英语毕业论文-Humor and English Learning

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英语毕业论文范例-Humor and English Learning

Recently, the application of humor in English class becomes more and more popular. It can create a positive classroom mood, break up the communicative barrier between teachers and students and attract students to take part in classroom activities. A sense of humor has become one of the characteristics of an excellent teacher. In this part, the author firstly gives a introduction to Affective Filter Hypothesis, then inquires into relevant theories on mood. The author also analyzes the function of humor in creating positive classroom mood.
The English word “humor” is derived from an ancient Latin word, which means one of certain liquids in the body. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English—Chinese Dictionary, humor means : (1) quality of being amusing or comic. (2) ability to appreciate things, situations or people that are comic ; ability to be amused. (3) person’s state of mind ; mood ; temper. (4) any of the four liquids(blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy) in the body that were once thought to determine a person’s mental and physical qualities. From the above definition, we know “humor” has a broad meaning. In this thesis, the author mainly refers to verbal humor. By verbal humor, we mean the humor created by the different components of language, including humorous essay, jocular sketch, joke, irony, sarcasm, wit, bon mot, epigram and pun.

1.1 An Introduction to Affective Filter Hypothesis
The Affective Filter Hypothesis is one of five proposed hypotheses developed by Steven Krashen. It is an explanation of the relationship between affective factors and language learning. The Affective Filter Hypothesis is particularly appealing to teachers because it provides an explanation to why some learners learn and others do not.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis states the relationship between affective variables and the process of second language learning. Affective variables related to success in second language learning may be placed into one of three categories: (a) motivation, (b) self-confidence, and (c) anxiety. Krashen points to the importance of motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. He holds that these factors are more involved in constructing the acquired system than in learning. They are more strongly related to achievement as measured by communicative tests than by formal language tests. He writes:

The Affective Filter Hypothesis captures the relationship between affective variables and the process of second language acquisition by positing that acquirers vary with respect to the strength or level of their Affective Filters. Those whose attitudes are not optimal for second language acquisition will not only tend to seek less input, but they will also have a high or strong Affective Filter - even if they understand the message, the input will not reach that part of the brain responsible for language acquisition, or the language acquisition device. Those with attitudes more conducive to second language acquisition will not only seek and obtain more input, they will also have a lower or weaker filter. They will be more open to the input, and it will strike “deeper”. (Krashen 1987：31)

From this hypothesis, Krashen deduces that:

...our pedagogical goals should not only include supplying comprehensible input, but also creating a situation that encourages a low filter ... The input hypothesis and the concept of the Affective Filter define the language teacher in a new way. The effective language teacher is someone who can provide input and help make it comprehensible in a low anxiety situation. (1987：32)

Teachers have long recognized the need for students to have a positive attitude for learning. Krashen(1987) explains that for optimal learning to occur, the affective filter must be weak. A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning. If the affective filter is strong, the learner will not seek language input, and in turn, not be open for language acquisition. The practical application of the Affective Filter Hypothesis is that teachers must provide a positive atmosphere conducive to language learning. Humor is one method for achieving a weak affective filter and promoting language learning.

1.2 Mood And English Learning
1.2.1 Mood
Psychologist define mood as a state of feeling of varying duration. In fact, mood is a temporary state of mind or feeling at a particular time when one takes on a certain activity（朱纯 1994：341 translated by the author）. Compared to feeling, moods are more transitory and less powerful and thus more manageable. As a kind of emotion, it can regulate and control other mental activities and behaviors. People often cannot be conscious of their own changing mood, as there are many factors which will influence one’s mood, such as their poor state of health, failure in exams and so on. Mood can be positive or negative. Positive moods will help one to work or study more efficiently and effectively while negative moods have bad effects upon one’s health as well as on one’s work and study (Lu 2000: 44; Strongman 1986:405). According to Strongman (1986:205) mood can promote or hinder working memory, reasoning operation and problem solving. The virtue of positive mood is that it can expand our typical ways of thinking and being in the world, pushing us to be more creative, more curious and more connected to others (Fredrickson 1998). Psychologist did some experiments to investigate the influence of moods on memory and thinking. One result of the study was that people recalled a greater percentage of word lists, personal experiences that were affectively congruent with mood they were in during recalling. In these activities, they exhibited mood-state-dependent memory. Another result was that emotion powerfully influenced such cognitive process as free associations, imaginative fantasies, social perceptions, and snap judgments about others’ personalities (e.g., angry people generated angry associates, told hostile stories, and were prone to find fault with others). Therefore, it is essential to learn to develop positive mood and control one’s negative emotions to achieve efficient outcome in learning process. It is known to us that, in the instructional activities, both teaching and learning take place in a certain state of mood engendered by students and teachers. Psychologist made a study of emotion regulation teaching pattern, they suggested that teachers should use flexible methods to induce and adjust students’ emotions in the teaching process to develop students’ eagerness and fondness of study. That is the key to the effective teaching outcome, as cognitive process is always related to emotions involved.

1.2.2 Classroom Mood and English Learning
As far as we know, teaching and learning never take place in isolation. In this process, many factors are involved, such as teachers, students, materials, environmental factors and so on. Actually, these processes are the interactions between teachers and students, students and students, teachers and materials, students and materials, environmental factors and students, environmental factors and teachers. Therefore, it is impossible to for us to avoid talking about mood when we talk about the teaching methods and skills in foreign language research. We seldom have taken effect of mood into consideration in FL learning and teaching for several decades. Currently, people have come to this aspect, but we still got an ambiguous picture of classroom mood. Chen and Zhang (1998) defined classroom mood as a state of feeling or emotion both teachers and students experienced during the process of instruction (teaching and learning), which often monitored instructional activities automatically and had an effect on their happening and development. In fact, it is a certain kind of classroom climate, which will be guaranteed to produce the efficiency of teaching and learning in the classroom. From the perspective of the students, classroom mood mainly refer to the interest, attitudes, values and preferences that students express about a particular subject or course, and that students have about their teacher’s and peer’s personality and teaching and learning competence respectively, and that are associated with teaching and learning environment. The traits of these emotions indicate that such classroom mood is relatively stable, especially for senior students, as their teachers, materials, peers, classrooms and even learning goals are relatively stable. When students are free from disruptive anxieties, fears, anger, boredom and depression, they are more likely to make desirable cognitive and effective gains. Well, what often decides such classroom climate? More than any other person, the way the teachers give a lesson sets the classroom climate.

1.3 Function of Humor Creating Positive Classroom Mood
Humor has the characteristic of making something laughable or amusing, but humor in English classroom has more than just the effect to induce laughter. It brings a chain reaction by increasing the learner’s motivation, reducing anxiety and building harmonious relationship between teachers and students, which all together help to create a positive classroom mood for the smooth acquisition of language.

1.3.1 Increasing Motivation
Motivation may be construed as a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, which leads to a conscious decision to act, and gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual or physical effort in order to attain a previously set goal.
The initial motivation may be triggered by different factors, perhaps the internal ones such as interest or curiosity, and often by external influence such as another person or event. It is clear that motivation occurs as a result of a combination of different influences. Some of these influences are internal, which comes from the inside of the learner, such as an interest in the activity or a wish to succeed. Others are external, for example, the influence of other people. This internal-external distinction is the one that has played a significant part in many current theories of motivation.
According to Li Rumi (1998:374), the use of humor in teaching can help to increase the motivation of the students. As a decision-making teacher, if you add humor to your classes, you can gain the attention of the whole class and keep their interests in the material presented. For the students are more interested in a humorous explanation.

1.3.2 Reducing Anxiety
Anxiety, one of the most prominent and pervasive emotions, was defined as a feeling of uneasy suspense. It was a research focus in many disciplines such as psychology and education. “Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (Spielberger 1983:577). Not only was it intuitive to many people that anxiety had been found to interfere with language learning, it was logical because anxiety had been found to interfere with many types of learning and had been one of the most highly examined variables in psychology and education.
The application of humor in English class can help to reduce anxiety and help to promote understanding and facilitate memory, which all together help the study of language (陈艳松2004). Positive humor helps to create a positive classroom mood which encourages the learners’ desire to take part in classroom conversation by decreasing anxiety and stress.
A positive classroom mood coupled with increased motivation encourages the young learners to take risk and participate in the use of English, because there is no fear of criticism or being ridiculed in joyful and non-threatening environment.

1.3.3 Creating Harmonious Relationship Between Teachers and Students
According to Li Rumi(1998:374), the use of humor in classroom can help to create a more positive learning environment by breaking down barriers to communicate between the teacher and the students. There are many differences between teachers and students such as position, title, age and income, which create barriers to communication. Humor is one method that the teachers can use to make their relationship with students closer. When teachers have a sense of humor and are not afraid to use it, students relax and become listeners. Having a sense of humor is an indication that the teacher is human and can share with the group. Humor builds rapport between the students and teachers. Students will be less intimated and less inhibited about asking question or making comments.

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