers are afraid of
- it requires subskills such as cultural understanding and catching the punchline in the first instance
- jokes should be refined by teachers and classified
- due to meaning ambiguity and a play on words, some jokes may be difficult to understand
- Some jokes are thought provoking and the teacher should be patient enough to motivate students to comprehend hidden meanings.
In despite of disadvantages, if the teacher uses appropriate jokes according to students' level, it can help to improve several skills including listening, speaking, and reading.
Other researchers (Smith & Wortley, 2017) compared the effectiveness of using humor in the online and a traditional EFL classroom. According to Smith and Wortley (2017), when humor is appropriate and delivered as part of the teacher's natural personality, students can create more powerful connections with the material and the teacher himself. As education continues to develop in both online and more traditional settings, the use of humor requires approval and integration into the learning process.
Safonova (2006) rightly argues that if you cannot teach a sense of humor, you can teach the language of
humor, which is part of the "socio-cultural portrait" of the country of the language being studied. Understanding the language is only half of the task; in fact, you need to be able to feel it. National humor provides a great opportunity to feel the subtleties and peculiarities of the language, as well as to eliminate of some stereotypes that do not reflect the reality.
English humorous texts are difficult to understand for another reason: they reflect the attitude of the English to their cultural values. To learn to understand English humor, you need to know and understand English culture. Understand-means that "a person, meeting in the world around him with something new for himself, includes this new, comprehending it, in the already known and familiar to him, i.e., in the structures of knowledge already existing in his consciousness" (Haleeva, 2004). Those who understand are limited by the cultural and historical tradition in which they live and by their own experience.
In his work "Semantic mechanisms of humor" Raskin (1985) introduces the concept of script, that is, the context that is fixed in the minds of carriers of culture and a certain social experience. A scenario is a cognitive concept because it contains information about something. The purpose of Ruskin's semantic theory of humor was to find the conditions that would be necessary and sufficient for the text to be funny. Thus, according to Ruskin, a comic message produces a laughable effect if two conditions are met simultaneously:
1. The cognitive basis of the text is two different scenarios;
2. These two scenarios are opposite to each other
In addition, humor as a universal phenomenon refers to the layer of subjective culture, which has psychological features and includes personal values and patterns of thinking. According to Brockhaus and Efron (2004), humor is, first of all, a special worldview based on the rule of thought. Subjectivity of thought is the domain of humor. This is, in a certain sense, the mood and state caused by the contrast between the world of the ideal and the world of reality, expressed in a humorous representation of life, representing a special image of the worldview. There are three types of humor: mood humor, image humor, and character humor. There are also three degrees of humor: positive humor (optimistic); negative humor (satirical); and moderate humor (ironic).
According to Medgyes (2005), students studying a foreign language are happy to use humorous materials in the classroom. He believes that humor should be included in the program because it, as a conductor of authentic cultural information, provides a bridge between cultures, creates conditions for the practice of language in an authentic context, while relieving the tension of the audience. According to the author, humor enriches the educational material, which increases motivation and develops creative thinking.
In his research on the problem of teaching students of linguistics to perceive humorous texts Yarmina (2008) notes that the lack of understanding of English humor to students for whom English is a specialized subject is the result of an insufficiently formed "socio-linguistic competence". Developed sociolinguistic competence necessarily includes familiarization of students with the realities of the British way of life, their knowledge of the etiquette norms accepted in British
society, understanding of the deep values of English society.
Methodology
In this study, the two groups at the same proficiency level (B2) were compared. Each group consisted of 20 students. Firstly, a pre-test of 40 questions testing the target vocabulary knowledge was implemented to experimental and control group with no prior announcement. The pre-test was in the form of multiple choice questions. Then, for experimental group 6 jokes were selected. Within these jokes critical cultural awareness words were randomly selected as the target words of the study. Two pairs of jokes were formed and each pair had the 20 of the target words. For the control group two translation sheet of 20 isolated sentences, each of which covered the same set of target vocabulary items was prepared. The teaching process was implemented in two sessions, on the same day for two consecutive weeks. In each session the experimental group was taught 3 jokes including cultural vocabulary items. In contrast, control group was taught the same 20 target words through translation sheet.
Findings
To measure the performance of both groups, a pretest, a post-test, and a retention test were administered to the experimental group and to the control group. The goal of the pre-test was to obtain base-lines which will enable us to compare and evaluate the results of the post-test. The goal of the post-test, which was administered after the culture teaching process, was to verify the first hypothesis and to compare the students" improvement in their passive vocabulary which was taught by means of 47 two approaches. The goal of the retention test (delayed post-test) is to test the second hypothesis.
The pre-test was administered to the both groups on the same day. The raw pre-test scores of the experimental and the control group were used to calculate the means and the standard deviations of the groups. The average scores of the experimental group were calculated as 22.6 ± 5.29, the control group as 22.10 ± 6.15. A Mann-Whitney U test analysis of the pretest for the experimental and control group was computed, the z value being 0.30 at the 0.05 level of significance. The comparison of the mean scores of pre-tests of both experimental and control groups showed that they were more or less at the same level of proficiency in terms of the culture awareness.
The post-test scores of the two groups were compared after the instruction. The post-test was administered to the same groups after the vocabulary teaching process. Its goal was to compare the groups" improvement in critical culture awareness. There was a significant difference within the experimental group as a result of the z value (-21.192) calculated by Wilcoxon test. In other words, the experimental group increased their culture awareness knowledge on the post-test as well.
Conclusion
After the instruction given to the groups in two different ways, the Post-test and retention test were administered to the groups. The quantitative results indicate that both groups performed better after instruction. However, the experimental group performed significantly better on the post- and the retention tests than the control group. The experimental group showed greater meaningful progress from pre-test to post-test and maintained this considerable level of achievement at the time of retention testing one week later. This progress signifies a substantial improvement in the experimental group's ability to learn and retain critical culture awareness through jokes.
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