Teachers’ use of humour styles in the classroom

Think back to your school days. Do you remember the teacher that used lots of humour in the classroom? Is it a good or a bad memory? Research evidence is actually divided on the effects of teachers' classroom humour use on pupils, with some evidence that it may enhance learning, but could also be linked to decreased pupil wellbeing. The more I read about teachers' use of humour, the more I realised that we know relatively little about how humour could impact secondary school and sixth form students' classroom experiences.

My scoping review aims to address this by attempting to find out how and why teachers use humour in classrooms of students aged 11-18, and the effect humour may have on these students' educational experiences. The Joanna Briggs (JBI) methodological framework and PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews checklist were followed in this research.

In the literature search, articles were published from 1997 to 2022, and included teachers' use of humour in full-time school-based education with students aged 11-18. There were 4,733 articles that were found over five different databases. A total of 43 empirical articles were included in a narrative synthesis. 

Students primarily shared positive attitudes towards humour, but a small number reported either negative or conditionally positive views. These students explained they were concerned that humour could lead to wasted time in class. Teachers also shared positive views towards humour and reported using it regularly in classes.

Teachers reported using humour with the intention of helping to support students' academic achievement, classroom experiences and wellbeing. Such as by reducing anxiety during exam seasons. However, not all reasons were for the benefit of students. Some teachers also discussed using humour as a personal coping mechanism and way to deal with challenging interactions.
This scoping review identified seven styles and three sub-styles of teacher humour. These are course related, non-course related, festive, aggressive, self-defeating, self-enhancing, and affiliative humour. Affiliative humour is then further split into three sub-styles: shy affiliative, passive affiliative, and partial affiliative humour. These styles are likely to have different outcomes on students' educational experiences.

Course Related and Non-Course Related Humour

Have you ever used funny memory aids in classes to help your students remember important information? If so, you were probably using course related humour, which refers to humour with the intention of teaching content.

Students associated course related humour with increased academic achievement and an increase in wellbeing by reducing anxiety. Classrooms where teachers used course related humour also had higher grammar achievement compared to classes where teachers did not use course related humour. Additionally, students felt non-course related humour, which is humour unrelated to taught content, reduced clarity of instruction and was an unproductive use of time.

Affiliative Humour

As a student, I loved nothing more than listening to when teachers would go on a tangent, sharing some humorous story from their weekend as a distraction from the current assignment. This use of positive jokes, funny stories, and wit is categorised as affiliative humour. Overall, students had positive opinions on this style, suggesting it created a positive climate and increased participation. Some, however, discussed it leading to confusion about what they were meant to be learning.

There were also three sub-styles of affiliative humour: shy affiliative, partial affiliative, and passive affiliative humour. Shy affiliative refers to teachers who use affiliative humour cautiously because of possible negative repercussions. Partial affiliative refers to teachers who use humour infrequently, but use affiliative humour when they make jokes. Finally, passive affiliative refers to affiliative humour used in responses to students' actions or comments. However, affiliative sub-styles are only included in one study, meaning the frequency and outcomes of using them are still currently unknown. 

Festive Humour 

Teachers, do you have your classroom pranks planned and ready for April 1st next year? This next humour style, festive humour, is the use of jokes around special occasions and holidays, such as April Fools' Day pranks.
Despite its limited inclusion in research, students reports of humour suggest it may have a reciprocity and ability to increase harmony not seen in other styles. However, the extent of its use in the classroom and further outcomes are not yet understood in the literature.

Aggressive Humour

The teacher that stands out the most from my high school days was known for their banter with students and sarcastic sense of humour. This humour would be categorised as aggressive humour, which includes the use of sarcastic jokes and put downs. Some students describe these jokes as leading to feelings of anger and anxiety. Whereas others describe feeling short-changed by their teacher and expressed concerns that it could lead to themselves or others becoming offended.

Although it might seem aggressive humour could be a style to avoid, others reported more positive attitudes towards the humour style. It was described by students as helping to build and support positive student-teacher relationships. Teachers also discussed it being used positively as a way to give feedback to students and correct mistakes without the risk of embarrassment or offence.

Self-Enhancing Humour

Teachers' humour does not only have to be for the benefit of students. If you are using humour in your classes to improve your mood and wellbeing, then you are probably using self-enhancing humour. This humour style is a positive coping humour used in response to stress. 
Self-Enhancing humour style was reported as the second most common style used by teachers. Despite this, there are no other clear references to self-enhancing humour in the literature. This means it is not understood how frequently it is used compared to other humour styles or the possible effect on students. 

Self-Defeating Humour

Have you ever found yourself making jokes about yourself to make light of a situation or relate to your students? Self-defeating humour is just that, using negative humour in class at your own expense.

However, students reported this style as leading to feelings of not being mentally challenged in class. These findings are similar to those of non-course related humour, where students felt the humour style was unproductive. This could mean that these two humour styles have some similar effects on students' educational experiences. 

Identifying Humour Styles

All seven styles and three sub-styles are reported to be used to some capacity. However, the frequency and outcomes of each style is not fully understood. This could be because we do not have a teacher humour scale that incorporates all humour styles used in the literature.

Many current scales are also not made to be used in education settings. Instead they focus on general everyday humour, such as humour in social settings. Due to reports that different styles could have both positive and negative outcomes it is crucial to understand how they are being used. This would create clearer guidelines for teachers on the most beneficial uses of humour as a pedagogical tool. 

My Current Research 

My current research is developing a teachers' humour style questionnaire. The aim is to identify how teachers use each of the seven styles and three sub-styles of humour in the classroom. Going forward, I plan to use this newly developed scale in conjunction with classroom observations and interviews with teachers. This will aim to progress the current understanding of how humour styles affect students' experience. 

Hannah Robinson is a PhD researcher with Staffordshire University. Her research area is teachers' use of classroom humour, specifically focusing on students aged 11 to 18.

Twitter: @Hankumna             
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