Teacher emotions are important yet understudied in the classroom. The current study explores how teachers manage their emotions in the classroom. More specifically, we apply the five feeling rules that describe how college instructors' emotional labor performances shape their experiences in the classroom. Through a qualitative theoretical thematic…

Instructors use humor in the classroom in numerous ways, including behaving stupidly, offering impersonations, manipulating their nonverbals, telling a story, joke, or pun, and using a costume or prop. How students decode their instructors' use of humor impacts their feelings about the course and their instructors. In this study, we investigated…

This study was conducted to examine the impact of integrated humor on direct measures of students' ability to retain and transfer information from educational lessons. In two experiments, participants were randomly exposed to either a lesson with humorous examples or standard examples and were subsequently asked to take tests on the material. Data…

This study investigated how managers, entry-level employees, and hiring professionals in the optics and photonics industry socialize each other to enact the communication norms and expectations in their workplaces. A qualitative analysis of transcripts from interviews conducted with 33 employees at 15 companies produced five prevalent themes…

Guided by emotional response theory, this study examined how students' emotional responses mediated the relationship between their instructors' dramatic teaching behaviors (i.e., humor, self-disclosure, narrative) and their approach-avoidance behaviors (i.e., oral in-class participation, out-of-class communication, classroom citizenship…

In this study, we investigated how various teaching behaviors influence student interest as a situational variable. Specifically, we studied how behaviors related to "catch" interest (i.e., ephemeral aspects of the learning environment such as instructor humor, nonverbal immediacy, intellectual stimulation) and "hold" interest…

Instructors' use of humor is generally a positive influence on student outcomes. However, examinations of humor have found that specific types of messages may not impact, or may even reverse, its positive effect. Instructional humor processing theory (IHPT) has been used to explain how humor impacts student learning. The current study sought to…

Using rhetorical/relational goal theory as a guiding frame, we examined relationships between instructor misbehaviors (i.e., indolence, incompetence, and offensiveness) and the likelihood of students communicating antisocial behavioral alteration techniques (BATs). More specifically, the study focused on whether students' perceptions of instructor…

Examines the use of entertainment features in children's educational television through a systematic content analysis of sample programs. Assesses the quantity of use of humorous and attention-getting material, examines distinguishing characteristics of the entertainment-oriented messages, and highlights several patterns of use for these…

The use of humor in teaching has been linked to learning in several studies, although the research has been equivocal. The various types of humor used by teachers have also been investigated but not in terms of what students view as appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor. Participants in this study were asked to generate examples of…

Focuses on the relationship of three student predispositions to their expectations for instructor communication behavior. Examines students' communication apprehension, grade and learning orientation, and humor orientation in relation to students' expectations for teachers' use of verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors, clarity behaviors, and…

Investigates the use of humor in basic communication textbooks. Concludes that humor is used frequently to teach rather than simply to attract attention; it is of the harmless, nonsense variety and appears not to be antisocial as far as sex-role stereotypes are concerned. (JMF)

Investigates teachers' use of humor in relationship to immediacy and affective learning outcomes. Reports that (1) amount and type of humor influenced learning; (2) students were particularly aware of tendentious humor; (3) an overdependence on tendentious humor diminished affect; (4) male and female students perceive humor differently; and (5)…

Examines the use of humor by college teachers in the classroom, assesses the frequency with which humor is employed, and characterizes the type of humor used. Several patterns of humor usage are presented. (JMF)

Provides comparative data on the use of humor, self-disclosure, and narrative by award-winning college and secondary teachers. Indicates that these teachers used these dramatic behaviors to clarify course content, and that they used them significantly more than the nonaward winning teachers from the same educational levels. (MS)