【英语论文】英语教学中的幽默方法应用（英文）

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1、本科毕业设计（论文）题 目： Humor-A Dynamic Performance in English Class英语教学中的幽默方法应用学 院： 外国语学院 专 业： 英语 学 号： 07073114 学生姓名： 指导教师： 职 称： 二零一一年六月AcknowledgementsUpon the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my hearty appreciation to all those who have granted me invaluable help. First, I am deeply inde

2、bted to Mr. Zhang Fayong and Ms. MuJing, my supervisors, for their engagement and guidance and help while this thesis was being written. I should also convey my sincere gratitude to my classmates, Miss He Baofeng, for her warm support to this paper. Last but not least, special thanks should also go

3、to my parents, without whose support I should never have fulfilled my studies in this university.AbstractAs we know, most of the college students acquire and master systematical knowledge of English language only via having the English course; whats more, English is the basic obligatory course in un

4、iversity in china. However, many a student find English class so boring and so difficult to learn that they take little interest in English; therefore, they make little progress in English learning. So how to make students English-learning become relaxing and exciting has always been a heated topic

5、in the foreign language teaching research field. Obviously, many research studies have regarded humor as a good way for English teachers to employ so as to inspire students to think, to imitate and to be creative.Key words: humor, English teaching, principles, functions 摘要目前，英语是中国大学生学习和掌握这门语言的必修科目。然

6、而，很多大学生发现英语课堂非常的枯燥和乏味因而他们失去了对英语学习的兴趣；因此，他们在英语上很难获得进步。所以如何使英语课堂变得轻松而又有趣一直是外语教学研究的重点课题。当然，很多研究已经将幽默作为英语老师用来激发学生思考，模仿，并变得富有创造性的好方法。在这篇论文中，将通过对幽默的理解，幽默可能表现形式的探讨来激发学生的学习英语的兴趣，提升老师在英语课堂中的个人魅力以及形成良好的课堂氛围的幽默方法。同时本文还针对幽默的使用原则以及它在英语教学中的功能进行了阐述。本文并不仅仅是为了呼吁人们能够对幽默在英语中的重要作用有一个很好的理解，同时，希望这篇文章能够给英语教学带来一点新鲜感和教学帮助。关

7、键词：幽默；英语教学；原则；功能Contents1. Introduction12. Demonstration22.1 Definitions of humor22.2 Applications of English class humor32.2.1 Establish the ingenious analogy32.2.2 Use body language42.2.3 Use self-ridicule52.2.4 Take advantage of homophonic method52.2.5 Make full use of context72.3 The principles

8、of humor in English class72.3.1 The principle of elicitation82.3.2 The principle of moderation82.3.3 The principle of naturalness92.3.4 The principle of practicality102.3.5 The principle of elegance102.4 The functions of humor in English class112.4.1 Stimulates the students interest112.4.2 Vivifies

9、the classroom atmosphere122.4.3 Harmonizes teacher-student relationship132.4.4 Improves students personality133. Conclusion14Works Cited15Bibliography16ivHumora Dynamic Performance in English Class1. IntroductionAt present, English teaching is a very important course in college teaching. Most of the

10、 college students acquire and master systematical knowledge of English language only via having English course. And the CET4 and CET6 have been acting as two invisible swords on the shoulders of college students. Nowadays, more and more employers regard English as a measure of capacity of university

11、 graduates. We must break the traditional model of teaching because the teachers and students are to be friends- learn and work together, so that teachers and students can learn from both sides and achieve maximum results with little effort. But how to make English classes become lively, interesting

12、 and sustain students motivation effectively? For my part, humor is one of the ways of effective teaching. Although the classroom should be a solemn place, it also should be a place full of laughter. A teacher can not only reflect the wit and agility through his humor, but also can make the classroo

13、m atmosphere become lively, thereby narrowing the distance between teachers and students, enhancing students interest and confidence in learning a foreign language. Therefore, teachers should try to use humorous language to attract the attention of students so that they can learn English better in a

14、 relaxing environment. This funny way of teaching can make students accept a lively ideological education, keep the knowledge in mind, and master them in an unconsciously way. With the development of society, language teachers will inevitably continue to improve their teaching to meet the requiremen

15、ts of new times and new situations, especially in the case of the same teaching material, more should be changed in the old unscientific methods of teaching concept. Because the teachers need to enable students to master the language and to maximize the ease of learning and using, in this way, the s

16、tudents will be trained to meet the new demands in todays society.Humor is one of the most interesting, powerful and significant arts. How to apply this art to our English teaching class? What are the principles of it while adopting the art? What are the functions of this art if it is properly used

17、in the classroom teaching? This thesis aims at a tentative analysis of the above-mentioned questions.2. Demonstration 2.1. Definitions of humorBefore answering what is teaching with humor, lets first take a careful look at some understandings, definitions and interpretations of “humor” from various

18、countries and regions. Table 1: Definitions from different resources. Various resourcesDefinitions refer to humorMerriam-Websters Unabridged DictionaryThat quality in a happening, an action, a situation, or an expression of ideas which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.Oxfo

19、rd English Dictionarya. That quality of action, speech, or writing, which excites amusement; oddity, jocularity, facetiousness, comicality, fun. b. The faculty of perceiving what is ludicrous or amusing, or of expressing it in speech, writing, or other composition; jocose imagination or treatment of

20、 a subject.Longman Dictionary Of Contemporary EnglishThe quality in something that makes it funny or the way that a particular person or group find certain things amusing.WikipediaHumour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement.Modern Chi

21、nese DictionaryHumor refers to the interesting, funny and meaningful words.Taiwans Chinese Great DictionaryHumor is the one which ridicules with a tone of speech and the irony meaning.Ci HaiHumor is interpreted as a kind of art practice. Its main aesthetic features are characterized with a relaxed,

22、joking and a profound laugh and manifested as the serious and comical attitude that the awareness takes toward the aesthetic object.Correspondingly, from the perspective of teaching, one important special education expert named Hersholt, in his The Art of Teaching defines the humor as a necessary qu

23、ality and capacity for a good teacher. He specializes in the systematic study of teaching humor (Jiang 168). Unfortunately, he doesnt make a more acceptable definition. Humor, however, is still popular among the educators, domestic or abroad, because it has the high esthetic appeal and the remarkabl

24、e teaching effect. I believe that if you want to define something, you must grasp the essential characteristics of it. Otherwise, you may always give the one-sided definition, incomplete or inaccurate. In short, on the basis of the sayings of the numerous schools, I believe that teaching humor is to

25、 use some interesting, meaningful, and wise means to teach students the knowledge, the development of capacity. And it is a teaching art form to develop the sense of humor and optimism of students.2.2. Applications of English class humor Today, most teachers and scholars are advocating the use of te

26、aching humor and nearly no one can deny that humor plays an important part in English teaching. There are many, many different applicable ways of class humor and every teacher has his own ways of using humor, so it brings about different kinds of effects. Here are some of the more common ones. 2.2.1

27、 Establish the ingenious analogyIn Longman, you can see the definition: a comparison between two situations, processes that seem similar, or the process of making this comparison. (Longman 57) To make it short, through the vivid metaphors, abstract things can be understood easily so that the student

28、s could understand and remember things easily.For example, we all know about Einstein and his theory of relativity. One day, when a group of young students asked him what the theory of relativity is, he answered: “when you sit with a nice girl for two hours，you think it is only a minute but when you

29、 sit on a hot stove for a minute，you think it is two hours. That is relativity.” (Jiang 168)Through the ingenious analogy, the complex theory could be so clear and easy for the students to understand. After hearing this story, everyone will feel the humorous comparison between the beautiful girl and

30、 a hot stove. Due to the vivid comparison, the students can get a brief understanding of relativity which is a theory based on the principle that all motion is relative. How wonderful the analogy is! So our English teachers may as well explain one certain complex sentence or concept to their student

31、s by telling some interesting stories about the famous.2.2.2 Use body language Body language refers to the facial expressions, head movement, eye rotation and gestures of this kind of non-linguistic means. Teachers take advantage of body language to provide students with information or give directio

32、ns, which helps to trigger students learning enthusiasm and attract their attention on what they have learned. Thus the whole class will be very interesting. I remember one said that once in the classroom, the foreign language teachers should be the actors, should be able to perform and dance. As a

33、teacher, it is proper for him to use gestures, movements, facial expressions and various tones of voice but it is not proper to be gentle or perform mechanically before his students or just walk around because such a teacher will not succeed in getting students attention and arousing their interest.

34、 For example, when a teacher explained the word “hijack” to his students, he acted as Jack in such a situation: in a flying plane, a young man named jack suddenly stood up, drew his gun at the passengers and shouted: Dont move! Or Ill kill you! then asked his students what he was doing and all the s

35、tudents would burst into “hijacking” together (Guo 109). In this way, the students remembered the spelling, meaning and collocation of the word “hijack” easily after the big laughter, which can be described as three birds with one stone. This example shows that sometimes it can be easier for a stude

36、nt to understand what the teacher has said through body language than it is when they get only boring explanation because the body language can deeply impress the students.2.2.3 Use self-ridicule Yu Guangzhong is a master of humor and he once said that one, with true mind of humor, will not only pla

37、y jokes on others but himself, will not only laugh at others, but will be self-deprecating. A teacher often takes himself as an example, using self-ridicule to draw the attention of students and narrowing the psychological distance between teachers and students. For example, when a teacher tries to

38、explain the use of when, he tells the students of his own experience. I was having a bath when the telephone rang; I had to rush out with one hand holding the trousers, one hand to take the phone. (Jiang 168) The sentence shows such a funny scene to tell us that the teacher was in an embarrassing mo

39、ment, which achieves a better explanation of when. That is to say, we use when in a situation that two things are happening together. The teacher takes advantage of his own life experience so that his students can give some similar examples and make a good use of when.2.2.4. Take advantage of homoph

40、onic methodThe harmonic method is mainly used to achieve peoples different understandings of the homonym of a word or a phrase which brought about a series of different sense of humor. In our daily life, I believe that we share the experience that we often make many jokes because of the various mean

41、ing of a word. Moreover, we find that the humor will be a very deep memory imprinted on our minds, so that every time you cannot help smiling faced with one certain word. Then, lets read the following story together:A drill sergeant ordered two young female recruits to paint a room in the barracks s

42、tressing that they could not get any point on their uniforms. Doubtfully they could avoid ruining their clothes the women locked the door, stripped naked and painted in nude. After about an hour they heard a knocked at the door.“Who is it?” asked one of the women.“Blindman” came the reply.Seeing no

43、harm in letting a blind man in, they opened the door.“Wow, what knockout!” the man said with surprise. “Now, where do you want these blinds?” (Jiang 169)In this story, as an adjective blind means blind or visually handicapped while it means curtains as a noun. Therefore, the sergeant who said blindm

44、an meant that he was a man who sent the curtain, while the word are understood to be blind by the two female soldiers, so the story resulted in a hilarious humor because of the contrast understanding of homophones word blind. Through this story, the teacher can lead his students to understand that t

45、he same word have different meanings in different contexts, so that students may not form a mindset that a word may only has one meaning. Thus, students are conscious of other meanings of the frequently used words in their future English learning then enlarge their vocabulary and experience the joy

46、of them.2.2.5. Make full use of contextThrough the design of a number of vivid scenes, the teacher fully mobilizes the students positive emotional experience, so that students can obtain knowledge in a relaxing environment. This part includes a lot of methods：Take advantage of the existing materials

47、, use pictures and description, act the roles and carry out games. In fact, teachers humor feelings are ready in classroom. For example, when a teacher is talking about an important point, or when teacher finds that his or her students made a big mistake, the teacher can draw a big eye as a warning

48、on the blackboard. The gesture has more eloquent suggestions than any words a teacher could have spoken. It may be appropriate to use one or two jokes to eliminate the embarrassment between teachers and students and resolve difficulties that students are faced with. In addition, it is inevitable for

49、 teachers to make mistakes, so if teacher dont correct it, he/she will mislead his/her students. But the teacher may say “maybe we can change our seats now, can you point out my mistake?”（Ma 95）after he finds his mistakes. With the initiative to exchange positions with the students, it does not need

50、 the teacher to point out his errors and extricate himself with dignity but it reminds students of the error-correction, which fully demonstrates teachers wit and humor and change things into a harmonious way. In everyday life, the social communication ability to tactfully get rid of the most embarr

51、assing situation is a kind of rare ability and character. It is just where the power of humor can be felt.There are many and varied humorous teaching skills, the teacher must utilize nimbly in reality and create new methods unceasingly. As an English teacher, he should deeply love the life, have opt

52、imistic attitude and take an enthusiastic spiritual outlook. In order to raise his own teaching level, form his unique teaching style in the teaching profession, the teacher must unceasingly collect humorous mottos, the witticisms, the charming stories and the jokes and so on. In the daily life, the

53、 teacher needs to try to use humorous ways to face the life, enhance the utilization of humor, and lay a good foundation for using the teaching methods in the class.2.3 The principles of humor in English classAs we all know that if a teacher uses teaching humor properly, the humor may play its role

54、effectively in classroom and adds many colorful elements to the class. But teachers should pay attention to the following principles in the teaching process.2.3.1. The principle of elicitationThe elicitation teaching is a very important principle in teaching methods. Humor is an art of language and

55、the teaching humor can work well in the teaching process. One of the fundamental properties of teaching humor is seriocomic, that is to say, the teaching humor is both serious and harmonious at the same time. Serious refers to the scientificity, seriousness and normativity of teaching content; harmo

56、nious means the teaching methods are interesting and humorous. They are indispensable to each other, as you know, the humorous teaching language should be in a close contact with the class, and the actually situation of the students. Therefore, the harmony of teaching humor needs to serve the seriou

57、sness of teaching content. If harmony deviates from seriousness, it will lose its value and be meaningless. That is to say, the ultimate goal of teaching is to enable students to gain a profound philosophy or inspiration from laughter. A teacher, truly understanding the humor, must be able to manage

58、 by implied rather than explicit authority without taking the laughter as his highest goal. Because though it is funny things that can make people laugh; while it is humor that can make people think after laughing. Some writer in ancient China once said that others only made jokes for people to laug

59、h and joke while he woke up people with jokes. Teaching should be full of humor and inspiration. After the great laughter, the students may have a deeper thinking and understanding of some language phenomenon. The novel stimuli arouse students interest in learning to improve their language understan

60、ding and memory as well.2.3.2. The principle of moderation As what I have mentioned above, there are various kinds of humor, jokes, dialogues, songs and stick figures, so teachers should fully take them into account when their teaching is interspersed with humor in the classroom. Whats more, in orde

61、r to promote the completion of teaching, the selection of types of humor should be based on the teaching program. The purpose of the appropriate teaching humor is to arouse students interest and fire up classroom atmosphere, however, the humor is just a teaching language skill and it cannot solve al

62、l problems. So the blind pursuit of laughter and abuse of humor will lead teachers to an exactly opposite side. Because once the classroom becomes a fun fair, the students will be naturally distracted, which influence their understanding and grasping of knowledge. As an English teacher, he/she shoul

63、d use the humor in a proper way. In teaching practice, he/she must constantly learn to conclude from his/her teaching, improve it, innovate and gradually form his/her own unique personal style of humor to improve teaching effectiveness so that students are enlightened in the laughter. Lao She once s

64、aid if you use humor in a stiff way, you may lose it one day. And when the humor is not worth a penny, hate is inevitable. All in all, everything must have a limit.2.3.3. The principle of naturalnessIn the classroom, teachers should use humor appropriately as a flexible language art instead of going with the flow and deliberately pursue it. And they should distinguish between different issues. Humor should be used appropriately in a natural, moderate and ready way. To sum up, when a teacher has his classes interspersed with hum