30.617, Review: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis: Shively (2018)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-30-617. Thu Feb 07 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.617, Review: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis: Shively (2018)

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Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2019 10:46:48
From: Eleanor Sweeney [els237 at psu.edu]
Subject: Learning and Using Conversational Humor in a Second Language During Study Abroad

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/29/29-2985.html

AUTHOR: Rachel  Shively
TITLE: Learning and Using Conversational Humor in a Second Language During Study Abroad
SERIES TITLE: Language Play and Creativity
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2018

REVIEWER: Eleanor Leggett Sweeney, Pennsylvania State University

SUMMARY

Shively’s 2018 monograph ''Learning and Using Conversational Humor in a Second
Language During Study Abroad'' is a valuable resource for researchers of
second language (L2) learning and humor/language play, and for faculty in
study abroad administration. Drawing on extensive data from six U.S. students
studying in Spain, the author provides a rich description and analysis of
students’ development of spontaneous verbal humor during their semester
abroad. Importantly, Shively also includes data from members of the host
community—a rare inclusion in the study abroad literature (d'Arlach et al,
2009; Kinginger, 2009; Smolcic and Katunich, 2017). Shively situates her study
within the robust body of research concerning visiting students’ access to
language communities and varieties, language socialization, humor theory, and
the role of humor in social relations and identity creation. Despite its
subject, this monograph is not itself humorous. As a scholarly work, the book
is not required to be funny, though a reader might hope, perhaps, for some
humor outside of the conversation excerpts. Shively explains the serious goal
of L2 humor research: “Analysis of L2 humor can contribute not only to
revealing how L2 speakers learn and use a multi-layered, multi-functional, and
non-serious mode of communication, but also to deepening our understanding of
the nature of social interaction in study abroad and the relationships that
students develop in that setting” (p 2). 

Chapter One, “Social contexts of humor and language learning,” serves as
literature review for the author’s research. Shively frames her research
through rapport management theory (Spencer-Oatey 2000), “because it integrates
the crucial concepts of socially acceptable behaviors, face, and individuals’
interactional goals into one conceptual framework which can be applied
fruitfully to the analysis of humor in interaction” (p 8). With rapport
management theory, the goal of verbal exchanges is to manage interlocutors’
rapport with others depending on their current orientation towards the
relationship. An utterance cannot be assumed to be “polite” or “impolite”
until it has been employed in a specific context, and its appropriateness can
only be judged in regard to that specific context. This framework is useful
for analyzing humor, in which apparently impolite utterances can in fact be
socially appropriate in a humorous context. Following her conceptual
framework, Shively provides a discussion of the General Theory of Humor
(Attardo & Raskin, 1991) and applicable revisions. This literature-dense
chapter situates L2 humor in intercultural interactions; Shively first
delineates humor from language play, a much broader category within which
spontaneous verbal humor is nested.  She then addresses the question of what
it means for an L2 speaker to be competent with humor by exploring what use of
humor reveals about students’ communicative competence, multicompetence, and
symbolic competence. With this first chapter, Shively offers a brief overview
of what the well-informed reader needs to know before delving into the study
itself. 

In Chapter Two, “Researching humor in a second language,” the author describes
the context, participants, and methods for data gathering and analysis. Six
undergraduate students of L2 Spanish sojourned in Spain for a semester in
2007; during their stay, they lived with a Spanish family, engaged with an L1
Spanish language partner, and took classes at the local university. The data
sources include two student questionnaires, student journal entries, sixteen
audio-recorded unscripted conversations, and student interviews. Importantly,
the author also interviewed the host families and three staff members at the
university. The sixteen audio recordings took place at deliberately spaced
intervals during the semester; students recorded eight hour-long conversations
with host family members and eight with peers. Data analysis was both
qualitative and quantitative, as Shively coded instances of verbal humor for
various features and then created distribution tables based on frequency of
each feature over time. Features of humorous utterances included success or
failure of the humor, target, function, resources used (linguistic,
paralinguistic, and prosodic), initiation or support, and topic. Shively
collected a considerable body of data that provided her with ample fodder for
her analysis. 

Chapter Three, “Second language humor use in study abroad,” describes each
feature of humor in detail and offers multiple excerpts from student
interviews and recorded conversations for illustration. Not surprisingly,
student humor occasionally failed but such failures became less frequent over
time. In general, Spanish host community members were positioned as
sympathetic and helpful interlocutors; one student explained, “I think there’s
probably times when there’s a lot of grace going on” with L1 Spanish speakers
(p 54). Shively categorizes humor targets as joking about oneself, joking
about an absent other, or teasing with a present other. She also discusses the
difficulty of using irony in one’s L2. Her discussion of revoicing is
particularly interesting as she connects revoicing with imitation and more
general L2 learning practice. While many of the functions of humor (to create
social bonds, to soften criticism, and to construct an in-group identity, for
example) operate similarly across US and Spanish culture, Shively notes that
differences in affiliative humor versus disaffiliative, or even aggressive,
humor became sites of cultural conflict for some students. 

While Chapter Three describes common categories across student humor, Chapter
Four, “Case studies of second language humor development,” describes the
uniquely individual development of four of the sojourning students. “Each of
the four case study participants experienced largely different developments,
which was a reflection of individual variation in humor as well as the local
and co-constructed nature of humor in social interaction,” Shively explains (p
104). Excerpts from student conversation recordings and journals are
supplemented with information from interviews with the host parents in order
to provide more context and perspective on instances of humor use. Individual
differences in temperament, language competence, and orientation towards humor
clearly affect student use of and success with humor. In this chapter, Shively
makes visible the progress that each of the four students made with
communicative, intercultural, and interpersonal competence. 

Chapter Five, “Humor use by host families and age peers,” turns the humor
spotlight to members of the host community. This chapter provides two sources
of data that are unique to this study: information about the humor input that
students are exposed to during study abroad, and information from the host
perspective on students’ language development in general, and humor
development in particular. Students were exposed to widely varying amounts of
humor; two students, who were particularly talkative, were exposed to
significantly less humor than their peers—four times less, in fact. As in
previous chapters, analysis is supported by extensive excerpts from interviews
and recorded conversations. Host parents were predictably more aware of
cultural differences in acceptable levels of aggressive versus affiliative
humor, and also engaged in socially influencing humor (humor intended to
influence the student towards more socially acceptable behavior), which peers
generally avoided. Shively hypothesizes that the position of host parents as
guides and surrogate parents, rather than real parents, restricted their
expressions of disapproval and made humor a necessity for conveying social
criticism. Overall, host families and peers tried to support students’
attempts at spontaneous verbal humor. 

The sixth and final chapter returns to rapport-management theory
(Spencer-Oatey 2000) and the competencies involved in humorous verbal
interaction. The author emphasizes anew the co-constructed nature of humor and
its role in forming social bonds. She also provides an interesting discussion
of the contrasts between humor, which is context-specific and often
idiosyncratic, and other communicative functions such as requests and
apologies that can be performed in formulaic ways. Because the verbal humor is
often spontaneous, Shively recommends new emphases for studying linguistic
competence development through humor: “the linguistic and cultural knowledge
that L2 speakers exploit to create humor; the ways in which they employ humor
to accomplish communicative and relational goals; the extent to which they
participate fully in social interaction; the process of discovering cultural
differences in humor; and the ability to harness the symbolic, meaning-making
power of the L2” (p 240-241.) She also outlines possibilities for studying
humor overtly in the classroom, since the data reveal that there is little
overt instruction in humor in out-of-class interactions with native speakers. 

EVALUATION

One significant limitation that Shively discusses is the use of audio data
rather than video data; while much humor is expressed in gesture and facial
expression, she felt that the intrusion of a video camera would be a hindrance
to spontaneous discourse. This limitation is inextricably related to the year
in which she gathered the data: 2007. Because it has been more than ten years
since the data was gathered, Shively had to include a short section reminding
readers of the technological context of the study, including the more limited
phone functionality at that time. If a similar study were conducted now,
recording video with one’s phone might be more acceptable. What may have
changed between 2007 and now that would affect the study’s methods? 

This reviewer also has concerns about member checking and the somewhat
unprofessional personality assessment of each student at the beginning of the
case studies. One student is “high strung in general” and “was not well-liked
by staff members… rude, unfriendly, disrespectful of others’ feelings, and
unappreciative of the help others gave her” (p 148). In contrast, “the staff
at the Toledo institute was enamored with [another student] because of his
friendliness and respectfulness” (p 130). These personal evaluations do not
appear to add to the analysis of student humor and raise the question of
whether or not the participants were able to read their case studies before
publication. 

Aside from these drawbacks, Shively’s well-organized monograph has many strong
points. It is accessible to readers from a variety of research backgrounds and
offers a detailed view of micro-development of humor. Her review of the
literature is thorough, and her analyses throughout the book are
well-supported with research from the field. She has collected an admirable
amount of data and has used excerpts effectively throughout Chapters Three to
Five. A significant aspect of her study, one that is all-too-rare in the study
abroad literature, is the inclusion of input from the host community. Shively
is to be lauded for her acknowledgement of the host community as one with
worthwhile contributions to make, and for engaging with host families when so
few studies consider the host community perspective. This book is a valuable
resource for any reader who researches or works with language learners
studying abroad. 

REFERENCES

Attardo, S. and Raskin, V. (1991). Script theory revis(it)ed: Joke similarity
and joke representation model. Humor, 4, 293-347. 

d’Arlach, L., Sánchez, B. and Fueur, R. (2009). Voices from the Community: A
Case for Reciprocity in Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community
Service Learning, Fall 2009, 5-16. 

Kinginger, C. (2009). Language Learning and Study Abroad: A Critical Reading
of Research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Smolcic, E., & Katunich, J. (2017). Teachers crossing borders: A review of the
research into cultural immersion field experience for teachers. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 62, 47–59.  doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.11.002

Spencer-Oatey, H. (2000). Culturally speaking: Managing rapport through talk
across cultures. In Spencer-Oatey, H. (ed.) Culturally Speaking: Managing
Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Eleanor Leggett Sweeney is a PhD student at the Pennsylvania State University,
College of Education. Before embarking upon graduate school, she taught k-12
French, Spanish, and ESL for twenty years. Her research interests include
Music and L2 Learning, teacher development during study abroad, and music in
Cognitive Metaphor Theory.





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