A Study On The Application Of Humor In High School EFL Classroom Teaching

Over the years, due to the effect of various factors such as entrance-oriented examination,most of the teaching methods in senior high school EFL teaching have put emphasis onimparting knowledge but little attention has been paid to students’ confidence, interest andattitude. Consequently, a large number of students feel that learning English is forced by theexamination-oriented education. All these factors have led to the loss of students’ confidenceand interest in English learning which they should have and have made the teaching ofEnglish less effective. The introduction of humor in senior high school EFL classroomteaching might be assumed to be a possible effective means to change the unfavorablesituation. However, little attention has been paid to and little empirical research has been doneso far on humor used in EFL classroom teaching.The present research selected112first year senior high school students from Yan tai asthe subjects and did research on the function of humor in senior high school English teachingby adopting tests and questionnaire as the methodologies. Findings of the research show thatthe use of humor in senior high school EFL classroom teaching:1) has improved the Englishlanguage competence of the students, and has a significant positive effect on the students’achievements;2) has enhanced the students’ confidence of learning English, has increasedtheir learning interest in and improved their attitude of learning it;3) has made the greatmajority of the senior high school students able to recognize the humor used in EFLclassroom teaching and have a positive and welcome attitude towards it, as a result of whichstudents are more likely to use and show their own sense of humor on their own initiative;4)has made it possible that a humorous teacher is easier to establish a good teacher and studentrelationship.5) has demonstrated that the appropriate use of humor may not cause anynegative effect in senior high EFL classroom teaching.The results of the present research imply that humor can be used in senior high schoolEFL classroom teaching, and it has some practical value in enhancing the quality of seniorhigh school EFL teaching. Meanwhile, this research may also enrich contribute to the study ofthe use of humor in the English classroom in China.