Introduction
Humour has been a part of communication in human interaction. It was often been frowned upon during the Renaissance as rather downright rude and misinterpreted as derogatory. However, radical pedagogy now incorporates humour as having a positive effect in teaching and reflects well as a good attribute of a teacher. The origin of the word is traced from Latin, as HUMOUR meaning fluid. This could be any bodily fluid including phlegm and black bile. The earlier reference to humour nor having a good impact on life was probably the meaning of such fluid as black bile was in reference to melancholy.
Robinson (1977) described humour as ‘any communication perceived by interacting parties as humorous and leads to laughing, smiling or a feeling of amusement’ appears to be simple enough. This definition contrasts to that in the Webster Dictionary, ‘mental faculty of discovering, expressing or appreciating something that is comical, amusing or absurdly incongruous’. Humour evokes happiness if incorporated in any communication appropriately without causing discomfort in the audience.
The two prisoners
Randy Garner (Humour, Analogy and Metaphor in Teaching) relates this story of two prisoners who have been confined to prison in a desert. One of them plans to escape and outlines his route and wants the other to join him in getting out of the prison. After intently listening to him, the partner opts not to join in the ‘escape plan’. The day comes and the first prisoner makes his way out. To his horror, he finds the escape route arduous because of the harsh terrain and near impossible access to any road or transport. Soon after he is caught and brought back to be confined to prison when he meets his partner. As he describes the short success he had and how he could not get very far, the second agreed and said that he had tried it before and met the same fate. When the prisoner asked his partner why he did not tell him so, he replied,’ No one publishes negative results!’
The benefits of humour is teaching
Humour is a social behaviour and can cut the monotony of learning mundane factual material presented in lectures and tutorials. As an adult learner I had the misfortune to sit through some lectures and tutorials by lectures who literally read the text to complete a class session. Nothing is boring then to listen to such boredom. Many a time I tried to chip in my humour during the class but this was not well received by my much younger ‘lecturer’. In ‘Transforming Thought: the role of humour in teaching (Bruneer, 2002) refers to two components of humour impacting on the audience; a psychological and physiological one and a creative component. The first (psychological and physiological) evokes laughter and in the process brings out several excellent beneficial effects of relieving anxiety and stress and improving bonding between the lecturer and the student/students.
A good laugh is sometimes addictive as endorphins are released. One gains attention and in fact retains information better with humour combined with analogies and anecdotes. The students tend to relax and better rapport is built. Berk (1998) in ‘Professors are from Mars and Students from Snickers, (Maddsion, WI, Mendota Press)’ clearly states that teaching can be fun with humour. Humour not only makes the class interesting and enjoyable but cognitive retention improves. Self motivation improves and students are better inspired to learn. Another vital point is the increase in self esteem that comes with a marked reduction of anxiety and improved rapport and unity in the class.
Techniques for using humour
Sometimes we tend to feel that the subject matter is so dry that it is not possible to introduce humour. This appears to be wrong. One can introduce humour under any circumstance. Learning English has been said to be one subject where one would find is difficult to use humour to learn. Sue S. Minchew and Peggy F. Hoppes (2008) disagrees and they looked at opportunities to use humour in teaching English. They quote some techniques and create activities for the students. One example is ‘elevated vocabulary’. It is not uncommon for students in Malaysia to confine themselves to a stereotyped approach in communication. This is largely due to limitation of the vocabulary they have and the technical nature of the subject (as in Medicine, Mathematics and Statistics). Nothing can be more discouraging then to ask them to delete such mundane terms used in the description of the subject they are assigned. Minchew advices to ask the student to build on the terms used which the teacher thinks is stereotype. It would be better if they re-write and express the same in different terms.
One example quoted by the authors (M&H):
‘Birds of a feather flock together’.
Re-write: Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate!
Another example:
“Beauty is only skin deep’
Re-write: Pulchritude possess solely cutaneous profundity!
“Dead man tells no tales”
Re-write: Male cadavers are incapable of yielding any anecdotes!
I am often in the habit of using one liners to induce humour in the conversation, but many a time they seem not to be acceptable to some. In those circumstances , I feel I am misinterpreted because of either a lack of understanding the English Language or prevailing cultural differences between the listener and my comment. I am often reminded of the fact that what is acceptable to one culture may not be acceptable to another. This is, in fact a very important negative aspect of humour; some sensitive audience may event wrongly consider such statement as bordering on sarcasm!
Oscar Wilde aptly put this statement “Life is too important to be taken seriously”.
I firmly believe that humour and use of analogies, in the process of communication, is a social device that improves communication. The benefits are too many to be left untouched if one wants to be an effective teacher.
Lest I forget, I said there are two components of ‘Humour’ that impact on the audience i.e Psychological/Physiological and Creative Act. The former is associated with laughter and the later refers to comedy. The fact that the audience feels the speaker is comical means that he is creative and this brings out the humorous capacity in him. This second component, when used appropriately has very powerful effect in the communication and even the most stressed student joins in the communication with little barrier between the speaker and himself. Often there is huge difference in age and intellectual capacity between the teacher and the student and this discrepancy often deters free communication. With humour and comedy the psychological barrier is broken and better rapport develops roping in the shy and introverted student into the discussion. Consequently cognitive retention improves as stress is removed.
Is Humour Distracting?
This is often of concern but a good teacher should know when to introduce humour and when it is not appropriate. When humour overtakes the primary objective of the communication then its purpose is lost. There are many do’s and don’ts in introducing humour in the class lest it be misinterpreted as irrelevant , racist and sexist remarks. Delivery of humour must be done skilfully and appropriately.
Using analogies and reflecting past experiences are effective to send home clear points. When I emphasise the importance of clarification and clear instructions , often there are excellent examples available , especially in the clinicala and hospital setting. Errors often occur when the order is not clearly articulated. Using acronyms and short forms can have disastrous outcomes in the clinical wards.
I am reminded of my younger days as the only medical officer in Tangkak District Hospital in 1975. This was the first posting after completing my housemanship. Though a novice , I was made the Medical Officer in charge of the hospital (there were non other, anyway!). Apart from learning the rudiments of hospital administration, I took on the training of my nurse and hospital assistants.
Rohana (not her real name) was one of the 6 new staff nurses posted to my hospital after they had recently graduated from nursing school. This was a time when the use of English as the medium of instruction was replaced by the National Language (Malay). Although Rohana spoke reasonably good communication English she had to make an effort to understand my rather rapid speaking habit .
One day she was following my ward rounds in the male ward when I had to examine a gentleman who had partial paralysis of half his body (hemipelgia). I asked her for the 'tendon hammer'. Rohana quickly disappeared. I was puzzled . Anyway I found the 'tendon hammer/tapper' in one of the compartments of the 'round trolley'. As I was completing the examination, I saw Rohana dragging the ward 'attedant' by his hand into the ward. The distraught attendant has indeed displeased expecting some reprimand from me as the medical officer in-charge of the hospital. I couldn't avoid laughing at the scene. When I asked Rohana why she had dragged the poor blighter in she quickly retorted , 'Doctor, you asked for the 'attendant'. What do we see here, a lack of communication ( tendon vs attendant).
On another occasion, I had instructed Rohana, who was then in charge of the female ward , that I would be doing a 'dilatation and curettage for a patient who had an 'incomplete abortion'. In those days there was no operation theatre in that hospital and I had to perform the procedure using analgesics in one part of the main ward. The staff nurse was expected to prepare the 'only set' of instruments available . As the patient was very anaemic, I was concerned if she would be safe for the analgesics and tranquillisers I would normally administer before the procedure. Wanting to avoid using the drugs mentioned, I informed Rohana I would be performing the procedure under 'cervical block'. I had meant I would inject a local anaesthesia into the cervix (neck of the uterus)rather than administer the sedatives intravenously. As I was very busy that day as I had to see about 30 outpatient's , I also informed Rohana I should be back to the ward to perform the procedure by 11 am that morning. When I got back, what did I see- a very frightened patient lying on the couch with both her legs strung up on stirrups and lying literally 'up-side down' ! Rohana had placed two large wooden blocks under the bed at the foot end!. When I asked her why she had placed the patient like so, she promptly replied , "Doctor, you said you wanted to do the procedure under BLOCK!' (blocking the bed vs cervical block). Although running the 100 bedded hospital by myself was challenging , these anecdotes were humorous enough to get me going over the months!.
A widely divergent background often is a set back in tolerating humour as they may not appreciate what is being said and find it distracting. A common joke I often crack is during ward teaching is about the rubbish bin . In public hospitals (3rd class) a plastic waste bin is placed under the bed of each patient. As students jostle around the class to listen, inevitably one student would ‘knock the bin off’. I would promptly utter ‘she/he kicked the bucket’. Those who had come through vernacular schools would not recognise this ‘idiom’ and would stare with a square face while those who had gone through English education would burst out in laughter!
Using analogies and reflecting past experiences are effective to send home clear points. When I emphasise the importance of clarification and clear instructions , often there are excellent examples available , especially in the clinicala and hospital setting. Errors often occur when the order is not clearly articulated. Using acronyms and short forms can have disastrous outcomes in the clinical wards.
I am reminded of my younger days as the only medical officer in Tangkak District Hospital in 1975. This was the first posting after completing my housemanship. Though a novice , I was made the Medical Officer in charge of the hospital (there were non other, anyway!). Apart from learning the rudiments of hospital administration, I took on the training of my nurse and hospital assistants.
Rohana (not her real name) was one of the 6 new staff nurses posted to my hospital after they had recently graduated from nursing school. This was a time when the use of English as the medium of instruction was replaced by the National Language (Malay). Although Rohana spoke reasonably good communication English she had to make an effort to understand my rather rapid speaking habit .
One day she was following my ward rounds in the male ward when I had to examine a gentleman who had partial paralysis of half his body (hemipelgia). I asked her for the 'tendon hammer'. Rohana quickly disappeared. I was puzzled . Anyway I found the 'tendon hammer/tapper' in one of the compartments of the 'round trolley'. As I was completing the examination, I saw Rohana dragging the ward 'attedant' by his hand into the ward. The distraught attendant has indeed displeased expecting some reprimand from me as the medical officer in-charge of the hospital. I couldn't avoid laughing at the scene. When I asked Rohana why she had dragged the poor blighter in she quickly retorted , 'Doctor, you asked for the 'attendant'. What do we see here, a lack of communication ( tendon vs attendant).
On another occasion, I had instructed Rohana, who was then in charge of the female ward , that I would be doing a 'dilatation and curettage for a patient who had an 'incomplete abortion'. In those days there was no operation theatre in that hospital and I had to perform the procedure using analgesics in one part of the main ward. The staff nurse was expected to prepare the 'only set' of instruments available . As the patient was very anaemic, I was concerned if she would be safe for the analgesics and tranquillisers I would normally administer before the procedure. Wanting to avoid using the drugs mentioned, I informed Rohana I would be performing the procedure under 'cervical block'. I had meant I would inject a local anaesthesia into the cervix (neck of the uterus)rather than administer the sedatives intravenously. As I was very busy that day as I had to see about 30 outpatient's , I also informed Rohana I should be back to the ward to perform the procedure by 11 am that morning. When I got back, what did I see- a very frightened patient lying on the couch with both her legs strung up on stirrups and lying literally 'up-side down' ! Rohana had placed two large wooden blocks under the bed at the foot end!. When I asked her why she had placed the patient like so, she promptly replied , "Doctor, you said you wanted to do the procedure under BLOCK!' (blocking the bed vs cervical block). Although running the 100 bedded hospital by myself was challenging , these anecdotes were humorous enough to get me going over the months!.
A widely divergent background often is a set back in tolerating humour as they may not appreciate what is being said and find it distracting. A common joke I often crack is during ward teaching is about the rubbish bin . In public hospitals (3rd class) a plastic waste bin is placed under the bed of each patient. As students jostle around the class to listen, inevitably one student would ‘knock the bin off’. I would promptly utter ‘she/he kicked the bucket’. Those who had come through vernacular schools would not recognise this ‘idiom’ and would stare with a square face while those who had gone through English education would burst out in laughter!
‘Humour as a Double Edged Sword: Four Functions of Humour’ by (Meyer, 2000) explores the pitfalls and risks of humour differentiating acceptable vs unacceptable behaviours. We need to be wary about how humour should be introduced to derive the benefits . Some good principles to follow in introducing humour in the class are to ensure it is appropriate and given in the right ‘dose’ so as not to be distractive. It should not produce anxiety and should avoid gender and social bias. The target should not be the student unless he is a ‘player’. The aim is to build unity and improve comprehension. Students often value and appreciate teachers who humour them.
N.Sivalingam
22 April 2012
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