THE USE OF PEDAGOGICAL HUMOR AS A MOTIVATIONAL TEACHING STRATEGY IN AN INDONESIAN INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Abstract: This study is concerned with the use of pedagogical humor to motivate the students in an institute of technology in North Sumatera, who study English for IT. As the students spending on average six hours a day studying the subjects related to information and technology engineering, they have less time to listen to the lecture that contains humor. This research is supported by Garner’s (2006) work on the use of humor in pedagogy stated that humor might enhance learning. The participants of this study are 114 sophomores and the instrument used to obtain the data is a Likert-scaled pedagogical humor questionnaire created by Askildson (2005). The findings indicate that the use of humor in teaching and learning process is important and it supports many beneficial effects. The first is the students feel more relaxed after learning several IT subjects. The second is a more positive learning environment is created by breaking down the communication barrier between the students and the lecturer. The third is the students’ motivation and interests in learning English are increased. To sum up, humor is perceived as the essential component in teaching learning process not only in English subject but also in other subjects. Keywords:Pedagogical humor, motivation, teaching strategy, information and technolog