by Kim Hochschild, research intern at the department of Teacher Education
Have you ever noticed that some lectures feel more engaging than others and that certain professors make it easier to stay focused? Humor might be playing a bigger role than you think!
Since September, I have interned at the Teacher Education Department at the University of Groningen. The research I have been working on focused on humor in higher education. The following blog post will include my experiences as an intern, key findings from research, and insights I gained from an informal questionnaire with university students.
I spent 140 hours on my internship, which might not seem that much for anyone working in research. After all, you could probably spend that time just creating a research poster. However, I still managed to complete a literature review, design an informal questionnaire, create a research poster for the education festival, and join meetings with my mentor to better understand the responsibilities of a researcher. Since this was a research internship, my main tasks revolved around reading numerous articles and collecting findings. I explored different scales to use in my questionnaire, which aimed to capture students’ perspectives on humor in the classroom. While balancing this internship with my psychology degree was challenging at times, I thoroughly enjoyed gaining insight into what it means to be a researcher.
I do not claim to have experienced all the challenges that come with research, but I was inspired by how a profession often seen as isolating is actually filled with collaboration and support. Before this internship, I was unsure whether research was the right path for me. However, this experience has rekindled my interest in pursuing it further.
Humor in Higher Education: Key Research Findings
Before this internship, I had not given much thought to the role of humor in higher education. I knew I preferred certain lecturers over others based on their teaching styles, and that some made it easier for me to stay engaged, but I had not considered why. Thus, diving into this topic as part of my internship was fascinating.
Research suggests that humor plays a significant role in education by fostering engagement (Ramli et al., 2023; Pretorius et al., 2020), improving concentration (Bakar & Mallan, 2023), and reducing feelings of isolation in classrooms (Ramli et al., 2023). It creates a more relaxed and interactive learning environment (Hassan & Tahir, 2022; Huss & Eastep, 2016) and strengthens rapport between students and teachers (Ağçam, 2017). When humor is well-timed and relevant to the content, it can reinforce lessons, make topics more relatable, and encourage participation (Chowdhury, 2022). It has also been shown to alleviate stress and anxiety, particularly around sensitive topics (Pretorius et al., 2020; Banas et al., 2011).
However, humor must be used carefully. While appropriate humor can enhance motivation (Banas et al., 2011; Ağçam, 2017) and improve retention of complex material (Pretorius et al., 2020; Bakar & Mallan, 2023), inappropriate humor, such as offensive or culturally insensitive jokes, can have the opposite effect. Research indicates that humor should be culturally inclusive and relevant to shared experiences rather than relying on references that only specific groups would understand (Hassan & Tahir, 2022; Wanzer et al., 2006).
Student Perspectives: Insights from My Questionnaire
To gain a better understanding of how students experience humor in the classroom, I distributed a questionnaire to students from different cultural backgrounds at the University of Groningen, as well as to students at a German university, where the student population is typically more culturally homogenous. While my findings are not meant to be definitive evidence, they do provide interesting insights.
- Frequency and perception of humor use:
Most students (22 out of 24) reported that humor is used in their classes at least sometimes, with the majority viewing its use positively. Nearly 80% believed that the humor used was appropriate and effective.
- Cultural inclusivity:
17 out of 24 students felt that classroom humor was culturally inclusive, while the rest were neutral or disagreed. However, responses were more divided on humor involving cultural themes, only eight students felt comfortable with it, while nine expressed discomfort.
- Impact on engagement:
When humor was used, 21 out of 24 students said they had more fun in class, and 20 reported that it helped them stay focused. However, humor did not necessarily lead to increased participation in discussions, as only 7 out of 24 students felt it encouraged them to contribute more actively.
- Types of humor used and effectiveness:
The most commonly observed types of humor were anecdotes (13 students), sarcasm (14 students), and jokes (11 students). Anecdotes and jokes were seen as the most effective, while sarcasm and puns were less well-received.
Practical Implications
Now you might wonder how to apply these results. While the questionnaire results shouldn’t be taken as definitive evidence, they align with existing literature, suggesting that if you are a teacher looking to increase students’ attention, a great starting point is incorporating content-related anecdotes. This could be something you read about or from personal experiences. Not only do they make lessons more engaging, but they also help students by making the material easier to remember and study later.
Jokes were also well-received by students, and they do not have to be verbal, pictures or comics that are funny but relate to the lecture material are also an option. An advantage of using visual humor is that it can be prepared in advance, allowing a natural integration into lectures without the pressure of coming up with something funny on the spot, especially if humor is not your natural lecturing style.
One interesting discrepancy between my findings and previous research is whether humor increases student participation. While earlier studies suggest it does, most students in my questionnaire disagreed. This difference likely stems from variations in study methods and how participation was measured, so the findings do not necessarily contradict each other but might indicate humor is a valuable tool, but not the answer to everything. Used thoughtfully, it can enhance the learning experience, yet it will not solve every classroom challenge.
If you’re considering incorporating more humor into your teaching, cultural sensitivity is crucial. To ensure inclusivity, it may be safest to avoid potentially sensitive topics. Both the literature and my findings agree that content-related, neutral, and inoffensive humor is preferred so that everyone can relate to it rather than only certain people.
Final Thoughts And My Takeaway
This internship provided valuable insight into both the research process and the role of humor in education. As I teach a practical for second-year psychology students, engaging with humor in an academic context has made me more mindful of my own teaching. I recall a moment when I made a comment I assumed was clearly sarcastic, but a student experienced it differently. Because our group is small – just myself and 12 students – I was able to recognize the misunderstanding immediately and clarify my intent. In a larger, more anonymous setting, like a lecture hall, such moments might go unnoticed, making it harder to anticipate how humor is received. This experience revealed an important consideration when including humor in teaching: who is my audience and can I ensure that they understand my intention?
As a researcher, this experience also highlighted the value of personal interest in a topic. While passion for one’s research is not always guaranteed, it can make a significant difference. As I mentioned in the beginning, working on this project has motivated me to give research another chance after ruling it out as a career choice. Of course, being too close to a topic can also be a hindrance because it might make one biased toward the findings, but not being involved at all can turn reading academic articles into a chore and create writer’s block when it comes to synthesizing ideas in a research paper.
Ultimately, humor can be a powerful teaching tool, but it must be applied thoughtfully to enhance rather than disrupt the learning experience. Seeing firsthand how research contributes to our understanding of teaching strategies was incredibly rewarding, reinforcing my enthusiasm for exploring education and psychology further.
References
Ağçam, R. (2017). Investigating instructors’ perceptions on the use of humour in higher education. European Journal of Education Studies. https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v0i0.487
Bakar, F., & Mallan, V. (2023). How students perceive the teacher’s use of humour and how
it enhances learning in the classroom. The European Journal of Humour Research.
Banas, J. A., Dunbar, N., Rodriguez, D., & Liu, S. J. (2011). A Review of Humor in
Educational Settings: Four Decades of Research. Communication Education, 60(1), 115–144.
Chowdhury, F. (2022). Can Laughter Lead to Learning?: Humor as a Pedagogical Tool.
International Journal of Higher Education, 11(1), 175–186.
Hassan, F. D. K., & Tahir, M. (2022). An investigation of humor based teaching and student learning: Case of Higher education. Journal of Advances in Education and Philosophy, 6(6), 333–338. https://doi.org/10.36348/jaep.2022.v06i06.004
Huss, J. A., & Eastep, S. (2016). The Attitudes of University Faculty toward Humor as a Pedagogical Tool: Can We Take a Joke?. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 8(1), 39–65. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1133593.pdf
Pretorius, J., Koen, M., & Schall, R. (2020). Using intentional humour in a higher-education classroom: connecting with, and building on Lovorn and Holaway. European Journal of Humour Research, 8(2), 146–165. https://doi.org/10.7592/ejhr2020.8.2.pretorius
Ramli, M., Cahyadi, A., Mizani, H., Hendryadi, N., & Mais, R. G. (2023). Loneliness, academic self-efficacy, and student engagement in the online learning environment: the role of humor in learning. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 19, 002. https://doi.org/10.58459/rptel.2024.19002
Wanzer, M. B., Frymier, A. B., Wojtaszczyk, A. M., & Smith, T. (2006). Appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor by teachers. Communication Education, 55(2), 178–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520600566132