ERIC Number: EJ1218014
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0363-4523
EISSN: N/A
Students' Perceptions of Instructor Appropriateness and Humor Homophily
West, Mckay Steven; Martin, Matthew M.
Communication Education, v68 n3 p328-349 2019
Instructors use humor in the classroom in numerous ways, including behaving stupidly, offering impersonations, manipulating their nonverbals, telling a story, joke, or pun, and using a costume or prop. How students decode their instructors' use of humor impacts their feelings about the course and their instructors. In this study, we investigated students' (N = 306) perceptions of their humor homophily with their instructors, as well as their overall view of the appropriateness of the instructor's classroom communication. Humor homophily was positively related to instructor humorousness, students' affect for their instructor, and their likelihood of enrolling in another class with their instructor. We also found that the intensity of instructor humorousness' relationship with student affect decreased when students perceived their instructor as appropriate. However, the more students found their instructors to be humorous and reported humor homophily, the more appropriate students rated their instructors' communication.
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Humor, Student Attitudes, Teacher Behavior, Interaction, Teacher Student Relationship, Communication Strategies, Undergraduate Students, College Faculty, Student Needs, Personal Autonomy, Competence
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A