Humor: What Can It do for Tertiary Students?

Öğrenme sürecinde psikolojik etkenlerin önemli rolünü dikkate alan bu çalışma, sınıf ortamından kaynakalanabilen endişe, sıkılma ve benzeri olumsuz etkenlerin nasıl ortadan kaldırılabileceği konusunu irdeler. Ders konusuyla ilgili, amaca yönelik mizah örneklerinden hareketle, sınıftaki öğrenim havasını iyileştirerek ve özgüven sağlayarak, üniversite öğrencilerinin derslerde en üst yararı elde edip edemeyeciği konusu, ö¤rencilere uygulanan bir anketle saptanmaya çalışılmıştır. Böyle bir düşünceye destek insancıl Öğretim, Psikolojik Süzme hipotezi ve Suggestopedia gibi önemli öğrenim yaklaşımlarında bulunmaktadır. Çalışma, öğrencilerin mizaha karşı tutumlarını, mizahtan elde edilecek yararları, bu konularda cinsiyetin rolünün olup olmadığını ve son olarak farklı sınıf (yıl) öğrencileri arasında istatistiksel olarak kayda değer bir fark olup olmadığını saptamayı amaçlar. Çalışma, dersle ilgili mizahın, ders planlamasının önemli bir parçası olması gerektiği yargısıyla sona erer.

Mizah: Yüksek Öğrenim Öğrencilerine Ne Katkısı Olabilir?

Given the important role of the affective variables in the process of learning, this paper examines ways of overcoming negative effects (i.e. anxiety, boredom) of the contextual factors. Exemplifying the uses of humor through contextspecific, purpose-driven jokes, it maintains that humor can be utilized to produce a resourceful, encouraging and creative lesson at upper-intermediate and advanced levels at tertiary institutions. Among other benefits noted are smiling, laughter, non-threatening atmosphere, and self-confidence. Attempts of creating a compassionate environment in the classroom find their roots in Humanistic Teaching, Affective Filter hypothesis and Suggestopedia. Using the self-reported views of tertiary students, gathered through a questionnaire, the study reveals the attitudes of learners towards humor, discusses the benefits of humor, and seeks significant differences between and among learners in terms of sex and year level. The paper concludes that humor forms a vital component in lesson planning.

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