THE HUMOUR THEORY APPROACH: SIMPLIFYING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN A DIGITAL AGE IN NIGERIAN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION

Abstract

English functions as a second language (ELS) in Nigeria. In the area of grammar especially, Evarious methods are applied in teaching the language to facilitate learning. But howevermethod is adopted; experience has shown that students of Nigerian colleges of education, assecond language learners, find it problematic and tedious to learn the grammar of the language.This is the focus this paper – applying the technique of humour to alleviate the problem of teachingand learning the grammar of English in a second language environment. The study is hinged on twohumour theoretical frameworks, namely; affiliative and aggressive humour theories. Two researchquestions guided the study. As methodology, two control and experimental groups were created bythe researchers to examine possible merits or demerits of applying affiliative or aggressive humourin teaching any topic in the grammar of English. The findings demonstrate that injecting humour(depending on the type), as part of classroom activities can facilitate or hinder students' mastery ofgrammar lessons. In conclusion, the paper, among others, recommends that teachers of English as asecond language should make teaching and learning the grammar of English a fun by employingvarious suitable humour techniques.