Revision of Analyses of Research on the Eff ect of Humour Used by Teachers on the Results of Pupils’ and Students’ Learning

Abstract

The review study continues the work of three relevant reviews of research on humour in the educational setting. The focus is only on research which studied the effect of teachers’ humour on the results of learning, and “results of learning” were operationalised by tests of acquired knowledge. The question is what circumstances influence the effect of humour. The analysis of 20 research studies rendered nine categories of circumstances problematising the effect of humour: the duration of instruction; the relatedness of humour to the subject matter; the dosage of humour; humour techniques; students’ perception of humorousness; students’ individual characteristics; the character of the subject matter; the medium of instruction, and the training of teachers. According to the research that was analysed, a positive effect is supported by: longer duration of the instruction; the relatedness of humour to substantial information; an appropriate and even dosage of humour; inserting humour after explaining new knowledge and repeating it after illustration with humorous examples; active work with humour during lessons; training of teachers in using humour, and students’ perception of humour as humorous. The problems of students’ individual characteristics, the character of the subject matter, and especially techniques of humorous punchline construction call for further research.