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Beyond A Joke Essay

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Humor or joke has always been part of the behavioural collection of “modern Homo sapiens for thousands of years” (Polimeni, 2006). Joke or humor, being its conventional meaning, is the focus of some studies conducted from logical, mental, sociological and linguistic perspectives. While other researchers working within the first three fields may regard humor as a phenomenon, linguists talk about humour as analysing its semantic and pragmatic devices which leads to various studies regarding humor. Polimeni (2006) suggested that when we generate and perceive humor or joke, we undergo biological process which includes a observable cognitive trait that is dependent on both the person who is generating the joke and the linguistic environment.
The aim of the article “Beyond a Joke” is to help the readers appreciate and be aware about all the possible meaning a conversational humor may have and familiarise themselves on the topic frequent in …show more content…

Skinner supported this claim by stating that students retain more information when humor is employed, which creates a more positive learning environment, retains student’s attention, and reduces anxiety to students when learning.
Morever, Askildson’s (n.d.) study strongly supports the many beneficial effects of humor in teaching. It was indicated in his study that majority of the participants agreed that humour is an important element of creating an environment conducive to learning, humour reduces anxiety or tension among the students inside the classroom. Clearly then, humor is perceived as an important component for the learning process among both students and teachers and must, therefore, be given consideration in evaluation of pedagogical approaches to language

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