It is not a Laughing Matter: Humor in the Spanish Language Class

Abstract

Despite being one of the most universal aspects of communication, humor is difficult to translate from one language to another. This apparent contradiction between the universality of the phenomenon and the untranslatability of it’s specific articulation might be responsible for the liminal position it occupies in foreign language teaching. The researched bibliography (Askildson, Garner…), however, indicates that the use of humor in class has beneficial effects, which focus particularly in the diminishing of the affective barriers that oppose second language acquisition and the establishing of a positive connection between the student and the target language. In this workshop, we want to defend the presence of humor in the Spanish language classroom, both in the teacher-student dynamic and in in the selection of teaching materials. Apart from the previously explained advantages, exposing students to comedic materials strengthens the development of the cultural competence through the affective connection to this language’s culture. Understanding another language’s humor and culture (national, regional, subcultures) equals being conscious of the distance between the student’s own culture and the foreign culture, and it also represents the key to understand and internalize those aspects that cannot be acquired through memorization or explanatory materials. In the particular case of Spanish, the national and regional differences within the Hispanic world are vast and the exposure to the different kinds of humor they produce can help us understand them. Therefore, we would like to establish a framework that might help to appreciate the importance of humor in Spanish language teaching, and make a better use of humor in the classroom through the study of diverse comedic materials (European, Caribbean, South Latinamerican…) and the activities that make use of them. Bibliography Askildson, Lance. 'Effects of humor in the language classroom: Humor as a pedagogical tool in theory and practice.' Arizona Working Papers in SLAT 12 (2005): 45-61. Garner, Randall L. 'Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead to aha!.' College Teaching 54.1 (2006): 177-180.