JALT2025 - Tokyo

Responses to L2 humor online: Effect of an intervention

Nov 1, 2025, 12:45 PM

30m

National Olympics Memorial Youth Center / 国立オリンピック記念青少年総合センター

Research-oriented Presentation (30-minutes) Sociocultural Linguistics and Pragmatics Room 505

Speakers

Caleb Prichard (Okayama University) John Rucynski (Okayama University)

Description

Although L2 learners report having great difficulty responding to humor, research on this area is lacking. Therefore, a recent pretest-posttest control group study examined the effect of instruction on online humor responses for English learners. Preliminary results suggested that the intervention led to experimental group gains in response effectiveness for some types of humor. The research will be presented along with the instructional materials. Implications for educators will be discussed.

Summary

Although L2 learners report having great difficulty responding to humor, research on this area is lacking. Therefore, a recent pretest-posttest control group study examined the effect of instruction on online humor responses for English learners. Preliminary results suggested that the intervention led to experimental group gains in response effectiveness for some types of humor. The research will be presented along with the instructional materials. Implications for educators will be discussed.