School of Education Seminar Series

Shavindra Chandradasa (PhD Candidate)

Incorporating humour into ESL curricula has long been a subject of debate, primarily due to the traditional perception of the classroom as a formal space focused on systematic instruction and exam preparation. Nevertheless, humour as a pedagogical tool has attracted increasing interest in recent scholarly discourse. This study advances the thesis that humour can be strategically implemented in ESL curricula to support language acquisition and positively influence learners’ cognitive, socio-emotional, and motivational domains. Accordingly, the research aims to identify the key attributes of humorous texts for ESL undergraduate learners, with the goal of compiling a pool of resources for use in a targeted reading intervention. The study was conducted in the Science Faculty of a state university in Sri Lanka, involving 48 high-achieving students who performed strongly on the Faculty's English placement test. Twenty-four humorous texts were selected using the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) framework and distributed across eight focus groups. Each group participated in three discussion rounds, yielding a total of 24 focus group sessions. All discussions were audio recorded and transcribed, and the data will be analysed thematically using a qualitative approach. The findings are expected to inform the development of more engaging, humour-based reading materials that enhance ESL learners’ intrinsic motivation and language proficiency.