Student Joke-Telling through Modification of Input Materials

Abstract

As part of an ongoing investigation into the responses of EFL learners to English humour, 38 university students were asked to rewrite two English jokes selected from among a series of humorous input texts linked to functions and topics being studied in class. Learner joke output showed considerable variation in content and was largely successful in maintaining the humorous basis of the input texts, although a significant number of responses to the second joke indicated that writers had not fully understood the grammatical complexity of the original. Students were then asked to rate the output of their peers in terms of difficulty and humorous appeal. 74 student joke-ratings were obtained in each category, with student output, in the case of both jokes, being rated as both less difficult, and funnier than, the original jokes. With the exception of responses that relocated the original setting of the first joke from America to Japan, most major variations did not seem to have a significant impact on ratings. As well as the limitations of the current study, factors that might explain the overall difference in ratings, especially the role of affect and increased familiarity with content schema, are discussed.