The risks and rewards of teaching with humour in Western Sydney: Adapting pedagogy to complex demographics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.5.35

Keywords:

HUMOUR, FACE THEORY, MOTIVATION, AFFECT, SOCIAL-LITERACY DISADVANTAGE

Abstract

The University of Western Sydney (UWS) services Australia’s most multicultural region, where a large proportion of students are either migrants or the children of migrants, and many are from non-English speaking backgrounds. It is also an area of chronic social disadvantage. Apart from generic literacy issues, there is also what could be termed a deficit in student motivation. Thus, teaching in this context requires a more creative approach to engage and retain students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Humour, as used in topical content and delivery, has been very successful as a vehicle for these aims. This paper will present a summary of central findings over four years of teaching with humour in two courses. It will be asserted that negotiating students’ literacy levels is best performed through effective use of humour: students are more motivated to learn when they feel that humour use is in their best interests.

Author Biography

Adrian Hale, University of Western Sydney

Adrian Hale is a native of the Western Sydney region. With degrees across Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, English and Applied Linguistics, he has taught in the Literacy, Linguistics and TESOL programs at the University of Western Sydney for the past 10 years. As a successful researcher and practitioner, he seeks to create positive educational outcomes for the students of the most diverse, and disadvantaged, community in Australia. One feature of his teaching is the use of humour, which he considers to be most effective when it is used to communicate, educate, and empower.

Published

2016-12-31

How to Cite

Hale, A. (2016). The risks and rewards of teaching with humour in Western Sydney: Adapting pedagogy to complex demographics. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 3(2), 22–41. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.5.35

Issue

Section

Research Articles - Regular Issue

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