Students used inquiry to invest folklore in their community. As part of the C3 inquiry arc students defined questions, connected folklore to a discipline, gathered data from their community and communicated information. Students' agency drove each of the projects as the students determined how much they would investigate each topic. Students…

Humor can facilitate relationship-building and comfort in new experiences, essential elements for nature education programs prioritizing inclusive practices. This article presents insights on using humor in outdoor educational settings from a qualitative case study of an equity-driven nature education program. I present four key elements of…

Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs), which are voice-activated agents enabling human--computer interaction, have recently been reported to be pedagogically useful agents in language learning. IPAs use various forms of humor to better communicate with users and to compensate for any performance limitations. In order to understand the IPAs' sense…

Wordless picturebooks provide opportunities for both families and teachers to engage with narrative texts beyond the confines of a particular language. In this ethnographic study, the researchers examined how one multilingual family interacted with a wordless picturebook across time. They observed shifts in who engaged with the reading; evidence…

Humor is a serious business. This study explores the perception of students in Thailand on the use of humor in business classrooms indicating that humorous classroom brings about physiological and emotional benefits to students as it relieves tension and stress, makes the classroom atmosphere more comfortable and less intimidating, and facilitates…

Digital literacy skills are crucial twenty-first-century skills that are required for the successful use of technology and active engagement in today's world. However, there is a lack of effective resources and guidelines for developing English as a second language (ESL) learners' digital literacy skills. Due to their increasingly important and…

Research on humour in second language classrooms has widely focused on the roles, social functions and markers of humour in interaction; however, little attention has been paid to the sequential mechanisms of humour and the relationship between repair and humour. Therefore, drawing on a conversation analytic approach, this study investigates…

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…

This paper aimed at examining and comparing the effects of different humor-based strategies (joke, pun, and limerick) on vocabulary learning of EFL learners at intermediate and advanced levels. To this end, 120 EFL learners in a private institute were asked to serve as the participants of the study. They were then divided into two groups according…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to provide answers to the research question, "What teacher characteristics do London upper Secondary school students value?" Using convenient or opportunity sampling, 51 Grade 12 and 13 students ages 16-18 in a south-west London secondary school were interviewed using a face-to-face method. The…

This study (N = 326) was conducted to examine the associations among instructor humor, inappropriate conversations, and instructional dissent. First, results showed students are more likely to employ rhetorical dissent when they perceive their instructors as humorous in the classroom. Second, using expectancy violations theory as a guide, results…

Due to numerous reforms, modern teaching now asks for the role of the teacher to be redefined as well. One of the teacher's many tasks is to master the competencies which would enable them to encourage and stimulate their learners. In this article, authors report on a research conducted at Preschool Teachers' Training College in Kikinda, which…

How can comedy be used as an effective tool and truly help innovate the learning experience? This paper outlines how aspects of comedy have been creatively integrated into primary and secondary academic curricula such as English Language Arts, social studies, drama, as well as in areas of mental health and wellness. The essay demonstrates, for…

Courses: Public speaking; communication courses requiring speeches. Objective: Students will learn how to apply humor principles to speeches through a slideshow method supportive of this goal, and to become more discerning about the possibilities and pitfalls of humorous communication.

As our students' consumption of internet memes through social media increases, a critical perspective toward these memes becomes increasingly important. Memes present teachers with a powerful and relevant way to approach critical analysis and discussion in the 21st-century classroom. In this article, the authors present a framework for…