INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
DEVELOPING PROSPECTIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXTS WITH HUMOROUS ELEMENTS
Ph.D. Dissertation
Ceylan YANGIN ERSANLI
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Abdülvahit ÇAKIR
Ankara February - 2010
ii
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR for his guidance and supervision of this study at various stages.
My special thanks go to Prof. Dr. Dinçay KÖKSAL for his sincere attitude, valuable comments and helpful criticism. I am also grateful to the following faculties for their comments, advice and suggestions throughout the study; Prof. Dr. Aydan ERSÖZ, Assistant Prof. Dr. Abdullah ERTAġ, Assistant Prof. Dr. Cemal ÇAKIR and Assistant Prof. Dr. Hüseyin ÖZ.
I wish to express my love, deepest gratitude and wholehearted thanks to my sister and collegue Assistant Prof. Dr. Gonca YANGIN EKġĠ without whose moral support and academic advice this study would not have been completed. Her love and encouragement made the realization of my dreams possible.
I owe special thanks to my colleagues and dear friends who spared their valuable time to discuss the problems I encountered in this study; Kadriye Dilek AKPINAR, Selmin SÖYLEMEZ, Deren BaĢak AKMAN YEġĠLEL, and Mehmet BARDAKÇI. I am also grateful to Egemen AYDOĞDU for helping me in the statistical processing.
Most importantly, I wish to thank my beloved family for their endless love and support. I am grateful to my mother and father Melahat and Hüseyin YANGIN for their encouragement and support despite the distance between us. They were there whenever I needed help. My special thanks to my precious sister Dr. Berrin YANGIN DOĞRU for her belief in me.
My deepest feelings of gratitude go to my husband Assistant Prof. Dr. Ercümend ERSANLI for his love and patience. He had to live alone while I was in Ankara but he never ceased to support me. I also owe special thanks to him for his help in the statistics and the computer work of the study. I feel privileged to have such a loving family.
iii
ĠNGĠLĠZCE ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ ĠÇĠNDE MĠZAHĠ ÖĞELER BULUNAN METĠNLERĠ ALGILAMALARINI GELĠġTĠRMEK
YANGIN ERSANLI, Ceylan
Doktora tezi, Ġngiliz Dili Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı DanıĢman: Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR
ġubat - 2010
Mizah evrensel bir olaydır ve hayatımızın en önemli ve ilginç boyutlarından biridir. Buna rağmen tek bir tanımlamayla anlaĢılması oldukça zor bir kavramdır. Sıradan bir insan onu “kiĢiyi güldüren veya gülümseten Ģey” olarak tanımlasa da, mizahın farklı alanlarda birçok tanımı vardır. Edebiyat, dilbilim, psikoloji, sosyoloji ve felsefe gibi birçok alanda çalıĢılmıĢtır.
Mizah genellikle dil yoluyla ifade edilir. Ġnsanlar arası iletiĢimin bir bölümüdür ve o dilin kültürünün ana dil kullanıcıları tarafından paylaĢılır. Dil öğretimi açısından ise, iletiĢimsel yeti aynı zamanda dilbilimsel ve edimbilimsel yetinin bir alt dalı olarak nitelendirilen mizah yetisini de gerektirir. Bu nedenle, mizahi dili anlamada yaĢanan baĢarısızlık iletiĢimde yanlıĢlıklara yol açabilir. Bu tez, okuma becerisinin bazı alt-becerilerine odaklanarak Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının içinde mizahi öğeler bulunan metinleri algılamalarını geliĢtirmeyi amaçlar.
Ġnsanlar mizah yoluyla o kadar çok Ģey iletirler ki, dil sınıflarında bunu göz ardı edilmemelidir. Öğretmen adaylarının yabancı dilde söyleneni veya yazılanı komik bulup ona gülmelerini amaçlamasak da, içindeki mizahı algılamalarını ve kelime anlamının ötesini görmelerine yardımcı olmalıyız. BaĢka bir deyiĢle, Ġngilizce öğretmen adayları, okuma-alt becerilerini etkili bir Ģekilde kullanarak, mizahi metinler yoluyla iletilen mesajı almalıdırlar. Bu iddiaya bağlı olarak, Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının okuma metinlerinde ifade edilmek isteneni kaçırmamaları için metinlerdeki mizahı algılamaları okuma becerisi eğitiminin bir parçası olmalıdır. Dil öğrencilerinin genel iletiĢimsel becerilerini artırmak için bir derece mizah farkındalığına sahip olmaları gereklidir. Kısaca söylemek gerekirse, dil öğrencileri en azından sosyal iletiĢimdeki
iv bütün olamaz.
Bu tez, Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının Ġngilizce öğretim materyallerindeki ve özgün metinlerdeki mizahı algılamalarını tanımlayıp geliĢtirmeyi ve aynı zamanda genel okuma becerilerini ve iletiĢimsel yetilerini geliĢtirmeyi hedefler. Bu amaçla, Gazi Üniversitesinde iki grup birinci sınıf Ġngilizce öğretmen adayı rastlantısal olarak seçildi. Genel mizah profilleri Çoklu Boyutlu Mizah AnlayıĢı Ölçeği (MSHS) ile ölçüldü. Ġstatistiksel iĢlemler Mann-Whitney U testi ile yapıldı. Sonuçlar gruplar arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark olmadığını gösterdi. Böylelikle, gruplar çalıĢma için uyun olarak değerlendirildi.
Birçok özgün kaynak ve Ġnternet tarandı ve ön- ve son- test olarak kullanılmak üzere içinde mizahi öğeler olan metinlerden oluĢan bir okuma testi geliĢtirildi. Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının etkili iletiĢim için okuma becerisini ve alt-becerilerini ne derece kullandıklarını görmek için testin geçerliliği ve güvenirliliği alındı. Kuder-Richardson-20’ye göre testin güvenirliliği 0.81 olarak belirlendi.
Eğitim sürecine baĢlamadan önce, gruplara okuma testi uygulandı. Elde edilen veriler Mann-Whitney U testi ile analiz edildi. Sonuçlar her iki grubun da istatistiksel olarak benzer sonuçlar aldığını; ancak, performanslarının ortalamanın altında kaldığını gösterdi. Uygulama sekiz hafta sürdü. Kontrol grubu sadece içinde mizahi öğeler olmayan metinlerden oluĢan ders kitapları kullanılarak okuma becerisi dersini alırken deney grubu ders kitaplarıyla birlikte içinde mizahi öğeler olan metinler kullanarak eğitim aldı.
Sekizinci haftanın sonunda okuma testi her iki gruba da son- test olarak tekrar uygulandı. Öğrencilerin okuma becerisini kullanma ve belirli alt-becerilerini kullanma baĢarıları Kovaryans Analizleri ile ölçüldü ve karĢılaĢtırıldı. Bu testlerden elde edilen sonuçlar grupların her alt-beceride ortalama puanları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir farkın olduğunu ve aynı zamanda genel okuma becerilerinde de anlamlı bir farkın olduğunu ortaya koydu.
v
daha iyi bir sonuç alıp almadığını anlamak ve deney grubunun mizahi metinleri algılamadaki ilerlemesinin genel okuma becerileri ve iletiĢimsel yetileri üzerine bir etkisi olup olmadığını anlamak adına grupların genel final sınavındaki baĢarıları da Mann- Whitney U test ile karĢılaĢtırıldı. Sonuçlar deney grubunun kontrol grubundan daha baĢarılı olduğunu ortaya koydu.
Eğitim sürecinin sonunda yöntemin etkililiği ve motivasyonu artırıp artırmadığını anlamak için niceliksel veri elde etmek adına deney grubuna Öğrenci Değerlendirme Formu uygulandı. Sonuçlar mizahi metin kullanımının öğrencilerin okuma derslerinde motivasyonlarını artırmaya olumlu yönde etkisi olduğunu ortaya koydu.
Hem niteliksel hem de niceliksel iĢlemlerden elde edilen verilere dayanarak diyebiliriz ki, öğrencilerin mizahı algılamaları ve belirli bazı okuma alt-becerilerini geliĢtirerek okuma becerileri ve böylece hedef dildeki iletiĢimsel yetileri de arttırılabilmiĢtir.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Mizah yetisi, okuma becerisi, edimbilim, okuma alt-becerileri, iletiĢimsel yeti, dil öğretimi
vi
DEVELOPING PROSPECTIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXTS WITH HUMOROUS ELEMENTS
YANGIN ERSANLI, Ceylan
Ph D, Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR
February - 2010
Humour is a universal phenomenon and one of the most important and interesting aspects in our lives. Yet, it is too elusive to give a single definition. While layman can define it as “what makes a person laugh or smile”, there are indeed various definitions of humour in various disciplines. Humour has been studied in many fields of research, namely, literature, linguistics, psychology, sociology and philosophy.
Humour is often expressed through language. It is a part of human communication and it is shared by the native speakers of the culture of the language. As for language teaching, communicative competence also requires humour competence, which can be regarded as a subpart of linguistic and pragmatic competence. Thus, failure to understand humorous language may cause communication breakdown. This thesis aims at improving prospective English language teachers’ comprehension of reading texts with humorous elements with special reference to certain sub-skills of reading comprehension.
People convey too much through humour to be neglected in the language classroom. That is, even if we need not aim at helping our learners find a piece of foreign language funny and laugh at it, we should help them appreciate humour and achieve to see beyond the literal meaning. In other words, prospective language teachers should be able to get the message conveyed through humorous texts using related sub-skills of reading effectively. Following this argument, we can say that comprehension of humour in reading texts should be a part of reading instruction for prospective English language
vii
communicative competence. To put in a nutshell, language learners should, at least, appreciate and be aware of the dynamics of humour in social interaction; otherwise, their communicative competence will not be fully intact.
This thesis aims at defining and developing the prospective English language teachers’ perceptions of humour in English language learning materials and authentic texts and also developing their overall reading comprehension and communicative competence. In order to achieve this, two groups of first grade prospective English language teachers at Gazi University have been chosen randomly for the experiment. Their general humour profile is assessed through a Multi Dimensional Sense of Humor Scale. The statistical processing is done by Mann-Whitney U Tests. The results indicate that there is not a statistically significant difference between the groups. Therefore, the groups are found as appropriate for the study.
Various authentic resources, and the internet are skimmed and a reading test with texts with humorous features is developed to be used as a pre- and post- test. Its reliability and validity is ensured in order to see to what extent prospective English language teachers use the sub-skills of reading for effective comprehension. The test has received 0.81 reliability according to Kuder Richardson-20.
Prior to the instructional process, the groups are administered the reading test. The data is analysed by Mann-Whitney U Tests. The results indicate that both of the groups performed statistically similarly; however, their performances are below average. The experiment lasts for 8 weeks. The experimental group is instructed by using texts with humorous elements along with their regular course book, whereas the control group is only instructed by using their regular course book which contains texts without humorous elements.
At the end of the eighth week, the reading test is re-administered to both of the groups as a post-test. Students’ success in using reading skill with special reference to its certain sub-skills is assessed and compared via Covariance Analyses. The results of these tests have revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between the
viii
Apart from the pre- and post- reading tests which are composed of texts with humorous elements, the success of both groups in their regular final examinations are compared through Mann-Whitney U Tests to see if the experimental group has achieved better and if their progress in humorous text comprehension has an influence on their overall reading comprehension and communicative competence. The results indicate that the experimental group has scored better than the control group.
At the end of the instructional process the experimental group is administered a Student Evaluation Form in order to gather qualitative data regarding the effectiveness of the method and to see if they are motivated to the lessons. The results reveal that use of humorous texts has a positive impact on students’ motivation to reading lessons.
Based on the findings gathered from both quantitative and qualitative processing, through developing students’ humour comprehension and certain sub-skills in reading texts, it appears that the learners’ comprehension of reading and thus their communicative competence in the target language can be increased.
Key words: Humour competence, reading comprehension, pragmatics, sub-skills of reading, communicative competence, language teaching.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ÖZET iii
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
LIST OF TABLES xiii
LIST OF FIGURES xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION page 1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background to the study 1 1.2 The aim of the Study 2
1.3 Statement of the Problem 3 1.4 Hypotheses and Research Questions 4 1.5 Scope of the Study 5 1.6 Methodology 5
1.7 Assumptions and Limitations 7 1.8 Definitions of Terms 7
1.9 Conclusion 9 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.0 Introduction 10 2.1 Towards a Definition of Reading Comprehension 10 2.1.1 Defining Comprehension 13 2.2 The Nature of the Reading Process and Schema Theory 15
2.2.1 Bottom-Up Processing 17
x
2.3.1 Making Appropriate Inferences 25
2.3.2 Understanding Purpose, Intention, Attitude or Tone 27 2.3.3 Understanding the Main idea of a Text or Paragraph 30 2.3.4 Critical Reading, Making Synthesizing and Intelligent Guesses 31 2.3.5 Determining the Meaning of Words from Context 33
2.4 Authentic Materials in Language Learning 34
2.5 Communicative Competence 36
2.5.1 Definitions of Communication and Communicative Competence 36 2.5.1.1 Grammatical Competence/Linguistic Competence 39
2.5.1.2 Discourse Competence 39 2.5.1.3 Sociolinguistic Competence 39 2.5.1.4 Strategic Competence 40 2.5.1.5 Pragmatic Competence 41 2.5.2 Humour Competence 42 2.5.2.1 What is Humour? 43
2.6 Linguistic Approaches to Humour 44
2.6.1 Semantic Approaches to Humour 45
2.6.1.1 Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguity as a Source of Humour 45
2.6.1.2 Semantic Script Theory of Humour 46
2.6.1.2.1 Scripts 48
2.6.2 Pragmatic Theories of Humour 50
2.6.2.1 What Grice Contribute to the Analysis of Humour 50
2.6.2.1.1 The Cooperative Principle 51
2.6.2.1.2 Maxims of Conversation 52
2.6.2.2 Relevance Theory 56
2.6.2.3 Speech Acts 58
2.7 The Communicative Value of Humorous Texts 59
2.8 The Importance of The Implicit Information in Humorous Reading Texts 61 2.9 Types of Thinking Skills used to Understand Humorous Texts 62
xi
3.0 Introduction 65
3.1 Overall Design of the Study 65
3.2 Subjects 65
3.3 Instructional Materials 65
3.4 Data Collection Instruments 66
3.4.1. MSHS 66
3.4.2. Pre and Post Reading Tests 66
3.4.3. Student Evaluation Form 67
3.5 Instructional Procedure 68
3.6 Conclusion 99
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.0 Introduction 100
4.1 Analysis of the Quantitative Data 100
4.1.1 The Analysis and Evaluation of the First Hypothesis
of the Study 101
4.1.2 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Second Hypothesis
of the Study 103
4.1.3 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Third Hypothesis
of the Study 104
4.1.4 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Fourth Hypothesis
of the Study 116
4.2 Analysis of the Qualitative Data and the Fifth Hypothesis
of the Study 117
4.3 Conclusion 127
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
xii
5.3 Implications for Researchers and Materials Developers 135
BIBLIOGRAPHY 136
xiii
Table 1: The Sub-skills assessed in the Pre- and Post- Test 67 Table 2: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Multi Dimensional
Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) Administered at the Beginning of the Study
68
Table 3: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre-Reading Test to Compare the Overall Success of the Experimental and the Control Groups and Mann-Whitney U Test Scores
101
Table 4: The Statistical Results obtained through Covariance Analysis on Pre- and Post-Reading Test comparing the Overall Success of the Experimental and the Control Groups
103
Table 5: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Making Appropriate Inferences-Understanding Less or Not Explicitly Stated Information
104
Table 6: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Understanding the Purpose or Tone, Understanding the Author’s/Characters’ Intention or Attitude
106
Table 7: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Understanding the Gist - Main Idea of the Text or Paragraph
109
Table 8: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Critical Reading, Synthesizing and Making Intelligent Guesses
111
Table 9: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Guessing Meaning from Context - Recognizing Synonyms and Antonyms, Finding a Word or a Phrase that Best Describes a Person, Situation
114
Table 10: The Statistical Analysis of the Reading Final of the Experimental and the Control Groups and the Mann-Whitney U test Scores
xiv
Figure 1: The Interrelationship among the Elements of Reading Process 14
Figure 2: The Three Parts of a Sign 37
Figure 3: Particularized, Non-standardized Conversational Implicatures 52
Figure 4: Reinterpretation of a Text 59
Figure 5: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups
102 Figure 6: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the
Experimental Groups in terms of Making Appropriate Inferences-Understanding Less or Not Explicitly Stated Information
106
Figure 7: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Understanding the Purpose or Tone, Understanding the Author’s/Characters’ Intention or Attitude
109
Figure 8: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Understanding the Gist - Main Idea of the Text or Paragraph
111
Figure 9: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Critical Reading, Synthesizing and Making Intelligent Guesses
113
Figure 10: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Guessing Meaning from Context - Recognizing Synonyms and Antonyms, Finding a Word or a Phrase that Best Describes a Person, Situation
115
Figure 11: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 1st Question in the Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
117 Figure 12: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 2nd Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
118 Figure 13: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 3rd Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
119 Figure 14: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 4th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
120 Figure 15: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 5th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
121 Figure 16: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 6th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
122 Figure17: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 7th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
123 Figure18: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 8th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
124 Figure 19: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 9th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
125 Figure 20: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 10th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
xv CP Cooperative Principle
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
DEVELOPING PROSPECTIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXTS WITH HUMOROUS ELEMENTS
Ph.D. Dissertation
Ceylan YANGIN ERSANLI
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Abdülvahit ÇAKIR
Ankara February - 2010
ii
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR for his guidance and supervision of this study at various stages.
My special thanks go to Prof. Dr. Dinçay KÖKSAL for his sincere attitude, valuable comments and helpful criticism. I am also grateful to the following faculties for their comments, advice and suggestions throughout the study; Prof. Dr. Aydan ERSÖZ, Assistant Prof. Dr. Abdullah ERTAġ, Assistant Prof. Dr. Cemal ÇAKIR and Assistant Prof. Dr. Hüseyin ÖZ.
I wish to express my love, deepest gratitude and wholehearted thanks to my sister and collegue Assistant Prof. Dr. Gonca YANGIN EKġĠ without whose moral support and academic advice this study would not have been completed. Her love and encouragement made the realization of my dreams possible.
I owe special thanks to my colleagues and dear friends who spared their valuable time to discuss the problems I encountered in this study; Kadriye Dilek AKPINAR, Selmin SÖYLEMEZ, Deren BaĢak AKMAN YEġĠLEL, and Mehmet BARDAKÇI. I am also grateful to Egemen AYDOĞDU for helping me in the statistical processing.
Most importantly, I wish to thank my beloved family for their endless love and support. I am grateful to my mother and father Melahat and Hüseyin YANGIN for their encouragement and support despite the distance between us. They were there whenever I needed help. My special thanks to my precious sister Dr. Berrin YANGIN DOĞRU for her belief in me.
My deepest feelings of gratitude go to my husband Assistant Prof. Dr. Ercümend ERSANLI for his love and patience. He had to live alone while I was in Ankara but he never ceased to support me. I also owe special thanks to him for his help in the statistics and the computer work of the study. I feel privileged to have such a loving family.
iii
ĠNGĠLĠZCE ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ ĠÇĠNDE MĠZAHĠ ÖĞELER BULUNAN METĠNLERĠ ALGILAMALARINI GELĠġTĠRMEK
YANGIN ERSANLI, Ceylan
Doktora tezi, Ġngiliz Dili Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı DanıĢman: Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR
ġubat - 2010
Mizah evrensel bir olaydır ve hayatımızın en önemli ve ilginç boyutlarından biridir. Buna rağmen tek bir tanımlamayla anlaĢılması oldukça zor bir kavramdır. Sıradan bir insan onu “kiĢiyi güldüren veya gülümseten Ģey” olarak tanımlasa da, mizahın farklı alanlarda birçok tanımı vardır. Edebiyat, dilbilim, psikoloji, sosyoloji ve felsefe gibi birçok alanda çalıĢılmıĢtır.
Mizah genellikle dil yoluyla ifade edilir. Ġnsanlar arası iletiĢimin bir bölümüdür ve o dilin kültürünün ana dil kullanıcıları tarafından paylaĢılır. Dil öğretimi açısından ise, iletiĢimsel yeti aynı zamanda dilbilimsel ve edimbilimsel yetinin bir alt dalı olarak nitelendirilen mizah yetisini de gerektirir. Bu nedenle, mizahi dili anlamada yaĢanan baĢarısızlık iletiĢimde yanlıĢlıklara yol açabilir. Bu tez, okuma becerisinin bazı alt-becerilerine odaklanarak Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının içinde mizahi öğeler bulunan metinleri algılamalarını geliĢtirmeyi amaçlar.
Ġnsanlar mizah yoluyla o kadar çok Ģey iletirler ki, dil sınıflarında bunu göz ardı edilmemelidir. Öğretmen adaylarının yabancı dilde söyleneni veya yazılanı komik bulup ona gülmelerini amaçlamasak da, içindeki mizahı algılamalarını ve kelime anlamının ötesini görmelerine yardımcı olmalıyız. BaĢka bir deyiĢle, Ġngilizce öğretmen adayları, okuma-alt becerilerini etkili bir Ģekilde kullanarak, mizahi metinler yoluyla iletilen mesajı almalıdırlar. Bu iddiaya bağlı olarak, Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının okuma metinlerinde ifade edilmek isteneni kaçırmamaları için metinlerdeki mizahı algılamaları okuma becerisi eğitiminin bir parçası olmalıdır. Dil öğrencilerinin genel iletiĢimsel becerilerini artırmak için bir derece mizah farkındalığına sahip olmaları gereklidir. Kısaca söylemek gerekirse, dil öğrencileri en azından sosyal iletiĢimdeki
iv bütün olamaz.
Bu tez, Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının Ġngilizce öğretim materyallerindeki ve özgün metinlerdeki mizahı algılamalarını tanımlayıp geliĢtirmeyi ve aynı zamanda genel okuma becerilerini ve iletiĢimsel yetilerini geliĢtirmeyi hedefler. Bu amaçla, Gazi Üniversitesinde iki grup birinci sınıf Ġngilizce öğretmen adayı rastlantısal olarak seçildi. Genel mizah profilleri Çoklu Boyutlu Mizah AnlayıĢı Ölçeği (MSHS) ile ölçüldü. Ġstatistiksel iĢlemler Mann-Whitney U testi ile yapıldı. Sonuçlar gruplar arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark olmadığını gösterdi. Böylelikle, gruplar çalıĢma için uyun olarak değerlendirildi.
Birçok özgün kaynak ve Ġnternet tarandı ve ön- ve son- test olarak kullanılmak üzere içinde mizahi öğeler olan metinlerden oluĢan bir okuma testi geliĢtirildi. Ġngilizce öğretmen adaylarının etkili iletiĢim için okuma becerisini ve alt-becerilerini ne derece kullandıklarını görmek için testin geçerliliği ve güvenirliliği alındı. Kuder-Richardson-20’ye göre testin güvenirliliği 0.81 olarak belirlendi.
Eğitim sürecine baĢlamadan önce, gruplara okuma testi uygulandı. Elde edilen veriler Mann-Whitney U testi ile analiz edildi. Sonuçlar her iki grubun da istatistiksel olarak benzer sonuçlar aldığını; ancak, performanslarının ortalamanın altında kaldığını gösterdi. Uygulama sekiz hafta sürdü. Kontrol grubu sadece içinde mizahi öğeler olmayan metinlerden oluĢan ders kitapları kullanılarak okuma becerisi dersini alırken deney grubu ders kitaplarıyla birlikte içinde mizahi öğeler olan metinler kullanarak eğitim aldı.
Sekizinci haftanın sonunda okuma testi her iki gruba da son- test olarak tekrar uygulandı. Öğrencilerin okuma becerisini kullanma ve belirli alt-becerilerini kullanma baĢarıları Kovaryans Analizleri ile ölçüldü ve karĢılaĢtırıldı. Bu testlerden elde edilen sonuçlar grupların her alt-beceride ortalama puanları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir farkın olduğunu ve aynı zamanda genel okuma becerilerinde de anlamlı bir farkın olduğunu ortaya koydu.
v
daha iyi bir sonuç alıp almadığını anlamak ve deney grubunun mizahi metinleri algılamadaki ilerlemesinin genel okuma becerileri ve iletiĢimsel yetileri üzerine bir etkisi olup olmadığını anlamak adına grupların genel final sınavındaki baĢarıları da Mann- Whitney U test ile karĢılaĢtırıldı. Sonuçlar deney grubunun kontrol grubundan daha baĢarılı olduğunu ortaya koydu.
Eğitim sürecinin sonunda yöntemin etkililiği ve motivasyonu artırıp artırmadığını anlamak için niceliksel veri elde etmek adına deney grubuna Öğrenci Değerlendirme Formu uygulandı. Sonuçlar mizahi metin kullanımının öğrencilerin okuma derslerinde motivasyonlarını artırmaya olumlu yönde etkisi olduğunu ortaya koydu.
Hem niteliksel hem de niceliksel iĢlemlerden elde edilen verilere dayanarak diyebiliriz ki, öğrencilerin mizahı algılamaları ve belirli bazı okuma alt-becerilerini geliĢtirerek okuma becerileri ve böylece hedef dildeki iletiĢimsel yetileri de arttırılabilmiĢtir.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Mizah yetisi, okuma becerisi, edimbilim, okuma alt-becerileri, iletiĢimsel yeti, dil öğretimi
vi
DEVELOPING PROSPECTIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXTS WITH HUMOROUS ELEMENTS
YANGIN ERSANLI, Ceylan
Ph D, Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Abdulvahit ÇAKIR
February - 2010
Humour is a universal phenomenon and one of the most important and interesting aspects in our lives. Yet, it is too elusive to give a single definition. While layman can define it as “what makes a person laugh or smile”, there are indeed various definitions of humour in various disciplines. Humour has been studied in many fields of research, namely, literature, linguistics, psychology, sociology and philosophy.
Humour is often expressed through language. It is a part of human communication and it is shared by the native speakers of the culture of the language. As for language teaching, communicative competence also requires humour competence, which can be regarded as a subpart of linguistic and pragmatic competence. Thus, failure to understand humorous language may cause communication breakdown. This thesis aims at improving prospective English language teachers’ comprehension of reading texts with humorous elements with special reference to certain sub-skills of reading comprehension.
People convey too much through humour to be neglected in the language classroom. That is, even if we need not aim at helping our learners find a piece of foreign language funny and laugh at it, we should help them appreciate humour and achieve to see beyond the literal meaning. In other words, prospective language teachers should be able to get the message conveyed through humorous texts using related sub-skills of reading effectively. Following this argument, we can say that comprehension of humour in reading texts should be a part of reading instruction for prospective English language
vii
communicative competence. To put in a nutshell, language learners should, at least, appreciate and be aware of the dynamics of humour in social interaction; otherwise, their communicative competence will not be fully intact.
This thesis aims at defining and developing the prospective English language teachers’ perceptions of humour in English language learning materials and authentic texts and also developing their overall reading comprehension and communicative competence. In order to achieve this, two groups of first grade prospective English language teachers at Gazi University have been chosen randomly for the experiment. Their general humour profile is assessed through a Multi Dimensional Sense of Humor Scale. The statistical processing is done by Mann-Whitney U Tests. The results indicate that there is not a statistically significant difference between the groups. Therefore, the groups are found as appropriate for the study.
Various authentic resources, and the internet are skimmed and a reading test with texts with humorous features is developed to be used as a pre- and post- test. Its reliability and validity is ensured in order to see to what extent prospective English language teachers use the sub-skills of reading for effective comprehension. The test has received 0.81 reliability according to Kuder Richardson-20.
Prior to the instructional process, the groups are administered the reading test. The data is analysed by Mann-Whitney U Tests. The results indicate that both of the groups performed statistically similarly; however, their performances are below average. The experiment lasts for 8 weeks. The experimental group is instructed by using texts with humorous elements along with their regular course book, whereas the control group is only instructed by using their regular course book which contains texts without humorous elements.
At the end of the eighth week, the reading test is re-administered to both of the groups as a post-test. Students’ success in using reading skill with special reference to its certain sub-skills is assessed and compared via Covariance Analyses. The results of these tests have revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between the
viii
Apart from the pre- and post- reading tests which are composed of texts with humorous elements, the success of both groups in their regular final examinations are compared through Mann-Whitney U Tests to see if the experimental group has achieved better and if their progress in humorous text comprehension has an influence on their overall reading comprehension and communicative competence. The results indicate that the experimental group has scored better than the control group.
At the end of the instructional process the experimental group is administered a Student Evaluation Form in order to gather qualitative data regarding the effectiveness of the method and to see if they are motivated to the lessons. The results reveal that use of humorous texts has a positive impact on students’ motivation to reading lessons.
Based on the findings gathered from both quantitative and qualitative processing, through developing students’ humour comprehension and certain sub-skills in reading texts, it appears that the learners’ comprehension of reading and thus their communicative competence in the target language can be increased.
Key words: Humour competence, reading comprehension, pragmatics, sub-skills of reading, communicative competence, language teaching.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ÖZET iii
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF FIGURES xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
page
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 The aim of the Study 2
1.3 Statement of the Problem 3
1.4 Hypotheses and Research Questions 4
1.5 Scope of the Study 5
1.6 Methodology 5
1.7 Assumptions and Limitations 7
1.8 Definitions of Terms 7
1.9 Conclusion 9
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction 10
2.1 Towards a Definition of Reading Comprehension 10
2.1.1 Defining Comprehension 13
2.2 The Nature of the Reading Process and Schema Theory 15
2.2.1 Bottom-Up Processing 17
x
2.3.1 Making Appropriate Inferences 25
2.3.2 Understanding Purpose, Intention, Attitude or Tone 27 2.3.3 Understanding the Main idea of a Text or Paragraph 30 2.3.4 Critical Reading, Making Synthesizing and Intelligent Guesses 31 2.3.5 Determining the Meaning of Words from Context 33
2.4 Authentic Materials in Language Learning 34
2.5 Communicative Competence 36
2.5.1 Definitions of Communication and Communicative Competence 36 2.5.1.1 Grammatical Competence/Linguistic Competence 39
2.5.1.2 Discourse Competence 39 2.5.1.3 Sociolinguistic Competence 39 2.5.1.4 Strategic Competence 40 2.5.1.5 Pragmatic Competence 41 2.5.2 Humour Competence 42 2.5.2.1 What is Humour? 43
2.6 Linguistic Approaches to Humour 44
2.6.1 Semantic Approaches to Humour 45
2.6.1.1 Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguity as a Source of Humour 45
2.6.1.2 Semantic Script Theory of Humour 46
2.6.1.2.1 Scripts 48
2.6.2 Pragmatic Theories of Humour 50
2.6.2.1 What Grice Contribute to the Analysis of Humour 50
2.6.2.1.1 The Cooperative Principle 51
2.6.2.1.2 Maxims of Conversation 52
2.6.2.2 Relevance Theory 56
2.6.2.3 Speech Acts 58
2.7 The Communicative Value of Humorous Texts 59
2.8 The Importance of The Implicit Information in Humorous Reading Texts 61 2.9 Types of Thinking Skills used to Understand Humorous Texts 62
xi
3.0 Introduction 65
3.1 Overall Design of the Study 65
3.2 Subjects 65
3.3 Instructional Materials 65
3.4 Data Collection Instruments 66
3.4.1. MSHS 66
3.4.2. Pre and Post Reading Tests 66
3.4.3. Student Evaluation Form 67
3.5 Instructional Procedure 68
3.6 Conclusion 99
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.0 Introduction 100
4.1 Analysis of the Quantitative Data 100
4.1.1 The Analysis and Evaluation of the First Hypothesis
of the Study 101
4.1.2 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Second Hypothesis
of the Study 103
4.1.3 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Third Hypothesis
of the Study 104
4.1.4 The Analysis and Evaluation of the Fourth Hypothesis
of the Study 116
4.2 Analysis of the Qualitative Data and the Fifth Hypothesis
of the Study 117
4.3 Conclusion 127
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
xii
5.3 Implications for Researchers and Materials Developers 135
BIBLIOGRAPHY 136
xiii
Table 1: The Sub-skills assessed in the Pre- and Post- Test 67 Table 2: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Multi Dimensional
Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) Administered at the Beginning of the Study
68
Table 3: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre-Reading Test to Compare the Overall Success of the Experimental and the Control Groups and Mann-Whitney U Test Scores
101
Table 4: The Statistical Results obtained through Covariance Analysis on Pre- and Post-Reading Test comparing the Overall Success of the Experimental and the Control Groups
103
Table 5: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Making Appropriate Inferences-Understanding Less or Not Explicitly Stated Information
104
Table 6: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Understanding the Purpose or Tone, Understanding the Author’s/Characters’ Intention or Attitude
106
Table 7: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Understanding the Gist - Main Idea of the Text or Paragraph
109
Table 8: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Critical Reading, Synthesizing and Making Intelligent Guesses
111
Table 9: The Statistical Results Obtained from the Pre- and Post-Reading Test through Covariance Analysis on Guessing Meaning from Context - Recognizing Synonyms and Antonyms, Finding a Word or a Phrase that Best Describes a Person, Situation
114
Table 10: The Statistical Analysis of the Reading Final of the Experimental and the Control Groups and the Mann-Whitney U test Scores
xiv
Figure 1: The Interrelationship among the Elements of Reading Process 14
Figure 2: The Three Parts of a Sign 37
Figure 3: Particularized, Non-standardized Conversational Implicatures 52
Figure 4: Reinterpretation of a Text 59
Figure 5: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups
102 Figure 6: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the
Experimental Groups in terms of Making Appropriate Inferences-Understanding Less or Not Explicitly Stated Information
106
Figure 7: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Understanding the Purpose or Tone, Understanding the Author’s/Characters’ Intention or Attitude
109
Figure 8: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Understanding the Gist - Main Idea of the Text or Paragraph
111
Figure 9: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Critical Reading, Synthesizing and Making Intelligent Guesses
113
Figure 10: The Pre- and Post-Test Mean Scores of the Control and the Experimental Groups in terms of Guessing Meaning from Context - Recognizing Synonyms and Antonyms, Finding a Word or a Phrase that Best Describes a Person, Situation
115
Figure 11: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 1st Question in the Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
117 Figure 12: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 2nd Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
118 Figure 13: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 3rd Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
119 Figure 14: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 4th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
120 Figure 15: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 5th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
121 Figure 16: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 6th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
122 Figure17: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 7th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
123 Figure18: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 8th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
124 Figure 19: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 9th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
125 Figure 20: Responses of the Experimental Group for the 10th Question in the
Student Evaluation Form administered at the End of the Study
xv CP Cooperative Principle
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction
In this chapter, background to the study, aim of the study, statement of the problem, hypothesis, methodology, scope of the study and assumptions and limitations of the study are explained.
1.1 Background to the Study
Humour occupies a great role in social interaction, literature and culture. It has a high profile in society. Sitcoms and comedy shows occupy a considerable part of prime-time on televisions. Comedians are often celebrities with high incomes. Humorous books are often in the bestseller lists. In addition to these examples from the mass media, humour has a fashionable status at personal level. A good sense of humour can make you a person sought after in social circles. Obviously, humour is so much a part of our lives that we may sometimes take its role in human communication for granted. The language of humour is regarded as a way of communication among people and therefore it is worth studying throughout this dissertation.
Language is a means of communication. Humour manipulates language to achieve its effect and therefore can be regarded as a mode of communication. Communication is successful mostly when the message from the sender is accurately got by the receiver. Often this is done by humour, namely by practical jokes, satire, irony, wit, sarcasm, puns, verbal humour and etc. Humour is a part of social interaction and we cannot say communication is achieved when the interlocutors fail to understand the language of humour. Following this reasoning, language of humour is significant in language teaching.
The current studies in linguistics regarding language use and language functions require an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to linguistics, namely, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, text linguistics, discourse analysis, stylistics and so on.
There are, unfortunately, a limited number of studies on humour done in different universities in Turkey and also in abroad. Some of these studies focus on the linguistics of humour and literature, yet, they are worth referring to in this study.
The PhD. thesis done by Salvatore Attardo (1991) at Purdue University “From Linguistics to Humor Research and Back: Applications of Linguistics to Humor and Their Implications for Linguistic Theory and Methodology” mainly gives an overview and systematization of the field of linguistic research about humour and presents some discussions and suggestions. The other important study is Vega Gladys‟ MA thesis (1989) “Humor Competence: The Fifth Component”. In her thesis she claims that humor competence is a part of communicative competence and since our ultimate aim is to make learners more communicatively competent it should be taught in our schools.
Kınay‟s MA thesis (1993) “The Language of Humour in Turkish Verbal Jokes” aims to illustrate empirically the functions of language in humour and to demonstrate it through the principles of Speech Acts and of Conversational Implicatures. A more recent study is Çolak‟s MA thesis (2006) “Humour in Turkish: A Study on the Basic Linguistic Features of Humour Language”, which aims to determine the basic linguistic features of the language of humour by analysing texts in Turkish humour magazines.
Apart from these studies, some studies are conducted on children‟s positive reactions to humorous literary content. Zeller (1941) found that humour was the quality most preferred by both girls and boys in the stories they read. Kyte (1947) found that children favoured narrative poems which contained humour. Gunderson (1957) found that seven-years-olds preferred “funny” books. Norvell (1958) found that humour was one of the elements in stories favoured by children. Yet, there are not many studies regarding the role of humour in language teaching. Therefore, it is hoped that the study will fill a gap in the field of language teaching.
1.2 The Aim of the Study
This study aims at determining the linguistic features of language of humour and defining the crucial role of humour in human communication. It also suggests that humour competence should be a part of language learning because it is a part of
communicative competence in general. Lack of humour competence in language learners may result in misunderstanding and communication breakdown due to the fact that the intended message cannot be received adequately.
This study also aims at finding samples of humorous texts in authentic reading materials and finding out whether prospective English language teachers are able to comprehend the humour or not. In other words, it aims at finding whether they are able to get what is conveyed through humour. This study also intends to help prospective English language teachers improve their reading comprehension, inference skills and communicative competence through humorous language comprehension in the target language. Finally, the study aims to motivate prospective Engish language teachers to the reading lessons more effectively by using humorous texts.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Native speakers of language understand the conventions of language such as discourse types and the cooperative principle of language. The former is the rules underlying the use of language in written or spoken texts, and the latter is the assumption that people in conversation are cooperative and follow the maxims (especially the Maxim of Relevance). People need to be aware of all these principles and use language accordingly to communicate successfully and effectively.
As it has been stated before, humour is a significant mode of language. People often tend to use humour to convey their messages. Therefore, for effective language learning and teaching we should make use of the linguistic theories of humour based on the principles of semantics, pragmatics, and discourse, some principles of which have been mentioned above.
However, the role of humour in language teaching and learning has been overlooked. Most of our students are not aware of what makes a spoken or written text humorous. The majority of language learners, even the ones that we define as upper-intermediate or advanced, often fail to understand the humorous language and they tend to get the message on literal terms. Without knowing the nature of humorous language, they cannot be fully competent in the target language, that is to say, they may not get the
intended message and make the necessary inferences and so communication breakdowns may occur. Therefore, studying on texts with humorous elements with special emphasis on certain sub-skills of reading might help learners develop their humour competence accordingly.
1.4 Hypotheses and Research Questions
The main focus in this study is to enable language learners to appreciate humorous texts in the target language. Most language learners tend to perceive the target language in its literary meaning and fail to get the intended meaning and make the necessary inferences. Based on these arguments in this study, the following hypotheses will be tested:
1) Prospective English language teachers have difficulty in comprehending texts with humorous elements.
2) They will more successfully comprehend texts with humorous elements if they study on such texts.
3) Using texts with humorous elements in reading classes will improve prospective English language teachers‟ ability to use reading sub-skills namely; inferencing, understanding the gist, critical reading, understanding the tone, purpose and intention and guessing meaning from context.
4) Raising prospective English language teachers‟ comprehension of humour will foster their overall reading comprehension and thus their communicative competence.
5) Using humorous texts in reading activities will enhance prospective English language teachers‟ motivation to learn.
Based on the above-stated hypotheses, the following research questions will be answered:
1. Do prospective English language teachers have difficulty in getting the implied meaning through humour?
2. Do prospective English language teachers appreciate humorous texts in English? 3. Can they make appropriate inferences in humorous reading texts?
4. Can prospective English language teachers be motivated by studying on texts with humorous elements?
5. Can communicative competence be enhanced using humour on reading materials?
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study is conducted at Gazi University, Department of English Language Teaching Program (ELT). The subjects are 53prospective English language teachers, and they are first graders. They study 3 hours of reading skill a week. The study is conducted in a two months period, which consists of 8 weeks.
Humour is a vast area of research and can be used in many forms such as cartoons, TV sitcoms, comedy shows, humorous books and so on. However, this study is only limited to humorous texts since they are the most frequently found materials in foreign language learners‟ course books and skill books.
1.6 Methodology
First, this study reviews the related literature about reading comprehension, humour and linguistics. The linguistic theories of humour, the maxims of conversation by Grice, Speech Acts, presuppositions and conversational implicatures will be elaborated to form a sound theory of humour. Second, an experimental method is used with two groups; namely the experimental and the control groups. Both quantitative and qualitative data gathering methods are used in the study. The names of the statistical analyses used in the study are Mann-Whitney U tests, Covariance Analyses and K-R (20). The independent variable in the study is the eight-week instructional program and the dependent variable of the study is improving prospective English language teachers‟ comprehension of texts with humorous elements, their reading comprehension and communicative competence.
The Multi-dimensional Sense of Humor Scale (hereafter MSHS) developed by Thorson and Powell (1993) is administered to the subjects in order to obtain a general humour
sense profile of the students. It is seen that both of the groups have equal senses of humour.
Later, a 43-item reading test consisting humorous texts is developed and then administered to 4 first grade reading classes (a total of 100 students) other than the experimental and control groups. The results are statistically evaluated in terms of their reliability and validity. 11 questions are eliminated. The remaining 32-item test has 0.81 reliability and this test is used as pre- and post-test for the experimental and control groups.
Next, the pre-test is administered to both of the groups to find out to what extent students have appreciated the humour in the reading materials and whether they have got the intended message or not. An analysis of the findings of the pre-test is believed to shed light on what is missing and what should be emphasized. The results indicate that both the experimental and the control groups have problems in getting the message conveyed through humour, and their performances are below average.
Later, a rich variety of humorous text examples from the internet and authentic reading resources are analysed to design humorous texts to be used in the reading classroom. Throughout 8 weeks, reading texts with humorous elements are studied with the experimental group with special emphasis on related sub-skills of reading in order to improve their reading comprehension, humour awareness and communicative competence. The students are supposed to be more competent in looking at a text from a number of aspects. It is hoped that the students in the experimental group will be able to go beyond surface meaning and to discover the deeper meaning of a given text, and to make appropriate inferences. On the other hand, the students in the control group only follow regular reading courses. Finally, the post-test is administered to both of the groups to see if the students in the experimental group have improved in getting the message conveyed through humour. The results of both of the groups gathered from pre- and post- tests are statistically evaluated to see the effectiveness of the method in terms of the hypotheses formulated at the beginning of the study. Students‟ scores from the reading final examination are analyzed statistically to see whether humour comprehension contributes to their overall reading competence, and thus communicative competence. Finally, a student evaluation form is developed and given
to the experimental group to obtain a clear view of their perceptions of the process and to see whether they are more intrinsically motivated.
1.7 Assumptions and Limitations
Humour is a mode of communication and people convey too much through humour to be neglected. It is assumed that higher humour awareness will enable language learners to communicate more effectively. Furthermore, it is assumed that most prospective English language teachers fail to appreciate humour in reading materials adequately. It is also assumed that the learners‟ humour awareness and thus their reading comprehension can be enhanced.
Humour is basically culture-specific in that what is considered to be funny might change from culture to culture. However, not all humour is strictly culture-bound. Communication breakdowns occur only when learners of the target language cannot comprehend the deeper meanings within a written text or when they cannot get the message conveyed, not when they do not find it funny.
In this study, it is assumed that the data collection device, which aims to provide an accurate profile of typical prospective English language teachers, shows the sincere thoughts and opinions of the respondents. It is also assumed that the results of data collection can be generalized for all prospective English language teachers in universities in Turkey.
This study will be limited to the first graders at Gazi University English Language Teaching Program. However, the findings may be generalized to all ELT prospective students at other universities in Turkey.
1.8 Definition of Terms
Authentic Material: Authentic materials are usually defined as those which have been produced for purposes other than to teach language (Nunan, 1988).
Communicative Competence: The term refers to a person‟s unconscious knowledge of the rules governing the appropriate use of language in social situations. Communicative competence includes our formal knowledge of language, but in addition it includes our awareness of the factors which govern acceptable speech, such as how to begin and end conversations, how to interrupt, how to address people, and how to behave in special speech situations (Crystal, 1992: 74).
Humour: Bremmer and Rodenburg (1997) state that humour is any message transmitted in action, speech, writing, images or music-intended to produce smile or laugh.
Humour Competence: People‟s linguistic competence enable them to make judgments about the grammaticality of a sentence, likewise they are able to formulate judgments as to the amusing properties of a humorous text. Attardo states that “considering a text humorous is merely being aware of its perlocutionary goal and/or effect” (1991:169). Hence, the illocutionary and perlocutionary aspects of utterances should be acknowledged for effective humour competence. These issues are related to pragmatic competence; thus, humour competence can be said to be within linguistic and pragmatic competence.
Motivation: Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior (Snowman, 1997).
Pragmatics: The study of language from the point of view of the users – especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on the other participants in the act of communication (Crystal, 1992:310).
Script: A script is an organized complex of information about some entity, in the broadest sense: an object (real or imaginary), an event, an action, a quality, etc. It is a cognitive structure internalized by the speaker (Attardo, 2001:2).
Text: A piece of naturally occurring spoken, written, or signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis or description. It is often established as a language unit with a definable communicative function, such as conversation, a poster, or a road sign.
1.9 Conclusion
In this chapter some basic background information related to the study is given briefly. What the study aims and why there is a need to conduct such as study are also discussed. The hypotheses based on research questions are formulated. The scope of the study is determined and a methodlogy is developed. Later, the assumptions and limitations are discussed and finally, study-related terms are defined.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
In this chapter, first, a review of reading comprehension, the nature of reading process, the importance of schema theory, bottom-up, top-down and interactive views of reading will be given. Then, reading comprehension and different sub-skills of reading comprehension such as inferencing, understanding the gist, main idea, critical reading, understanding the purpose or the intention of the author or the tone of the text and guessing meaning from context will be explained. Next, the importance of humour comprehension in foreign language reading and for effective communication will be addressed. Later, pragmatic competence, linguistic competence and humour competence and its importance for overall communicative competence of students will be discussed. Finally, linguistic theories of humour; namely semantic and pragmatic theories related to humorous text comprehension will be given with samples.
2.1 Towards a Definition of Reading Comprehension
Although in classroom atmosphere listening to lectures and involving in classroom activities require speaking, writing and listening skills, students of the department of foreign languages will probably be required to spend much time and effort reading outside the classroom for a number of reasons. First of all, reading is the most practiced skill for a foreign language learner since English is not a second language in Turkey; that is, the students have little or no opportunities to practice the other skills outside the classroom. Therefore, being an effective reader in the target language, and comprehending the texts of all types will inevitably contribute to their overall target language competence.
Foreign language reading research has been an interest for most researchers and teachers, and therefore has progressed remarkably in terms of theory and practice in the last decades. Research has revealed that reading is a very complex skill and has many sub-skills, yet it is more than that. Effective reading in a second or foreign language
requires more than word identification or syntactic knowledge, it requires synthesis and evaluation skills, inferencing, making use of background knowledge, being aware of the communicative value of the text, understanding the implied meanings and what is communicated more within the text, extracting the writer‟s intention appropriately, and so on.
Comprehending a written text means extracting the required information from it as appropriately as possible. A competent reader has the ability to locate the relevant information and to reject the irrelevant information and to find what he is looking for. Thus, it can be claimed that reading is a constant process of guessing and hypothesis testing.
Most of our current views of foreign and second language reading are affected by the research on first language learners since it has a longer history. The findings of first language research are very useful in learning about the reading process in general. It has long been understood that foreign and second language instruction should take those into consideration and design their instructional types accordingly. However, before studying the issue further, what reading comprehension is should be defined first. There have been different approaches in defining reading.
The simple dictionary definition of reading is being able to understand the meaning of written or printed words or symbols. However, when the situation of the university students is considered, who need to interpret texts which require them to use higher order thinking skills, this definition falls short for it is too loose. In this respect, Widdowson‟s definition is more appropriate. To quote:
Reading as the understanding of discourse does not simply involve recognition of what words and sentences mean-but also the recognition of the value they take on in association with each other as elements of discourse. When we read with understanding we actively work out what the discourse means as we go along – predicting what is to come by reference to what has preceded... (1978:53).
Another view was proposed by Finnochiario, and Bonomo (1973:118). They considered reading as a complex skill. In order to read with comprehension, ease and enjoyment, students must know all the elements of the sound system of the language its syntax, structure and vocabulary. It is clear from this definition that reading comprehension depends on complete knowledge of the language system.
Block et al. gave a useful definition of reading comprehension and generated a map of what is known about the process. They defined reading comprehension as “the process of extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” (2002: 23-24). According to them, this process includes three dimensions: the reader, the text, and the activity.
According to Smith (1973), while reading one needs two types of information; visual and non-visual information, which means the more that is already known behind the eyeball, the less visual information is required to identify a letter, a word, or a meaning from the text. The non-visual information such as the background knowledge and the reader‟s linguistic competence are also prerequisite for more effective reading. So, according to Smith, there is a negative correlation between these two. If non-visual information of any reader increases, his/her need on visual information to comprehend the text decreases.
Another view of reading was proposed by Rumelhart (1977). He very briefly states that reading involves the reader, the text and the interaction between the two. Similarly, Goodman (1988) claims reading as a „psycholinguistic guessing game‟, in which an interaction occurs between the reader and the text. Goodman, on the other hand, defines reading as a selective process. He says that “it involves partial use of available minimal language cues selected from perceptual input on the basis of the reader‟s expectation” (1970:260). As this partial information is processed, tentative decisions are made to be confirmed, rejected or refined as reading progresses. As to what reading involves, Goodman goes one step further and adds another dimension; the writer. He makes the following remarks; “...it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with a meaning that the reader constructs...The writer encodes thought as language and the reader decodes language as thought” (1970:60).
