Memorable Memes:Memorable Memes:Using Humor to Lower the Affective Using Humor to Lower the Affective

FilterFilter

Courtney Barr

DiscussionDiscussion

Please turn to a person seated near you and discuss: Have you used humor in your teaching approaches? How?

Have you ever used memes or comics in your classes? Why? How have you used them?

Humor and the Affective Humor and the Affective FilterFilter

Humor… Sets a positive tone for the classroom. Can help capture and retain students’ attention. May reduce stress or anxiety. Can improve attitudes and increase self-esteem

and morale. Can increase student motivation and engagement. Can promote a sense of acceptance in class that

allows students to think in creative and divergent ways.

May help students see information in a new and different way.

Can set up a less adversarial relationship between teachers and students.

(Ivy, 2013)

““Dread courseDread course””??????

•Dread course: students avoid or put them off because of previous negative experiences, lack of self-confidence, or perceived difficulty of the material.

•Injecting humor into these environments fosters a supportive and creative social climate that may make students more receptive.

• (Kher, Molstad, and Donahue, 1999)

Language Language PlayPlay = Language = Language LearningLearning!!

A growing body of research suggests that humorous language play is also likely to facilitate L2 learning (Cook, 2000; Sullivan, 2000; Tarone, 2000; Broner and Tarone, 2001; Bell, 2005).

Several studies have pointed to the viability of language play as a means of drawing learners’ attention to L2 forms and helping them develop sociolinguistic competence (Tarone, 2000; Belz and Reinhardt, 2004).

Bell (2005) has suggested that humorous language play may aid in the acquisition of L2 vocabulary and semantic fields in particular, by allowing lexical items to be processed more deeply, making them more memorable.

Lantolf (1997) advocates the use of language play as practice (e.g., talking out loud to yourself in the L2; repeating phrases to yourself silently; making up sentences or words in the L2; imitating to yourself sounds in the L2). Many of these have the potential also to be humorous for the learner.

What is a meme?What is a meme?

• Can you name any popular meme photos or characters?

• “A meme is a snippet of culture, a thought, behavior, or artifact. It spreads via transmission and adaptation, sharing and imitation, and is something everyone has seen or recognizes.” (Richter, 2012)

• Internet memes are highly popular and can be found in all forms of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

• They are typically humorous, sometimes sarcastic, and often spur from an inside joke or cultural reference.

Popular MemesPopular Memes

Why use memes? Humor in the Why use memes? Humor in the classroomclassroom

• Lowering the students’ affective filter and helping them to relax and feel comfortable but inspired in an L2 classroom is the key to a successful communicative environment.

• Use of humorous examples and mnemonic devices can increase retention and comprehension.

• When a student discovers that he can understand humor from another culture or in another language, it is extremely uplifting and motivating; a boost in self-esteem, and a blow to the affective filter.

• With a meme or comic strip as the first visual cue in the classroom, you can bait the student for a humorous prize.

It’s meme time!It’s meme time!

Memes for Spanish Memes for Spanish II

Memes for Memes for Spanish IISpanish II

Memes for Memes for Spanish Spanish III +III +

Where do you find a Where do you find a meme?meme?

•There are several websites that have memes categorized into topics, or you may come across them on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

•On Pinterest, users can create and share bulletin boards. Many educators use these boards to post and organize ideas, photos, memes, etc. for their classrooms.

•http://www.pinterest.com/courtbarr

•http://estudiafeliz.com

•http://www.risasinmas.com

How do you make a How do you make a meme?meme?

• Websites such as imgflip.com, memegenerator.net, and makeameme.org allow you to use stock images or upload your own, and add captions.

• BE CAREFUL, though. Anyone can make and post a meme on these sites, and many are not appropriate for all ages!

• http://makeameme.org/

Ideas for the L2 Ideas for the L2 classroomclassroom

• When using a digital projector for courses, start each class with a meme or comic that uses the grammar or vocabulary being covered to start off with an instant brain teaser for class.

• Have a caption contest within the class. Have students post captions using the target structures or vocabulary on Blackboard or your WikiSpace.

• Use humorous photos from Pinterest or your own photos from class, family, and friends.

• Take it a step further by using works of art or photos from target cultures/countries.

Memorable Memes: Memorable Memes: Using humor to lower the Using humor to lower the

affective filteraffective filter

Using humor in any classroom can make learning fun, interesting, and creative while promoting a positive and motivating atmosphere.

Showing and producing memes can not only help lower the affective filter through their humorous nature, but also make learning concepts more creative and memorable.

Find this presentation at https://cbarrpresentaciones.wikispaces.com/

ReferencesReferences

Bell, N. (2005). Exploring L2 language play as an aid to SLL: A case study of humor in NS–NNS interaction. Applied Linguistics, 26(2), 192–218.

Broner, M. and Tarone, E. (2001). Is it fun? Language play in a fifth-grade Spanish immersion classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 85(3), 363–379.

Cook, G. (2000). Language play, language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Imgflip. (n.d.). Retrieved 23 September 2015, from http://imgflip.com

Ivy, L. (2013). Using Humor in the Classroom. The Journal of Adventist Education, 54-57.

Kher, Neelam, S. Molstad, and R. Donahue. (1999). Using Humor In The College Classroom To Enhance Teaching Effectiveness In 'Dread Courses'. College Student Journal 33.3 (1999): 400. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Jan. 2014.

Kilburn, A. & B. Kilburn. (2012). Linking the Classroom to the Living Room: Learning through Laughter with The Office. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(2), 21-31.

Lantolf, J. (1997). The function of language play in the acquisition of L2 Spanish. In Glass, W.R. and Perez-Leroux, A.T. (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on the acquisition of Spanish (pp. 3–24). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Lowman, S. (n.d.). Estudiafeliz. Retrieved 20 January 2014, from http://estudiafeliz.com

ReferencesReferences

Make a Meme. (n.d.) Retrieved 15 September 2015, from http://makeameme.org

Meme Generator. (n.d.) Retrieved 30 December 2014, from http://www.memegenerator.net

Pomerantz, A. & N. Bell. (2011). Humor as Safe House in the Foreign Language Classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 95, Supplementary Issue, 148-161.

Richter, S. (2012, November 6). Using Internet Memes in the Classroom. Retreived 30 December 2013, from http://prezi.com/kajoaa-0xcd6/using-memes-for-learning/

Risa sin Más. (n.d.) Retrieved 3 January 2014, from http://www.risasinmas.com

Sherman, S. (2014). Let’s Lighten Up!: Play and humor have important roles in learning. Virginia Journal of Education. P. 13-15

Sullivan, P. (2000). Playfulness as mediation in communicative language teaching In a Vietnamese classroom. In Lantolf, J.P. (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 115–31). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tarone, E. (2000). Getting serious about language play: language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition. In Swierzbin, B., Morris, F., Anderson, M.E., Klee, C. and Tarone, E. (Eds.), Social and cognitive factors in second language acquisition: Selected proceedings of the 1999 Second Language Research Forum (pp. 31–54). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Here’s the website!Here’s the website!

https://cbarrpresentaciones.wikispaces.com/space/content