HUMOROUS ANECDOTES AS MOTIVATIONAL TOOL IN PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

Abstract

With the demands of effective pedagogy for the 21st century, teachers are in constant search for a teaching tool that is more fun, and interesting and promotes positive learning. Thus, this study ascertained the effectiveness of humorous anecdotes as a motivational tool in improving students’ performance in Purposive Communication. Using a quasi-experimental design, the student's speaking and writing performances were evaluated and the humorous anecdotes as a motivational tool served as a treatment for the experimental group and other different motivational tools were employed in the control group. Focus group discussion was also used to obtain students’ narratives during the implementation. The findings assert that the participants taught with humorous anecdotes as a motivational tool exemplify the description of needs improvement for writing skills and noted deficient in speaking skills but with noticeable little progress. Despite little developments observed, the mean gains of the entry and exit performance levels in both skills and groups were comparable. In a deeper sense, humor in this study promotes a heartwarming teaching-learning process and an efficient teacher-student relationship. It is recommended that initiatives to augment the relevance of using humor in motivation may be considered by language teachers.