2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
2
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
JOHN RUCYNSKI, JR. AND CALEB PRICHARD
Japan
Implementing Humor
Instruction into English
Language Teaching
I
n my first year teaching English at a university in Japan, I (John)
wanted to give my students something different for a Friday lesson:
sharing one of my favorite episodes of the American television
show The Simpsons. I selected about ten of the funniest jokes from
the episode and envisioned jealous colleagues curious about the
enthusiastic laughter coming from my classroom. Unfortunately,
instead, my silent classroom probably made them wonder if I had given
a test that day.
Why were The Simpsons jokes met with such
silence? From a cultural perspective, humor
may be a universal feature of all cultures,
but what is considered funny varies greatly
from culture to culture. From a language-
teaching perspective, at least three key
mistakes prevented the lesson from being a
successful integration of humor and language
teaching. First, not enough scaffolding was
done. I mistakenly assumed that my Japanese
students would be familiar with the show
and its style of humor. Second, there was no
connection between that particular episode
and the class content. In other words, there
was no goal of the lesson, other than merely
wanting the students to appreciate American
humor. Third, there were no opportunities
for students to engage with the humor. It was
a failed humor lesson of the teacher merely
trying (more and more desperately) to explain
why something was funny.
One reason we share this anecdote is that it
reflects why some teachers avoid including
humor in the English language classroom.
They claim that humor is simply too complex
and will merely cause confusion. By writing
this article, however, we argue that the
benefits of implementing humor instruction
in the English teaching curriculum far
outweigh the disadvantages or difficulties.
Considering this, I (John again) did not
abandon The Simpsons or other forms of humor
as part of English instruction. Rather, I made
clips from the show part of a thematic unit on
humor and American social issues (Rucynski
2011), but I greatly adapted my teaching
approach, based on ideas described later in
this article.
A farewell message I received from one of the
students in the course two years later, when
the student was graduating from university,
perhaps best encapsulates why I attempted to
use humor in my teaching in the first place.
The student wrote, “After your class, I went
on to watch almost every Simpsons episode.
It kept me motivated to study English and
helped me to communicate with Americans
when I studied abroad. My goal is to someday
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
3
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
watch these episodes without subtitles.” In this
article, we will discuss the why and the (much
more complex) how of implementing a focus
on humor into English language teaching.
WHY INCLUDE HUMOR INSTRUCTION?
There is a common misconception that
including humor in language teaching is
merely a fun or frivolous element that is used
to occasionally spice up classes. While humor
does indeed have the power to make learning
more fun and memorable, it can also serve a
much deeper purpose in language education.
A lack of understanding of the humor of the
target culture can cause embarrassment or
isolation for learners (Lems 2013). Learners
are likely to encounter humor in conversations
in the second language (L2) but suffer from
anxiety about how to actively engage with the
humor (Shively 2018). Helping our students
become more familiar with the humor of
English-speaking cultures thus empowers
them by improving their intercultural
communicative competence, as humor is
a great way to bond with target-language
speakers (Rucynski and Prichard 2020).
As John’s former student wrote, familiarity
with The Simpsons, as just one example of
American humor, helped him to communicate
with American people.
L2 humor competence is an integral
component of becoming proficient in a
foreign language. This involves not merely
appreciating the humor of foreign cultures,
but also understanding how it is used. The
timing, frequency, and purpose of humor
greatly vary from culture to culture. When
people use humor, there is often incongruity
between the literal and intended meanings
of their words. English language learners
with a high level of humor competency have
the ability to decode the message and to
identify the true purpose of the humor
(e.g., just making a joke, criticizing a person
or situation).
On a related note, acquiring humor
competency in a foreign language also helps
learners develop critical-thinking skills.
English language learners will encounter
a great amount of humor as they navigate
the Internet and social media platforms.
The ability to decipher the meaning of
political memes and distinguish satirical news
items from real news items is an essential
component of the increasingly important
twenty-first-century skills of digital and
media literacy.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT HUMOR
INSTRUCTION INTO LANGUAGE
TEACHING
The first step in the process is determining
the purpose of including humor. Is the goal
to teach with humor or teach about humor?
While the two goals often overlap, we refer
to teaching with humor as the teacher using
any humorous techniques (e.g., giving funny
examples, telling humorous anecdotes) to
improve the atmosphere of the class and
make language learning more enjoyable and
memorable. On the other hand, teaching
about humor (the focus of this article) refers
to helping learners improve their competency
with humor of the target culture(s). An
increasing amount of research has focused
on teaching about humor in the context of
language teaching. Research ranges from
humor competency training on specific types
of humor—including jokes (Pimenova 2020),
satirical news (Prichard and Rucynski 2019),
and sarcasm (Kim and Lantolf 2018; Prichard
and Rucynski 2020)—to developing extensive
taxonomies of microskills to help learners
better understand L2 humor (Wulf 2010).
Teaching about humor, however, certainly
does not entail the teacher giving dry
academic lectures about the humor customs
of different cultures. Humor instruction can
be implemented by using practical, engaging,
and interactive learner-centered activities.
Still, it is vital to establish the purpose and
goals for introducing humor. As explained in
the introduction, humor instruction should
have a strong connection with the course
curriculum. Bell and Pomerantz (2016)
propose a backward design model when
teaching learners about humor. In other
2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
4
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
The cultural background, proficiency level, and needs of
your learners should greatly inform what aspect of humor
instruction you implement into the curriculum.
words, just like the teaching of any language
point, teaching about humor requires
identifying the target results. Why does the
teacher believe it is important for learners to
understand this aspect of humor, and what are
the best techniques for teaching it as part of
the curriculum?
Bell and Pomerantz (2016, 170) also suggest
four possible results of humor instruction:
1. Identication. Learners detect that humor
is being used.
2. Comprehension. Learners are able to
understand the intended meaning of the
humor.
3. Response. Learners are able to properly
react to the humor, such as commenting
on the funniness (or “unfunniness”!) of
the humor or replying with their own
humor.
4. Production. Learners actually create their
own humor.
Bell and Pomerantz (2016) further stress the
importance of researching respective forms
of humor. Just as a language teacher needs
extensive knowledge of a grammar point in
order to teach it, teachers who aim to provide
instruction on a respective form of humor
need to ask, “What linguistic structures,
lexical items, and cultural understanding will
learners need to achieve the desired results?”
(Bell and Pomerantz 2016, 179).
Instruction on respective forms of humor
does not always need to include a focus on all
four desired results. For example, the ability
to identify and comprehend English satirical
news can help English language learners to
improve their digital and media literacy, but
not many teachers would task learners with
producing their own satirical news. While
humor production in the L2 can be a creative
and fun challenge for learners, Bell and
Pomerantz (2016) stress that the end goal of
humor instruction is not to produce “funny
students,” but “to familiarize learners with
a variety of conventional practices around
humorous interaction, so that they are better
able to take part in it” (170).
A FRAMEWORK FOR INCLUDING HUMOR
INSTRUCTION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
Despite these clear potential goals of humor
instruction outlined by Bell and Pomerantz
(2016), it still can be difficult to imagine
how to realize these goals from a practical
standpoint. Teachers need to carefully consider
which aspects of humor to include in language
instruction, what kinds of activities and
resources can best facilitate this instruction,
and which of the four aforementioned
results should be the focus (Rucynski and
Prichard 2020). The teaching context is
vital when considering humor instruction.
In other words, the cultural background,
proficiency level, and needs of your learners
should greatly inform what aspect of
humor instruction you implement into the
curriculum. As an example, attempting to
teach sarcasm to a group of absolute beginners
would make little pedagogical sense. On
the other hand, we often include a unit on
sarcasm for our Japanese students who are
preparing to study abroad, as they are likely
to encounter this form of humor in English-
speaking countries, and previous students have
expressed confusion about it. It is important
to help learners fill in the gaps in their humor
competence.
We will now take a deeper look at three
specific types of humor by explaining the
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
5
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
rationale for including a focus on each type
and providing possible activities and resources
for the relevant potential results of humor
instruction. In addition, we will provide
suggestions for modifying the instruction for
learners of different proficiency levels. While
there are countless types of humor to choose
from, the forms of humor we will focus on
in this article are verbal irony, memes, and
satirical news. Teachers should consider their
own teaching context when deciding which
forms of humor to include; they should be
able to answer “Yes” to the following three
questions before making a respective type of
humor a part of their humor instruction:
1. Are learners likely to encounter this
form of humor when communicating
(either face-to-face or online) in the
target language?
2. Is this form of humor likely to be
challenging for students to understand
(e.g., because of a relative lack of the
same humor in their native culture)?
3. Does instruction on this form of humor
provide value beyond just humor (e.g.,
insights into the target culture)?
HUMOR INSTRUCTION FOR VERBAL
IRONY
Rationale
In the context of English language teaching,
learners would greatly benefit from a deeper
understanding of verbal irony, including
sarcasm (Prichard and Rucynski 2020).
Learning a language requires much more than
just memorizing vocabulary and grammar
rules, as learners also need to differentiate
between an interlocutor’s actual words
and intended meaning. This is no easy task,
especially for learners who come from
cultures with a relative lack of sarcasm.
We were reminded of this several years ago
when we were visiting the United States
and boarded a long-distance bus. Just before
departing, the driver looked back to see
that the bus was only at about ten percent
capacity and shouted out in a straight voice,
“No fighting over the seats!” In moments like
this, we often put ourselves in the shoes of our
current Japanese university students. A great
majority of our students would understand
every English word in that sentence, but
may be perplexed by the intended meaning,
considering that sarcasm is relatively rare in
Japan and it is also uncommon to make such a
joke with complete strangers.
Failure to detect or understand sarcasm can
quickly lead to confusion or embarrassment.
However, sarcasm remains a ubiquitous
feature of conversation in English-speaking
countries. Some may argue that sarcasm
is merely a negative form of humor that is
best avoided in the context of the language
classroom, but it is more complex than that,
as verbal irony can include both sarcasm
(positive language with negative intent) and
jocularity (negative language with positive
intent) (Rothermich and Pell 2015). So,
without a proper understanding of verbal
irony, an English learner could easily be
confused by sarcasm, such as being told,
“Nice job!” when making a mistake. They
could also be hurt by well-intentioned
jocularity, such as if they humbly say, “Sorry,
I’m not a good cook,” after preparing a
delicious meal and being told, “Oh yeah,
you’re such a terrible cook!”
Identifying sarcasm
Before teaching students the strategies for
identifying sarcasm, teachers can show simple
literal and nonliteral examples. In pairs or
groups, learners can try to induce which ones
are sarcastic, and they can try to identify cues
they notice or share other cues that they know
(Prichard and Rucynski 2020).
The teacher can then highlight the various
verbal and nonverbal cues that learners
could not identify on their own. Vocal cues
(prosody) include exaggerated stress or
intonation, elongated syllables, a monotonous
tone, and slower speech. Visual cues include a
blank face, averted gaze, glaring, and winking
(Rothermich and Pell 2015). Teachers may
make use of a range of visuals and audio
or video resources to demonstrate these
2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
6
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
cues without needing to rely on technical
terminology. We highly recommend
introducing sarcasm not with fast-paced
scenes from movies or TV shows, but instead
with examples that are easier to understand,
especially in the initial recognition stage.
Proper scaffolding with numerous examples
helps prevent the humor-instruction failure
described at the beginning of this article.
Teachers can also demonstrate verbal cues for
the class. To make the instruction interactive,
teachers make two similar statements, one
sincere and one sarcastic. The class then
attempts to identify the sarcastic remark.
One example John uses with his class is the
following:
Statement #1: I love baseball. It’s so
exciting.
Statement #2: I love soccer. It’s sooooo
exciting.
The learners guess alone, then discuss their
answers with a partner or group. They can also
share which cues they identified. The teacher
then goes over the answer. (The elongated
stress in the second statement reveals that
John finds soccer to be boring and prefers
baseball.)
Teachers could also demonstrate visual
cues, but a plethora of online examples are
accessible. A search for “sarcastic expression”
on Google Images will provide hundreds of
examples. Again, to make the lesson more
interactive and engaging, the teacher could
provide images of several different faces and
task learners with identifying the ones that are
most likely to express sarcasm.
For learners less familiar with sarcasm,
teachers can provide written dialogues to help
train learners to identify illogical statements
that do not fit the context. One example is
the following:
A: How’s your day going?
B: Not bad. And you?
A: I failed my math test, my girlfriend
broke up with me, and then I got
stuck in the rainstorm without an
umbrella.
B: It sounds like you’re having a
wonderful day!
The final line by Speaker B should easily be
identifiable as a sarcastic statement.
In addition to identifying the sarcastic
statement, learners could be given two short,
similar dialogues and asked to identify the one
that includes sarcasm.
Dialogue #1:
A: Do you like your new teacher?
B: He gives a lot of homework, never
smiles, and doesn’t remember my
name. Yes, I love my new teacher.
Dialogue #2:
A: Do you like your new teacher?
B: She has an exciting teaching style,
and the class time always goes by very
fast. Yes, I love my new teacher.
Again, this could be a collaborative task
with the purpose of developing
competence. The teacher can guide
learners, as needed. (The incongruity in
Dialogue #1 could help learners to identify
its sarcasm.)
Comprehending sarcasm
We may assume that if a speaker is being
sarcastic, then the true meaning is just the
opposite of what was said, but this is not
always the case. The literal meaning may be
simply an exaggeration or understatement
of the speaker’s true meaning. Moreover,
students should understand the various
implications and roles of sarcasm, which could
be to amuse, to lighten criticism, to bond
with a peer, or to achieve some other purpose
(Prichard and Rucynski 2020).
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
7
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
The teacher can give the learners several
examples, and students, working in pairs or
groups, discuss the speaker’s true meaning.
For example, for the following dialogue,
they may discuss whether Speaker B liked the
movie and the reason.
A: Did you like the movie I suggested?
B: I slept through half of it. I just love
three-hour movies … ! Next time,
you should invite me to a four-hour
movie. Ha ha. (smiling)
Students may deduce that Speaker B didn’t
enjoy the movie because it was too long. They
then brainstorm the purpose of the sarcasm
(perhaps to lighten the mood despite the
criticism). The teacher can help point out cues
the students could not recognize.
Responding to sarcasm
Training learners to respond to sarcasm
is complicated, as sarcasm can be a rather
negative form of humor. Sarcasm, however,
takes many forms and is not always used
to criticize the interlocutor, but rather
another target. So the speaker may merely
be expecting agreement. When it comes
to jocularity, the speaker may actually be
complimenting the interlocutor, but by using
negative words with positive intent.
It is best for the teacher to advise learners
that they should not feel forced to agree with
sarcasm when it is political or biting, but that
with more casual topics, people tend to play
along with sarcasm as a conversational norm
(Colston 2017). For example, a common
conversation starter in England is the sarcastic
statement, “Lovely weather we’re having.”
If the interlocutor takes such a greeting
literally, they might be tempted to reply with
something like, “Actually, I don’t like the rain.”
The social expectation, however, is to simply
agree with a similarly sarcastic response such
as, “Yes, lovely, isn’t it?”
Learners should also be informed, however,
that when they get to know someone well, it
is perfectly natural to either play along with
or disagree with sarcastic statements. One
way to practice this would be for the teacher
to make an obviously sarcastic statement
and ask learners to state their agreement or
disagreement with the intended meaning.
Learners could be given a range of responses
for either category, as shown in Table 1.
Producing sarcasm
Some teachers may question whether they
want to teach their students how to be
sarcastic. However, practicing sarcastic and
sincere statements can reinforce the sarcasm
cues introduced by the teacher while
making the class more engaging. A simple way
to do this is to ask each student to prepare a
pair of statements that include one sincere and
one sarcastic utterance (similar to the popular
“Two Truths and a Lie” icebreaker). Students
should start with conversational topics that
they have a common understanding about,
such as sports, musicians, or actors. As with
our previous example, students could say
they like two sports (or two musicians, etc.),
and their group members need to guess the
sincere and sarcastic statements. To add to the
activity, students could be tasked with using a
different cue each time (e.g., a verbal cue such
as exaggerated intonation for one statement
and a visual cue like eye rolling for another).
However, the teacher should warn the
class about the risks of having their sarcasm
misunderstood.
Sarcastic statement (teacher) Responses for agreeing Responses for disagreeing
I just love watching soccer. It’s
sooooo exciting.
• I’m not into soccer, either.
• Yeah, soccer is boring, isn’t it?
• Yeah, I’d rather watch
________.
• Hey, soccer is exciting!
• Actually, I love watching
soccer.
• Are you being sarcastic?
Soccer is a great sport!
Table 1. Examples of responses for agreeing or disagreeing with a sarcastic statement
2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
8
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
Suggestions for dierent prociency levels
For lower-proficiency learners, teachers can
provide much more visual support to show
contextual cues clearly. For example, show
a picture of a rainstorm or blizzard with
the statement, “Lovely weather, isn’t it?”
to illustrate that verbal irony expresses the
opposite of the true intention or reality. In
addition, students do not need to be taught the
technical vocabulary for visual cues of sarcasm
(e.g., blank face, averted gaze), as these can
easily be demonstrated. Finally, the teacher can
provide transcripts for any practice dialogues
to ensure that learners catch and understand
all the necessary vocabulary.
While more-proficient learners will also
benefit from an overview of visual cues, the
teacher can give authentic examples with
verbal cues and vocabulary that are more
sophisticated. The teacher can also provide
examples showing how sarcasm is used for
serious topics. For example, speakers often
use sarcasm to criticize political figures or
comment on social issues.
HUMOR INSTRUCTION FOR MEMES
Rationale
Social-media platforms such as Facebook and
Twitter provide English language learners the
opportunity to interact in English with millions
of people around the world. Memes rapidly
spread with the progression of the Internet and
are now a ubiquitous feature of social media.
Image macros, a popular form of memes, are
easily recognizable by their template of a single
image with text in all caps above and below
the image. Image macros can range from funny
comments about trivial daily events to biting
criticism about social issues or political figures.
English language learners benefit from a
deeper understanding of English memes for
several reasons. First, social media offers
free opportunities for English learners, and
they will certainly encounter memes if they
use social media in English. Improving their
ability to comprehend and respond to memes
can make learners more active and confident
social-media users. Second, memes generally
offer short messages, giving students the
opportunity to learn vocabulary and English
expressions in context. In addition, memes
offer insights into English-speaking cultures,
as they often feature images of famous
figures, ranging from sports figures (LeBron
James) to movie characters (Willy Wonka)
and even to Muppets (Kermit the Frog).
Finally, familiarity with memes can deepen
understanding of how humor is used in
different cultures, as memes are often used as
commentary on social issues.
Identifying and comprehending memes
For this form of humor, the stages of
identification and comprehension can be
combined. After all, students should be able
to instantly recognize a meme, but the bigger
challenge is to identify the different common
memes and comprehend the set message
conveyed by different established memes. As
suggested by Henderson (2017) and Ohashi
(2017), a good starting point for identifying
and comprehending memes is to familiarize
learners with some of the most well-known
examples of English memes, making use of the
popular image-macro type of meme.
Match the Meme Character in Column 1 With the Text in Column 2
Bad Luck Brian
1. YOU LOOK HAPPY
STOP IT
Grumpy Cat 2. LATE TO WORK
BOSS WAS EVEN LATER
Success Kid 3. FINDS WATER IN THE DESERT
DROWNS
Table 2. Matching activity using popular image-macro memes
The answers are Bad Luck Brian (3), Grumpy Cat (1), and Success Kid (2).
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
9
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
Teachers should select the memes that they
feel would be most comprehensible and
interesting for their learners, but three
examples to start with could be the famous
meme characters Bad Luck Brian (an awkward
teenager whose unlucky experiences are the
punch line), Grumpy Cat (an angry-looking
feline that shows displeasure with everything),
and Success Kid (a child grasping his fist to
show his pleasure at a small victory). To help
learners become familiar with the pattern
of each meme, teachers can ask learners
to match the character with a sample text
(Henderson 2017). The text should be
displayed to indicate the top and bottom
sections of each meme. See Table 2 for an
example. (At this stage, learners can be
allowed to check their dictionaries for any
unknown vocabulary.)
To help students improve their ability to
understand English punch lines, teachers
can task students with matching the top and
bottom captions for the same meme character
(Ohashi 2017). Again, learners can use their
dictionaries at this stage, if necessary. See
Table 3 for an example using Success Kid.
Responding to memes
Compared to sarcasm, responding to memes
should be an easier challenge for language
learners, considering that they are a written
form of humor shared on social media, giving
learners more time to process the humor
than the natural speed and randomness with
which sarcasm is used in conversation. One
safe and interactive way to have learners
practice responding to memes is to create
a class-only online site or make use of a
learning management system (LMS). An LMS
restricted to only students and the teacher is
also a safe place for learners to share memes
they find and like and express confusion or
ask for clarification if they do not understand
certain memes. Learners could be tasked with
responding to their classmates’ shared memes
and asking for clarification, as in Table 4.
Producing memes
Memes also provide a safe and friendly format
for learners to practice producing their own
humor. Many people make their own memes,
and English language learners can certainly do
the same, with enough support and training.
There are free websites where students can
easily learn to create their own memes and
share them with classmates (see, for example,
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator and
https://makeameme.org/).
Activities can progress from more restricted
(all class members creating a meme based
on a well-known meme character or two)
to more open. Humor instruction is most
effective when the humor is not merely
humor for the sake of humor, but when it
complements or expands on other aspects
of the language-learning curriculum. If the
teacher gives students a writing assignment
about a happy or lucky experience, creating
a meme using Success Kid is a fun way for
learners to visualize and share the contents
of their writing. Additionally, writing
about an unlucky experience could be
complemented by an original Bad Luck
Brian meme, and an activity about pet
peeves could be expanded with a Grumpy
Cat meme.
Match the Top Text in Column 1 With the Bottom Text in Column 2
1. PUT CANDY BAR IN SHOPPING CART A. DIDN’T GET SAUCE ON IT
2. ATE SPAGHETTI WHILE WEARING A
WHITE SHIRT
B. GOT INVITED OUT TO DINNER
3. FORGOT TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING C. WITHOUT MOM NOTICING
Table 3. Example of Success Kid activity matching top and bottom text
The answers are 1/C (children often plead with their parents to buy them candy while grocery
shopping); 2/A (we often unluckily spill food on our clothes when we are wearing white); and
3/B (this describes the feeling of something lucky happening after we make a mistake).
2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
10
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
Suggestions for dierent prociency levels
Of the three types of humor explored in this
article, memes are likely the most accessible
for lower-proficiency learners, as they include
visual support (the main image), employ
short messages (only two lines of text), and
often feature repetition (famous characters
that are always used to convey similar
messages). As a result, most of the activities
described in this section should be appropriate
for lower-level learners.
For more-proficient learners, the teacher
can introduce memes that illustrate messages
that are more complex than those conveyed
through famous characters such as Success
Kid. For example, another famous meme
character is Condescending Wonka. These
memes depict a screen capture of Gene
Wilder in the movie Willy Wonka & the
Chocolate Factory and feature heavily sarcastic
messages. The teacher could also introduce
political memes, especially during an election
cycle, to help learners raise their awareness
about how humor is used to comment on
social issues in English-speaking countries.
HUMOR INSTRUCTION FOR ONLINE
SATIRICAL NEWS
Rationale
Satirical news can refer to either satirical
TV news programs such as The Daily Show or
satirical digital media such as The Onion. In this
article, we will focus on the latter format, as we
find it to be a more accessible form of humor
for English language learners. Online satirical
news is another ubiquitous feature of social
media in the English-speaking world. Satirical
news mimics real news to mock or satirize
everything from trivial daily matters (e.g.,
shopping manners) to serious social issues (e.g.,
politics and elections). The Onion, published
in the United States, is now arguably the most
famous satirical news site in the world, with
over 6.3 million likes on Facebook. This form
of humor is also common in other English-
speaking countries, with popular examples
including The Daily Mash (U.K.), The Beaverton
(Canada), and The Shovel (Australia).
English language learners can benefit from
exposure to online satirical news. One reason
is that they are likely to encounter satirical
news on social media, but they may mistake
it for real news if they are not familiar with
this type of humor. Again, it is important to
use types of humor that are challenging (for
linguistic or cultural reasons) for students
to understand, but then provide humor
instruction to make this type of humor more
accessible. Mistaking satirical news for real
news can cause confusion or embarrassment
for learners. Another reason is that the ability
to recognize different forms of news (e.g.,
satirical news, fake news) is an increasingly
important part of the twenty-first-century
skills of digital and media literacy. Finally,
as with other forms of humor, exposure to
satirical news provides cultural insights into
English-speaking countries. Learners can
improve their understanding of important
figures and events and see how humor is
sometimes used as social criticism.
Identifying satirical news
Satirical news items can be tricky to
recognize, as they are designed to mimic the
Expressions for Liking a Meme Expressions Asking for Clarification
That’s a good one! What does ________ mean?
It took me a while, but now I get it! I’m not sure I get this one. Why is it funny?
That’s (funny / hilarious / hysterical)! I don’t get it. Can you explain what the joke is?
I know how (he /she) feels! Does this mean that ________?
HAHA / HEHE / LOL / ROTFL Is this funny because ________?
Table 4. Expressions for liking a meme and asking for clarication
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
11
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
appearance of real news. We will introduce
two possible approaches to training English
language learners to recognize satirical news,
one involving stylistic cues and one involving
critical-reading and critical-thinking skills.
Although satirical news does mimic real news,
cues about the appearance and writing style
can also help learners to distinguish between
satirical and real news. One hint is in the
headline. Many satirical news sites might use
particularly large font sizes and capitalize
all words in the headlines (even articles and
prepositions), giving a more tabloid-like
appearance. Other stylistic hints include
casual headlines (e.g., using slang expressions
that might not be used in headlines of real
news) or vague details (e.g., referring to a
“local man” rather than using a name).
As mentioned, the ability to recognize
different forms of media is an important
aspect of digital and media literacy. A second
approach to helping learners recognize
satirical news is to focus on the content of the
articles and use critical-reading and critical-
thinking skills to determine whether the
respective stories could be real news. Several
cues could be part of training to assist learners
in improving their ability to detect satire.
As a starting point, learners can consider
the following two questions when trying to
recognize different forms of media:
1. Is the article newsworthy?
2. Is the article believable?
About the first question, consider a sample
headline from The Onion: “Grandfather A
Man Of Few Shirts.” Would a story about a
grandfather’s wardrobe really make the news?
To address the second question, learners
can be informed that one device used by
satirical news writers is to put famous
figures in absurd or incongruous situations.
For example, a headline from Onion Gamers
Network (a section of The Onion devoted to
video games) in 2020 read, “While Abraham
Lincoln Was Great In Many Ways, We At
OGN Must Examine His Troubling Legacy Of
Never Playing Video Games.” It is an obviously
absurd and unbelievable headline, considering
that Lincoln was president of the United
States roughly 100 years before the first video
game was even created!
One activity we have used in our English
reading courses is to design practice tests that
include a mixture of satirical news items and
offbeat but true news items. The teacher can
provide a mix of items with just the headline
and a blurb from each article. Just providing
a segment of the articles is sufficient, for two
reasons. First, this mimics how satirical news
items appear on social media. Second, readers
can usually identify satirical news from just
the headline or the first line or two of an
article. For example, two of the following
articles are offbeat but true news items, while
two are from satirical sources:
1. Bear necessities? Furry visitor on the
prowl in California store
2. World’s scientists admit they just don’t
like mice
3. ‘UFO’ in Congo jungle turns out to be
Internet balloon
4. Study reveals: Babies are stupid
Using the previous two critical-thinking
prompts, learners can hopefully identify that
number two and number four come from
satirical news. (Both satirical items are from
The Onion, while the true stories come from
the “Oddly Enough” section of Reuters.) Hints
that could be used to identify the different
forms of news include the following:
• #1 is believable, as there are often news
stories about wildlife encroaching on
human communities.
• #2 would be absurd, as professional
scientists would not state that they do not
like rodents.
• #3 is also believable, as it is common for
UFO sightings to later be followed by a
rational explanation.
2 02 1
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
12
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
• #4 is also absurd. In addition, a slang
or offensive term like “stupid” is not
commonly used in real news articles.
Comprehending satirical news
While teachers can provide learners with cues
to help them recognize satirical news with
some practice, actually comprehending the
humor is a more challenging task. In addition
to common English challenges like vocabulary,
understanding satirical news often requires a
high degree of cultural literacy and awareness
of current events. Still, this should be seen as
a worthwhile challenge. Examining the humor
of a culture can also lead to a deeper awareness
of and interest in politics and social issues. This
is also an example of how humor instruction
can have value beyond just the humor.
Exposure to politics or social issues through
satirical news leads to increased background
knowledge and empowers English language
learners to improve digital and media literacy.
Increasing comprehension of English
satirical news can be promoted by classroom
collaboration, both student-to-student
and student-to-teacher. For example, the
teacher can provide learners with a selection
of satirical news headlines and task them
with writing an explanation of the meaning.
In other words, what is the article really
expressing? Who or what is the target of
the humor? In the safe environment of the
language classroom, learners can enjoy the
process of comparing ideas and answers until
the teacher offers a final explanation. This
process could start with teacher-selected
articles and progress to students selecting
their own articles from a range of satirical
sites suggested by the teacher. One out-
of-class assignment we have set is tasking
students with choosing a certain number of
articles they find humorous and a selection of
articles they find confusing. Learners compare
the types of humor they find funny and
collaborate to decipher the difficult examples.
Responding to satirical news
Again, failure to recognize satirical news on
social media can be confusing or embarrassing
for English language learners. As with memes,
however, the language classroom provides a
safe environment where students can share and
respond to satirical news. A class-only online
page is easy to create, as we also suggested for
sharing and responding to memes. Considering
that this is a safe environment for learners to
examine and deepen their understanding of
English humor, class replies can include either
an appreciation of the satirical news examples
posted or questions to clarify the meaning
of the examples. While it is best to allow
learners to interact freely with their classmates,
the teacher can also supply explanations or
additional resources when necessary.
Suggestions for dierent prociency levels
As with verbal irony and memes, satirical
news is a form of humor used to mock
anything from daily trivial matters to serious
contemporary social issues. Teachers can focus
on the former when introducing satirical news
to lower-proficiency learners. Such satirical
items usually use relatively simple vocabulary,
and if not, the vocabulary can be simplified.
The teacher can also focus on helping lower-
level learners notice stylistic hints. For
example, satirical news sites are more likely
to use features such as all caps in headlines and
odd photos that are obviously edited in some
way. Meanwhile, teachers can give more-
proficient learners freedom in searching for
and discussing their own examples of satirical
news items. In addition, the teacher can
introduce satirical news to explore complex
topics, such as politics and media literacy.
CONCLUSION
Humor is a powerful tool that makes the
language-learning experience more interesting,
memorable, and engaging. In addition, humor
instruction about popular forms of humor in
English-speaking cultures can be integrated to
supplement any of the traditional four language
skills. Moreover, our research demonstrates
that training helps learners improve their
humor competency regarding satirical news
and sarcasm (Prichard and Rucynski 2019,
2020). However, the opening anecdote serves
as a warning that humor instruction is not
something to randomly tack on merely to
2021
ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM
13
americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
Our aim in this article is to provide one practical framework
for how humor instruction about three common forms of
English-language humor can be carried out in the classroom.
make English classes more interesting. Proper
humor instruction involves careful scaffolding,
selection of materials and resources, and
design of activities.
While a growing number of researchers
advocate including a component of humor
instruction in the language-teaching
curriculum, our aim in this article is to provide
one practical framework for how humor
instruction about three common forms of
English-language humor can be carried out in
the classroom. Considering the multifaceted
and complex nature of humor, teachers still
need to take great care in implementing
humor instruction that is appropriate for the
proficiency level, curricular needs, cultural
background, and language-learning goals of
their students. A deeper understanding of
the humor of the target culture(s) empowers
English language learners as they acquire more
competence and confidence in communicating,
both face-to-face and digitally, in English.
REFERENCES
Bell, N. D., and A. Pomerantz. 2016. Humor in the
classroom: A guide for language teachers and educational
researchers. New York: Routledge.
Colston, H. L. 2017. Irony and sarcasm. In The
Routledge handbook of language and humor, ed. S.
Attardo, 234–249. New York: Routledge.
Henderson, S. 2017. Internet memes to learn and
practice English. In New ways in teaching with humor,
ed. J. Rucynski, Jr., 246–248. Alexandria, VA:
TESOL Press.
Kim, J., and J. P. Lantolf. 2018. Developing
conceptual understanding of sarcasm in L2 English
through explicit instruction. Language Teaching
Research 22 (2): 208–229.
Lems, K. 2013. Laughing all the way: Teaching English
using puns. English Teaching Forum 51 (1): 26–32.
Ohashi, L. 2017. Sharing laughs and increasing cross-
cultural understanding with memes. In New ways in
teaching with humor, ed. J. Rucynski, Jr., 274–276.
Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.
Pimenova, N. 2020. Reading jokes in English:
How English language learners appreciate and
comprehend humor. In Bridging the humor barrier:
Humor competency training in English language teaching,
ed. J. Rucynski, Jr. and C. Prichard, 135–161.
Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Prichard, C., and J. Rucynski, Jr. 2019. Second
language learners’ ability to detect satirical news
and the effect of humor competency training. TESOL
Journal 10 (1): e00366.
———. 2020. Humor competency training for
sarcasm and jocularity. In Bridging the humor barrier:
Humor competency training in English language teaching,
ed. J. Rucynski, Jr. and C. Prichard, 165–192.
Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Rothermich, K., and M. D. Pell. 2015. Introducing
RISC: A new video inventory for testing social
perception. PloS ONE 10 (7): e0133902.
Rucynski, J., Jr. 2011. Using The Simpsons in EFL
classes. English Teaching Forum 49 (1): 8–17.
Rucynski, J., Jr., and C. Prichard, eds. 2020. Bridging
the humor barrier: Humor competency training in English
language teaching. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Shively, R. L. 2018. Learning and using conversational
humor in a second language during study abroad. Boston:
Walter de Gruyter.
Wulf, D. 2010. A humor competence curriculum.
TESOL Quarterly 44 (1): 155–169.
John Rucynski, Jr. is an associate professor in the
Center for Liberal Arts and Language Education at
Okayama University in Japan. He has edited two
volumes on humor in language education, New Ways in
Teaching with Humor and (with Caleb Prichard) Bridging
the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English
Language Teaching.
Caleb Prichard is an associate professor at Okayama
University in Japan. He has also taught in South Korea and
the United States. He co-edited Bridging the Humor Barrier:
Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching with
John Rucynski, Jr. and has published several articles on
humor in second-language education. He has researched
reading strategy competency, among other areas.
