Teaching English through Humor: The Use of Dialog Jokes as a Technique in English Language Classes

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of humor in the language classroom and more specifically, provides a seven-step-technique adopting interactional or dialog jokes in EFL language classrooms. At the outset of the paper, some theoretical backgrounds have been provided to account for the rationale behind the use of the (interactional) jokes in language learning classes. Their potentiality of lowering the affective filter, the possibility of incorporating them as meaning-based activities, and their authenticity are but some of the benefits of the use of humor in classrooms. The possibility of using them in role plays, adopting them as measures of comprehension and providing scaffolding when teaching with them could be mentioned as well. Then, having established the theoretical background, seven potential steps for implementing the dialog jokes as a technique in language classrooms will be proffered. For the sake of clarification, one dialog joke has been given and worked on practically as a sample.