Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching

The language barrier is a familiar term, but what exactly is the humor barrier? Humor is a universal phenomenon, but the ways in which humor is used vary greatly from culture to culture. These differences can prove to be a major obstacle for English language learners hoping to communicate effectively in cross-cultural contexts. While a growing number of researchers have explored the importance of helping language learners better understand the humor of the target culture, in Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching, editors John Rucynski Jr. and Caleb Prichard bring together language teachers and researchers from a range of cultural and teaching contexts to tackle how to actually overcome the humor barrier. This book empirically examines humor competency training and presents related research that has implications for humor training. Contributors address a wide range of genres of humor, providing fresh insights into helping language learners deepen their understanding and appreciation of the humor of the English-speaking world, including jokes, sarcasm, and satire. This book is an excellent resource for English language teachers looking to help their learners avoid the pitfalls and reap the benefits of humor in the target language.

John Rucynski Jr. is associate professor in the Center for Liberal Arts and Language Education at Okayama University. Caleb Prichard is associate professor in the Center for Liberal Arts and Language Education at Okayama University.