XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

Humorous materials should be used in learning grammar. As a rule, jokes fall blat, students are mentally shrugged at the mysteries of the British sense of humour. Understanding jokes is very low. However, humour is a key element to interpersonal communication

Why does even the simplest humour often fail with language learners? A look at the complex skills needed to mentally process verbal play in jokes, stories and advertisements may help provide an answer. When a joke is typical in the narrative structure, our expectation are formed in line. Then comes the surprise, our expectations are violated. We are to reinterpret our understanding in order to make everything fit together. So these are the three stages of “getting a joke that are forming expectations” being surprised and establishing coherence through reinterpreting the beginning. The whole process of understanding must take place in a flash. It will be undoubtedly hampered if the student’s working memory capacity is also preoccupied with decoding of a second language. The so-called “bottom up” process of word recognition and understanding grammar have become automatic to a greater degree, and they are thus able to devote their attention to the meaning of a joke. A joke sparks laughter if understanding comes in a flash.

There are two steps involved in decoding a joke. The punch line met the two requirements: it must be a surprise, yet if must somehow fit with what came before. The joke ending should be a surprise.

Students do seem to enjoy the multiple choice exercises, which allow them to consciously and unconsciously search for pattern of surprise and to establish coherence through reinterpretation of a joke. Moreover students themselves can select humorous texts, cartoons or advertisements to suit their linguists and cultural backgrounds.

As “getting a joke” the most complex skill one can master in a foreign language? Appreciation of humour depends on a shared linguistic and socio cultural knowledge which permits instantaneous comprehension of language ambiguities. Students should be encouraged to exercise their differencing and coherence – seeking abilities in their effort to “get the joke”. Authentic material which uses word-play is not hard to find and it can be enjoyable and made accessible.