The Role of Humour in Motivating EFL University Students in Sulaimani City
Hevar Mohammed Tawfeeq
Sulaimani Polytechnic University
Abbas Mustafa Abbas
College of Basic Education, University of Sulaimani
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25130/jls.6.4.2.4
Keywords: Humour, motivation, EFL, L2, FL, class, teaching and learning English
Abstract
A substantial body of research has been conducted on increasing EFL students’ motivation in EFL classes. Different pedagogical techniques have been defined, and humour is undoubtedly one of them. For English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, various methods have been found effective, and humour is also one of the effective techniques to help the learning process in EFL classrooms. This paper is an extraction from the Ph.D. dissertation of the author, entitled “‘Investigating the Use of Humour in Teaching Kurdish EFL University Students in Sulaimani City’, in which it was attempted to investigate the role of humour on EFL students in Sulaimani City universities. The current article is based on the hypothesis that humour is a highly effective technique that motivates students and helps them in learning in EFL classrooms. The role of humour in EFL classrooms with Kurdish backgrounds needs more investigation. The current paper emphasizes the role of humour on motivation from the perspectives of EFL first-year students from Sulaimani Polytechnic University (SPU). A quantitative method was employed in which 100 students were given a 30-item questionnaire to explore their perspectives on the use of humour. The study finds that a considerably high number of the students were in favour of humour to be used by their teachers during their classes as they find it very helpful and motivational, which helps them in the language learning process.
