This paper discusses the animated web series "Lifeswap" as an example for "amateur online interculturism" and investigates its potential for intercultural language education. Drawing on Dervin's (2015) discussion on the "amateur interculturist", I suggest that online publications of personal encounters of…

Researches have showed that joke telling is a type of verbal behavior associated with the field of sociolinguistics (e.g., Al-Khatib, 1999). This study aims to report Taiwanese jokes and their sociological functions that people in Taiwan attempt to communicate in jokes. Besides, this study will report what the typical topics and characteristics…

The production and understanding of humor calls for a specific competence. It appears that second language learners fail to develop this competence even when they reach native-like proficiency levels. A review of the literature suggests that the notion of humor competence in second language learning has not been examined. Humor competence can be…

After a discussion of cognitive schemata, identified as representing a "gestalt" stored in human memory, this paper explores three pedagogical modes: the use of drama, humor, and suspense in the classroom. Ways that each pertain to cognitive and communication theory are discussed, and classroom examples of how each mode provides…

Humor can be a very effective tool to make students remember what they should know about the traditions and beliefs, manners and institutions of a culture. The teacher himself should outwardly be the embodiment of the culture which is taught. For example, when a teacher of French walks into the classroom the first day he should introduce himself…

Humor is an excellent teaching tool because, in addition to preventing classroom boredom and monotony, it introduces lateral aspects of language such as irony, sarcasm, mockery, elision, ellipsis, and euphemism. Humor in language can be approached interactively or structurally through a variety of activities. It can be used to expand vocabulary,…