VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐẶNG NGỌC LY HUMOR IN L.A HILL’S STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION AND THEIR POSSIBLE USES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS AT THANH HÓA FISHERIES VOCATIONAL SCHOOL Sự hài hước tập truyện cười Stories for Reproduction L.A Hill khả sử dụng tập truyện vào giảng dạy Tiếng Anh cho học sinh trường Trung cấp Thuỷ sản Thanh Hoá M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐẶNG NGỌC LY HUMOR IN L.A HILL’S STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION AND THEIR POSSIBLE USES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS AT THANH HÓA FISHERIES VOCATIONAL SCHOOL Sự hài hước tập truyện cười Stories for Reproduction L.A Hill khả sử dụng tập truyện vào giảng dạy Tiếng Anh cho học sinh trường Trung cấp Thuỷ sản Thanh Hoá M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr LÂM QUANG ĐÔNG Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this is my own research work conducted on the sources listed in the References part of the study Thanh Hóa, August 2014 Signature Đặng Ngọc Ly i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would particularly like to express my thanks to my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông for his support, guidance and valuable critical feedback For the completion of this thesis, the author has benefited a lot from his courses, teachings, discussions and insights I would like to send my special thanks to the staff of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies of VNU University of Languages and International Studies for their concern and useful lectures Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to uncover ways of humor creation in the collection Elementary Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill from both of linguistic and sociocultural perspectives It provides learners of English with better understanding of English jokes and funny stories To complete this research, the theoretical background of the factors creating humor is worked out for the interpretations The findings from the analysis have revealed the typical features that cause laughter in the collection Finally, the study suggests some interesting activities designed for English language teaching and learning with the aim to use jokes as a useful material to motivate students Therefore, learners of English can understand and make full use of funny stories to make English learning less challenging iii ABBREVIATIONS SLL second language learning L2 second language SLA second language acquisition NNSs Non-native speakers NSs native speakers No number LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Proportions of factors creating humor in the collection iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii ABBREVIATIONS ivi LIST OF TABLE .iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale .1 Purposes of the study Research questions Scope of the study .2 Significance of the study Methodology 6.1 Research method 6.2 Subject of study 6.3 Procedure Structure of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT .4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 1.1 Theoretical background 1.1.1 Humor 1.1.2 Pun 1.1.3 Ambiguity .5 1.1.4 Lexical ambiguity 1.1.5 Grammatical/structural ambiguity 1.1.6 Pragmatic ambiguity .9 1.1.7 Stupidity/ foolishness 12 1.2 Roles of humor in teaching English as a foreign language 12 1.3 Previous studies on similar theme 13 v 1.4 Summary 14 CHAPTER II: MAJOR FACTORS WHICH CREATE HUMOR IN STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION 15 2.1 Violation of socio-cultural norms 16 2.2 Violation of conversational maxims 18 2.3 Foolishness 19 2.4 Pun 20 2.5 Presuppositions 21 2.6 Homonymy 22 2.7 Polysemy 24 2.8 Chapter summary 24 CHAPTER III: POSSIBLE USES OF L.A HILL‟S STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION 25 3.1 Teaching vocabulary 25 3.2 Raising cultural-awareness 27 3.3 Teaching speaking skill 29 3.4 Teaching writing skill 32 3.5 Other communicative activities .34 3.6 Chapter summary 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Recapitulation 37 Pedagogic implications for teacher 38 Limitation and Suggestion for further research 38 REFERENCES 39 vi PART A: INTRODUCTION This part gives rationale, purposes, the research questions and methods, the scope of the study and the structure of the thesis Rationale The value of humor is extremely obvious in everyday life Humor can lessen stress, increase productivity and manifest satisfaction with life However, is humor valued in the classroom? Discussing this question, I would like to refer to this quote, “Humor will not necessarily cause learning, but there is empirical evidence to support the idea that humor creates conditions conducive to learning” (Ferguson & Campinha-Bacote, 1989; Hill, 1988; Schwarz, 1989; Warnock,1989; Walter, 1990) Many researchers and teachers believe humor can be a valued tool in the classroom For instance, Jill P Viers, in her writing Using Humor as a Teaching Tool (2008) pointed out that “humor can reduce stress and anxiety, create a comfortable learning environment, and increase motivation, comprehension, and retention of information” while motivation is widely recognized as one of the most important factors affecting second language acquisition From my own experience, I can confirm that humor can increase attention, motivation, excitement, and interactions among students and between teacher and students therefore it can bring class together In order to bring humor to the language classroom for the above recognized benefits, I have tried to find different materials that can be used for my students Among those, the collection of jokes Stories for Reproduction of L.A Hill is a highly valuable document that can be a really efficient tool during my teaching process The collection consists of 30 elementary short jokes with exercises which are very suitable to my students‟ level and can be exploited in different ways as complimentary to the core coursebooks to help them develop their English For the above reasons, I decide to conduct this study so as to identify the features that create humor in Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill (Elementary level, series 1) and how I can use them most effectively in my teaching English to the students at Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School Purposes of the study As previously indicated, the study is set out to achieve the following objectives: - To find out typical features that constitute humor in the collection Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill; - To identify possible activities based on these short jokes so as to motivate students in their English acquisition Research questions What are the typical features that create humor in the collection Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill? What activities could be designed based on the collection for the first year students of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School? Scope of the study This study only attempts to analyze the factors creating humor in the collection Stories for Reproduction at elementary level, series and it‟s possible uses in the process of teaching English as a foreign language to the students of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School Significance of the study This study is conducted in the belief that my own and my students‟ knowledge of the English language and culture, particularly humor through the medium of English, can be enhanced, which definitely benefits both teachers and students alike Furthermore, activities that can be designed using the collection can serve as a useful source of reference and a valuable tool for English teaching and learning not only at my own institution but many others as well Using these activities in class will make English learning fun, enjoyable, full of laughter and ultimately easier and more effective Methodology 6.1 Research method The study will be conducted as follows: boredom, jokes like those in Stories for Reproduction can be used not only to make the students laugh but leave a lasting impression on their mind Students will be able to remember word definitions and meanings much easier than just reading them from a dictionary So it is essential for teachers to make sure our learners understand the jokes and can have a laugh This can be done by choosing suitable jokes Explanations of the jokes may need to be provided after we tell it so that students can have better understanding However, the best effect of introducing a joke in teaching of vocabulary, in my opinion, is reached when it is simply told Collection of Stories for reproduction is an ideal material to carry out that technique When learners think of a word‟s meaning, they are inclined to think of something like its definition in a dictionary The process of matching a meaning with a word is analogous to that involved in consulting a dictionary Many words with multiple meanings exist in the English language Technically, almost every word has multiple meanings How often you look up a word in dictionary, and find that only one meaning is listed next to it? Practically never! Many words have slightly varying meanings, or they can be used as different parts of speech The learners should be taught how to select a suitable meaning among multiple ones basing on context The joke No is an extremely good example to illustrate the linguistic phenomena of polysemous words The word stand means to support yourself on your feet or to be upright position and to put something or someone somewhere in an upright position Obviously, the man in the joke confused these two meanings In this context, stand is a transitive verb Jack should have put the tin in hot water in an upright position instead of occupying a place in hot water With this joke, the teacher can present a good lesson about the selection of meanings based on the context When we talk about words with multiple meanings, we cannot ignore homonymy The joke No 20 with two pairs of homophones Watt and what, Knot and not surely makes a strong impression on the learners about homophone – one type of homonymy Similar to the above homophones, the teacher can ask students to find out homophonic pairs that they have known such as meat/meet, 26 to/two/too, here/hear, be/bee, eight/ate, see/sea, sun/son, our/hour, by/buy/bye, your/you’re, etc It would be a pity if the sets of questions following the jokes were not exploited Questions B following the jokes No.5 and 14 are interesting exercises to teach synonyms ill/sick, happy/pleased, quickly/fast, etc Questions B following the jokes No.7, 18 and 22 are ideal exercises to teach antonyms far/near, before/after, young/old, lend/borrow, safe/dangerous, etc So there are many ways vocabulary can be presented and practiced through these jokes and their accompanied exercises 3.2 Raising cultural-awareness The link between foreign language learning and culture learning has been established by linguists and anthropologists a long time ago One of the aims of foreign language learning is to get to know the native speakers‟ culture and to learn to respect it Humor reveals the most hidden parts of a nation's culture Not all teachers know how to include humor systematically into the educational process Most of them are certain that students can learn less if they are laughing The truth is quite the opposite The basis for every nation's humor lies in its historical, sociocultural and linguistic background Laughter brings people closer together and therefore affects teachers and students alike Language is culture When a person decides to learn French, for example, he or she is not merely absorbing the linguistics of the language, but everything to with French and France What he or she is taking in includes all the preconceptions about the French language, that it is beautiful, that it is romantic, that it is spoken along the Seine, and so on By speaking the language, therefore, one automatically (to a greater or lesser extent) aligns oneself with the culture of the language To master a language well, one has to be able to think in that language, and thought is extremely powerful Language is the soul of the country and people who speak it Students should be taught that, in order for communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other culturally appropriate behavior Moreover, students cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs Linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that language However, in 27 many regards, culture is taught implicitly, imbedded in the linguistic forms that students are learning To make students aware of the cultural features reflected in the language, teachers can make those cultural features an explicit topic of discussion in relation to the linguistic forms being studied An English as a foreign language teacher could help students understand socially appropriate communication, such as making requests that show respect; for example, Hey you, come here may be a linguistically correct request, but it is not a culturally appropriate way for a student to address a teacher Students will master a language only when they learn both its linguistic and cultural norms In many cases, teaching culture has meant focusing a few lessons on holidays, customary clothing, folk songs, and food While these topics may be useful, without a broader context or frame they offer little in the way of enriching linguistic or social insight especially if a goal of language instruction is to enable students to function effectively in another language and society Understanding the cultural context of day-to-day conversational conventions such as greetings, farewells, forms of address, thanking, making requests, and giving or receiving compliments means more than just being able to produce grammatical sentences For example, saying sorry and thank you is very popular and common in English culture However, in Vietnamese culture, saying the exact equivalent of the English sorry and thank you is not common; instead, the Vietnamese people have a variety of ways to express their gratitude to others For instance, when someone gives them a cup of tea, they may take it with both hands and say something like Em xin / Cho em xin far more often than Cảm ơn In English culture, men and women can embrace and kiss each other when they meet These actions express the sentiment of love and respect to the other On the other hand, in Vietnamese culture, men and women can greet each other with a smile and make a hand shake, but not kissing Kissing is only for the couple who are in love, husband and wife, and kissing is done in privacy rather than in public eyes English people are usually on time For them time is money and therefore they never waste time In Vietnamese culture, time appears to be superabundant, therefore Vietnamese people not usually come on time even in some of important events Both English and Vietnamese have meals per day, but British 28 food has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish and generally served with potatoes and other vegetables while people in Vietnam have rice, pork and vegetables as the main ingredients English people eat with a knife, fork or spoon (with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right one) while Vietnamese use chopsticks English people‟s use of body language is normal However, in Vietnamese culture certain body language and gestures may be impolite or considered taboo and cause trouble Therefore, it is important to know what is appropriate to say to whom, and in what situations, and it means understanding the beliefs and values represented by the various forms and usages of the language There are many cultural differences between Vietnam and England In any case, in order for communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other culturally appropriate behavior, not only linguistic rules in the narrow sense Cultural information should be presented in a nonjudgmental fashion, in a way that does not place value or judgment on distinctions between the students‟ native culture and the culture explored in the classroom Kramsch (1993) describes the “third culture” of the language classroom - a neutral space that learners can create and use to explore and reflect on their own and the target culture and language Culture must be fully incorporated as a vital component of language learning Second language teachers should identify key cultural items in every aspect of the language that they teach Students can be successful in speaking a foreign language only if cultural issues are an inherent part of the curriculum Teachers can make it possible for students to observe and explore cultural interactions from their own perspectives to enable them to find their own voices and language egos in the second language speech community 3.3 Teaching speaking skill Using humorous jokes in learning to speak, it is expected to increase confidence in students as well as the ability to speak English The jokes of the collection can be reproduced in variable activities such as re-tell, role-play, discussion depending on their content and specific characteristics 29 The easiest activity is retelling that is appropriate to most of students Teacher should link the suitable joke and the lesson of the coursebook to have better effect in teaching For example, the jokes No and 18 should be used in the lesson of adjective-comparison; when teaching the present perfect, especially distinguishing been to and gone to, teacher can exploit the joke No.7; it is so useful if the joke No 17 is told in the lesson of the past continuous; the joke No 21 is an ideal companion with lesson of modal verb will; etc or retelling is simply used to improve students‟ speaking or pronunciation Because of students‟ limited listening skill, they can approach the jokes in printouts so they are able to understand them Before that, teacher should give out his/ her request such as “after 10 minutes, retell the joke” or “after 10 minutes, summarize the content of the joke” Depending students‟ level, the teacher may require them to separate from the printouts or not and due to time limitation teacher may request how they will retell the joke For example, the joke No can be retold in two ways First, students retell it from the third point of view means the joke is basically kept intact Jack was a young sailor He lived in England but he was often away with his ship After a long voyage, he came home and fell in love with his new neighbour, Gloria Jack loved her very much One day, he sent Gloria a parrot from Freetown in Africa It spokes five languages When Jack’s ship reached Australia, there was a letter from Gloria It said “Thank you for the parrot, Jack It tasted much better than a chicken” So it is not difficult to students at average level They well or not due to their memory This activity can be carried out in all jokes of the collection Via retelling, most of the students at all levels can improve their speaking skill or at least their pronunciation Second, students retell the joke from the first point of view In this instance, one student can imagine he himself is retelling his story: When I was a young sailor, I lived in England but I was often away with my ship After a long voyage, I fell in love with my new neighbour She was Gloria One day, I sent her a parrot from Freetown in Africa, it spoke five language When I reached Australia, I received a letter from Gloria It said “Thank you for the parrot, Jack It tasted much 30 better than a chicken” This activity should be applied to the jokes that have few dialogues such as No 1, 2, 5, 7, etc and students can work individually Teacher-student interaction is a rather useful activity to improve students‟ speaking skill After listening (or reading the jokes, depending on teacher‟s plan) students may be given some comprehension questions to answer It is quite convenient for teachers because these questions are available at the end of each joke One more activity that enhances students‟ speaking is role-play It is more difficult than retelling and appropriate to students who are at rather good level because this one demand students‟ complete separation from the printouts Easier role-play is taking the part of a character because students need not create new situation, however, the “actor” must only learn by heart dialogue but also have emotive intonation to express the humor of the joke Role-play may be carried out in one more popular and more creative way Two students work in pairs to act characters of the joke so this activity should be applied to the joke that have many dialogues such as No 8, 15, 18, 20, 27, etc Student-student interaction plays an important part in the succeed of the activity Thus at-home-preparation is necessary to avoid wasting time in class Example 1: Students A and B are requested to work in pair to play-act Mrs Jenkins and the doctor of the joke No 15 This one should be carried out in the lesson of simple present tense of ordinary verb Preparation: a stethoscope, a blouse, learning dialogues by heart Action: After using a stethoscope to examine the patient (student B) A (doctor): Well, Mrs Jenkins, stop smoking, and you’ll soon be quite well all right again B (patient): But doctor, I never smoke and don’t like smoking A: Well, then don’t drink any more alcohol B: But I don’t drink alcohol A: Stop drinking tea and coffee then B: I only drink water I don’t like tea or coffee 31 A (think for few second): Well, you like fried potatoes? B: Yes, I like them very much A: All right, then stop eating those Good bye! Example The joke No 20 is an extremely wonderful to set up a play Students work in pairs to act Mr Knott and Mr Watt Preparation: two cell-phones, pyjamas, a bench Action: Student A (Mr Knott) is sleeping on the bench when student B (Mr Watt) gives him a call A (tired): This is Whitebridge 3165 Who’s speaking, please? B: Watt A: What’s your name? B: Watt’s my name A: Yes, I asked you that What’s your name? B: I told you Watt’s my name Are you Jack Smith? A: No, I’m Knott B: Will you give me your name, please ? A: Will Knott A & B (mumble): That was a rude, stupid man ! 3.4 Teaching writing skill Like the name of the collection Stories for Reproduction, the jokes can be reproduced via not only oral form but also written form It‟s believed that learning to effectively use humor can not only enhance the students‟ speaking, but can make the act of writing more enjoyable, too The objects of the collection are students who are at elementary level so the activities should be appropriately designed to them Model-based writing is the most suitable activity to the students Questions C following some jokes such as the joke No.1, 7, 13, 14 and 19 are very interesting exercises for students to practice writing at home Students are requested to write paragraphs basing on the available models 32 For instance, Question C following the joke No 13: Write this story Put a word in each empty place You will find all the correct words in the story on the page 28 Mr Jones went to the sea for a holiday one summer, and he stayed in a cheap hotel because he was not a rich man At a.m on the first morning a woman came and said, “Please get up” Mr Jones hated getting up early, so he said, “I don’t want to yet I am still very tired.” The woman went away, but at a.m a different one came and said to Mr Jones, “Mr Jones, please get up We need the sheet from your bed.” Mr Jones still wanted to sleep, so he answered angrily, “Why?” “Because breakfast is starting,” answered the woman, “and we need to put them on the tables They’re our table-cloths too.” Dictation is a rather popular activity to improve students‟ writing skill After listening or reading the joke, students write down the words the teacher reads out (normally the content of the joke) This activity supports the students not only writing but also listening Students need to develop good listening skill, vocabulary and spelling before they can write well, so dictation is one way to improve those aspects It is necessary for the teacher to choose suitable jokes to carry out dictation activity From my analysis, stories No 2, 14, 16 and 28 can be some options to consider Rewriting activity is suitable for students to train their memory and creation The jokes can be rewritten from the third point of view with the original content preserved or modified Even another version, which may be funnier or more Vietnamese, can be created, i.e students‟ creativity and imagination are allowed to flourish Students should be encouraged to rewrite in their own ways, which means the joke‟s content can be changed according to students‟ imagination Writing a paragraph to show opinions about the situations or any details in the joke is an interesting activity to students as well The topics should be linked to the textbook and to the theme of the jokes so students can make use of the vocabulary they have learnt For example, the joke No.15 is about a woman having trouble with her health so she goes to see a doctor who is bad at professional knowledge so the topic may be “What mustn‟t you to be in good health?” and 33 associates with the lesson of modal verb must The joke No.18 is about a young man who always borrows his father‟s clothes to go out, the topic suggested is “Write about your favorite way of dressing” related to the lesson on color and clothing, etc 3.5 Other communicative activities The main goal of learning a language is that the learners are able to use it to communicate Communication is a two-way process of giving and receiving information through writing or speaking Speakers can mean what they say, not mean what they say, or mean more than they say So it is necessary for students to learn about cultural knowledge And culture and pragmatics cannot be separated due to their intimate involvement Pragmatic communication is the use of a set of sociolinguistic rules related to language within a communicative context; that is, pragmatics is the way language is used to communicate rather than the way language is structured Pragmatic communication, in contrast to other aspects of language, emphasizes the communication of meaning and the variety of functions that language serves, including requesting, greeting, warning, and protesting (Murray & Chapey, 2001) In the process of applying the collection into teaching English as foreign language, culture, speakers‟ meaning, conversational implications, presupposition, etc should be mentioned in the most simple ways so the students can find out what they have to to have a successful conversation Discussion of cultural topics in the target language seems to be beyond students‟ capacity so talking in mother tongue is a good solution as long as they can get the cultural information that the teacher intends to recommend them Example 1: The joke No is about a woman who was trying to lose weight so she decided to go on a diet This joke mentions popular food she ate everyday such as bread and potatoes Thus the topic suggested is “Discussing the cultural differences between the English and the Vietnamese in everyday eating and drinking” Topic : Discussing the cultural differences between the English and the Vietnamese in everyday eating and drinking Planning: Students work individually to answer the teacher’s questions 34 Action Teacher: What dishes the Vietnamese and the British have everyday? Students : - Vietnamese people: rice, pork, vegetable, phở, xôi, etc - British people: bread, beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, sandwich, cheese, etc Teacher: What the Vietnamese and the British traditionally drink ? Students: - Vietnamese people: tea, beer, etc - British people: coffee, wine, whisky, etc Teacher: What eating utensils the Vietnamese and the British use to have meals? Students: - Vietnamese people: bowls, chopsticks, spoons - British people: plates, forks, knives Example 2: The joke No 14 is about a woman who is bad at cooking so the teacher may ask students to discuss several points of view about the roles of women in family as well as in society or how the women are expected A discussion is proposed below: Topic: Is the opinion “a good woman is one who can cook well” right or wrong? Planning: - Teacher divides the class into two groups of “right” and “wrong” Students work in groups to prepare arguments for their opinions Action: Group “right”: - Men provide the main source of income, so they are never expected to work in the kitchen or to cook - Women are expected to be depended upon their husbands, took care of children and even grandchildren as well as performed all household chores, etc Group “wrong”: - Women also take part in many social functions of the communities - There are female ambassadors, ministers, female commander-in-chiefs and National Assembly deputies in Vietnam - They even achieve high positions in their companies or offices, etc 35 Due to the students‟ limitation of vocabulary and speaking skill, teachers may ask them to discuss the topic in Vietnamese, of course with the teacher‟s supplement The essential goal of this activity is that students can get the basic cultural knowledge not any new words or grammatical items 3.6 Chapter summary In this chapter, possible uses of the collection Stories for Reproduction are presented via some useful suggestions of designing some controlled-practice and communicative activities to teach vocabulary, speaking, writing, culture From my point of view, above activities are suitable for learners at elementary level in general and students of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School in particular Teachers can take full advantage of available linguistic data or create new ideals to design appropriate activities to facilitate students‟ English learning 36 PART C: CONCLUSION In conclusion, it is undeniable that jokes play an important role in daily life as well as in foreign language classes Maintaining a friendly, relaxing and harmonious classroom atmosphere is as necessary as any other classroom management technique Particularly, the jokes of the collection Elementary Stories for Reproduction are really suitable with my students‟ level so the teacher can exploit them in different aspects Besides, knowledge such as vocabulary, sentence structures, pronunciation they learn from jokes is much easier to memorize due to interesting contexts than any rigid lessons In further aspect, students achieve more cognition of English as a foreign language through contexts in the jokes Thus, short jokes can be used as an extra material to enhance students‟ SLA as well as to create a relaxed learning environment Recapitulation As mentioned at the beginning, this study aimed at answering two research questions: What are the typical features that create humor in the collection Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill? What activities could be designed based on the collection for the first year students of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School? To answer above questions, in the chapter I, I have first provided the theoretical foundation for the study in which I examined the diverse factors which create humor in jokes in general In the chapter II, analyses of the concrete factors which create humor in the collection Stories for Reproduction is carried out to answer the first research question The jokes are classified into groups of humor creating factors and some of them are analyzed to illustrate theoretical points Chapter III is to answer the second question in two aspects: i) the collection Stories for Reproduction is used to teach possible language elements such as teaching vocabulary and raising students‟ cultural awareness ii) the collection is used to teach possible language skills such as speaking, writing and other communicative 37 activities In this chapter, many activities are suggested to apply to teaching process to improve students‟ skills Pedagogic implications for teacher L.A Hill‟s Stories for Reproduction is a precious material because of its rich use value In my opinion, the object should be oriented is students who are at elementary and pre-intermediate level Teacher bases on students‟ level, permit time, grammatical and cultural items of the formal lessons to decide the appropriate activities to apply so as to have the best effect Findings from this study show that rigid and principled lessons are not enough to transmit the necessary knowledge of the foreign language including vocabulary, culture and communication skills Limitation and Suggestion for further research Due to the limitation of time, the research can focus attention on typical humor devices of L.A Hill‟s Stories for Reproduction and its implication in teaching vocabulary and culture to the students at elementary level of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School via speaking, writing, communication activities It is hoped that further studies will be extended by investigating about : - Exploitation of L.A Hill‟s Stories for Reproduction in teaching not only speaking and writing but also reading and listening skills - More humor devices applied in the collection both in linguistics and culture areas Although great efforts have been made on the research, shortcomings and mistakes are unavoidable The author with sincere gratitude will appreciate any comments and advices from the readers 38 REFERENCES Adrian Akmajian, Richard A Demers, Ann K Farmer, Robert M Harnish (2001), Linguistics An Introduction to Language and Communication (fifth edition), Cambridge: the MIT Press Alan Cruse (2010), Meaning in Language An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics, Oxford: university Press C Fenck – Mestre and J Pynte (1997), Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution while Reading in Second and Native Language, France: University of Provence Gazdar G (1979), Pragmatics: implicature, presupposition and logical form, New York: Academic George Yule (1996), Pragmatics, Oxford University Press Geoffrey Leech (1983), Principles of Pragmatics, London: Longman Grice H.P (1975), Syntax and Semantics, New York: Academic J P Powell & L W Andresen (1985), Studies in Higher Education Vol 10 No 1, Tertiary education Research centre, University of New South Wales Jenny Thomas (1995), Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics, London and New York: Longman John L Austin (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press Holmes J (1992), An introduction to sociolinguistics, London: Longman L.A Hill (1996), Elementary stories for reproduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press Lyons J (1977), Semantics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press María Teresa Sanschez Roura (1995), Syntactic Ambiguity as a Device in British Humour , Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 8(1995): 209-28 Nancy D Bell (2005), Exploring L2 Language Play as an Aid to SLL: A Case Study of Humour in NS–NNS Interaction, Oxford University Press Nguyễn Hoà (2001), An Introduction to Semantics, Hanoi : VNU Publishing House Nick Riemer (2010), Introducing Semantics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Peter Woods (2012), Teacher strategies: Explorations in the Sociology of the School, New York: Routledge Robert Lew (1996), Exploitation of Linguistic Ambiguity in Polish and English jokes, Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams (2002), An Introduction to Language (seventh edition), Boston: Thomson Wadsworth 39 ZHANG Qing-liang (2007), A Discussion on Ambiguity in English, USA: US-China Foreign Language, ISSN1539-8080, Volume 5, No (serial No.40) INTERNET Avanija Katiyar (2011), Importance of Humor in Life, available at http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/08/importance-of-humour-in-life/ , accessed on May 11, 2014 Elizabeth Peterson and Bronwyn Coltrane (2003), Culture in Second Language Teaching, available at http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0309peterson.html, accessed on July 10, 2014 Kent Bach, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry, available at http://online.sfsu.edu/kbach/ambguity.html, accessed on July 15th 2013 Milena Miladinovic (2013), Culture in the Foreign Language Learning Classroom, available at http://www.afs.org/blog/icl/?p=3533, accessed on August 12, 2014 Jill P Viers (2008), Using humor as a teaching tool, available http://voices.yahoo.com/using-humor-as-teaching-tool-1701219.html?cat=4, at accessed on April 5, 2014 Love, The Importance of Teachers Using Humor in the Classroom, available at http://voices.yahoo.com/the-importance-teachers-using-humor-classroom6609826.html, accessed on April 5, 2014 Ramona Tang (1999), The Place of "Culture" in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Reflection, available at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Tang-Culture.html, accessed on July 18, 2014 The factors that influence the acquisition of a second language, available at http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/factors.htm, accessed on April 5, 2014 M.A THESES Nguyễn Hải Hà (2011), Examining linguistic ambiguity as a source of constructing funniness in English verbal jokes, M.A thesis, ULIS, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Nguyễn Thị Kim Phương (2012), An investigation into some typical linguistic factors causing laughter in British funny stories, M.A thesis ULIS, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Phan Thị An (2010), A study on the main features of short jokes and implications for teaching speaking to students of grade 12 at Ngoc Tao upper secondary school, M.A thesis, ULIS, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 40 ... hước tập truyện cười Stories for Reproduction L.A Hill khả sử dụng tập truyện vào giảng dạy Tiếng Anh cho học sinh trường Trung cấp Thu? ?? sản Thanh Hoá M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH... IN L.A HILL? ??S STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION AND THEIR POSSIBLE USES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS AT THANH HÓA FISHERIES VOCATIONAL SCHOOL Sự hài hước tập truyện cười Stories for Reproduction L.A. .. in the collection Stories for Reproduction by L.A Hill? What activities could be designed based on the collection for the first year students of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Vocational School? Scope of