【正文】  摘 要：前苏联教育学家斯维特洛夫曾说过：“幽默是教育最主要的，也是第一助手”。在课堂教学中80%以上的信息交流是通过师生的语言活动完成的。然而，由于个人阅历和知识结构兴趣爱好等差异，不同的教师有不同的语言风格。有人曾在两所中学近800名学生中进行问卷调查，其结果表明86%的学生喜欢幽默诙谐的语言，在初中英语教学中使用幽默语言不仅可以使课堂教学变得生动活泼，激发学生的学习兴趣，还能帮助学生更好的理解英语知识。所以作为新时代的英语教师，学会运用健康向上、恰到好处的幽默语言来驾驭课堂增强课堂的趣味性和吸引力，这是每个英语教师义不容辞的责任。
　　关键词：幽默；课堂教学；幽默语言
　　Abstract： Former Soviet educator thwaite rove once said：humor is the main and the first assistant of education. In classroom teaching， more than 80% of the information exchange is completed by teachers and students with the language activities. However， due to differences in personal experience and knowledge structure of hobbies， different teachers have different language styles. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the nearly 800 students from two middle schools， and the results show that 86% of the students like humorous language. In the English teaching class of junior school， the use of humor language can not only make the classroom teaching more lively， stimulate student’s interest in learning， but also help students to understand English knowledge better. So as an English teacher in the new era， learning how to use appropriate humorous language to control the classroom and to make the class more interesting and attractive， it is each teacher's bounden duty.
　　Key words： humor； classroom teaching； humorous language
　　Introduction
　　Mark Twin said： “there is an effective weapon， it is to laugh.”
　　Humor can make people laugh.
　　Humorous language can make people relax； humorous language can make the knowledge become easy to be understood； humorous language can also make classroom atmosphere be harmonious. The rich sense of humor of teachers make students feel amiable and are very popular in students. An American psychologist Teru Herb said， “The humor is one of the most interesting， the most expressive art， the most common meaning of the transfer.” An English teacher， as a disseminator of language and teaching， one of its responsibilities is to use humor language art to show students the English language wit and the culture contained in， which enables students to enjoy the endless charm of English as a foreign language， so as to improve the students' enthusiasm and initiative in English learning.
　　The humorous language has gotten a lot of attention in the whole world； many studies and researches have paid attention to it， and also achieved good results. In the applied research in the field of education， humor is focused on the teaching of psychology and medicine at home and abroad. At the domestic level， it doesn’t attain much attention in studies which have been carried out in this area， thus it seems to be much less in research of interspersing with humor strategies in foreign language teaching. In recent years， since humanistic spirit and emotional teaching has been favored in emotion in teaching， focusing on humor in the application is bound to have a profound impact on classroom teaching and learning of foreign language. This paper expounds on the role and usage of humorous language and the English teaching principles in using humorous language， so as to enhance students’ interest in learning and improve the teaching quality， and let children feel the charm of English as a foreign language， and improve the students’ enthusiasm and initiative in English learning.
　　Part I The Definition of Humor and of Humorous Language Art
　　1.1 The definition of humor
　　The word “humor” originated from the Latin， meaning “wet”. In ancient Greece， it was a physiological academic language， meaning “body fluid”； In the middle ages， it became a physiological academic language， representing “body fluid， constitution， and body of the physiological”. At the beginning of sixteenth century， it entered the field of life， used to refer to a person's disposition and temperament. At the end of seventeenth century， the conception of modern aesthetics about humor came into being， which referred to the characteristic of behavior speech and article made people laugh or feel amused， or the ability to appreciate and express these traits.
　　Many definitions have been given by different dictionaries and various people. the main modern definitions of humor are quoted from three ac-knowledgeable dictionaries as follows：
　　When expressed in literature or speech，“humor” is regarded as the quality of being amusing or comic， which comes from The New Oxford Dictionary of English.
　　“Humor” is something that arouses amusement， laughter or the capacity for recognizing， reacting， or expressing something which is amusing， funny etc， which comes from Longman Modern English Dictionary.
　　“Humor” is the quality that makes something seem to be funny， amusing， or ludicrous or the ability to perceive， appreciate or express what is funny， amusing and ludicrous or the expression of this in speech， writing or action， which comes from Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English.
　　The following lists are some common definitions given by rhetoricians， linguists， scholars， lexicographers and philosophers.
　　Humor is regarded as a specific cognitive . It can bring laughter and amusement to the self or others. However， only when the humorous message is understood and then considered to be amusing， Can people feel happy and relaxed．That is humorous experiences. （ Francis，1994）          
　　Humor means anything that is （or may be） perceived as funny， amusing or laughable．（Attardo1， 996）
　　Origin of the word humor is from Latin humorous， which means moisture. When the flow of the four hypocritical humors （choler， phlegm， bile and blood） was normal， a person was said to be ‘in good humor. Apparently， that talks about humor on biology. （Ziegler， 1998）
　　Humor may be defined expressing the artistic or the life in different ways according to Inconsistent meditation. Stephen B. Leacock （Ziegler， 1998）
　　Humor is communication （verbal， writing or otherwise displayed） by using jokes， satire， witticism， cartoons， puns， teasing， clowning， sarcasm， which induces （or is intended to induce） amusement， without or with smiling or laughing. （Ziegler， 1998）
　　Humor is the mental faculty of expressing， appreciating or discovering something that is amusing， comical， or absurdly incongruous. （Merriam-Webster， 2001）
　　Humor is often used by people to relieve pressure and then attain pleasure， so it is regarded as a property of human discourse to establish and keep social relationship.  （Matthews&Allmen，2006）
　　Humor is the quality that makes something amusing or laughable （Morrison， 2008）
　　Humor bases on others’ definitions and her own understand，as an all—inclusion term， covering the types of stimulation that are regarded to be funny and Can bring laughter， or that at least intends to do so， as Liu （2008） put it.
　　From the definitions quoted above， we can find it easily that the the essence of humor seems to be laughable and amusing，which is a useful and good starting point for a definition about humor. However， the humor is unequal to laughter or funny， the reason is that sometimes some people laugh while others may say ‘it is not funny.’ Sometimes， laughter and smiling might be a sign of embarrassment or fear. From Palmer work： taking humor seriously （1994）， these views do not exclusively involve in linguistic humor， nevertheless， they facilitate the comprehension of workings of humor through linguist， with language as the understanding factor of humor.
　　1.2 The definition of a humorous language art
　　The word “humorous”is the adjective of English word humor. “Humor verbal” is to construct the humor usually by using pun， euphemism， misunderstanding， misinterpretation， quick wit， surprise， satire， irony， caricature. humorous language art is an artistic expression form of language， basing on the construction material of language， the core of wisdom and rationality， the form of beauty for appearance， predictor as catalyst. Teaching language art of humor is putting the humorous language into teaching to improve the efficiency and level of teaching activity through its unique artistic beauty in a pleasant atmosphere
　　PartⅡThe Function of a Humorous Language Art Used in ELT
　　A professor who does learning and teaching for many years said： it is very necessary for an English teacher to use a sense of humor in language teaching for its various functions.
　　Parrott puts it out that humor， as a kind teaching strategy of teaching， can promote students to understand knowledge， improve their attention and interest in learning， arouse their learning motivation， improve their learning habits， improve the effect of learning， enhance creativity etc. Facing new knowledge， the teacher use humor properly， which helps to clarify and strengthen the content to be taught， and make students understand it more easily.
　　he following will talk about some functions in promoting for students to learn English.
　　2.1 Promotion for students to learn English
　　The strength of English humorous class is infinite. In English teaching， humorous language is indispensable. It can make teachers popular with the students， and do good to help create a happy atmosphere with educational and entertaining.
　　2.1.1 It contributes to promote phonetic learning
　　Phonetic teaching is an important link in English teaching， and a good phonetic learning can not only improve students’ ability of listening and speaking but also help to boost the improvement of English learning on all aspects.
　　It contributes to improve pronunciation teaching.
　　Pronunciation teaching is one part of the important phonetic teaching. However， pronunciation teaching is always dull. Therefor， when teaching pronunciation， some relevant humor and jokes are used， which has twice the result with half the effort. Only in that way， can it contribute to Promote phonetic learning， to enhance students' pause consciousness， and also to help enrich students’  vocabulary and to improve grammar teaching.
　　For example， when the teachers talk about the plosion and the fricatives in consonants， they can choose the following humor： in his pronunciation，Tom didn’t study hard. One day，  he said，“my father is dirty （thirty） and my mother is dirty too （thirty- two）’’， which his unclear utterance made him-self the laugh stock of the whole class. Because Tom dose not pay attention to learn the consonants， he misreads father’s age “thirty” into “dirty”， mother's age “thirty - two” into “dirty too”， which makes himself become a laughingstock.
　　In the phonetic teaching， choosing such a typical example is enough to make students realize the importance of pronunciation correctly. It contributes to enhance students' pause consciousness.
　　Woman， without her man is nothing. Woman， without her，man is nothing. Those two sentences have two completely different meanings for the pause in different places. When reading and speaking， the right pause is very necessary. Especially in English class， for Chinese students， English ，as a non-mother –tongue of second language， is not so easy to understand. So， some pause is not right， which makes students misunderstand the manning that the teacher want to express originally. It is so awkward. Using the humorous language can help relive the awkward to enhance students’ pause consciousness.
　　It contributes to strengthen students' understanding of homophones.
　　When phonetic teaching， because some students lack of understanding of homophones， they can not guess that some words’ meaning accordance with concrete context. Therefore，  the teacher can teach them learning homophones by using humorous language. For instance， “I had a round of golf with my wife this morning” “Which won？”The husband did not answer. “Which won？” asked the friend a second time. “Which one？” thundered the husband， “how many wives do you think I have？ do you take me for a Turk？”
　　According to above example， the word “won” has similar pronounce with “one”， which is the reason why that husband was angry with his friend. His friend’ original idea is that who won the game， he or his wife. Unfortunately， he misunderstand it， and think that his friend regard him as a Turks with not being one mind. In Turk， polygamy is legal. Through this example， the teacher should let students learn about many homophones should be learned from some concrete context instead content with superficial understanding.
　　2.1.2 It helps enrich students’ vocabulary
　　Another point is that using humorous language helps enrich students’ vocabulary. Wilkins once said， “without grammar， little expression； no words， on expression；’’ which tells
　　us the importance of vocabulary in language. Quantity of English vocabulary is nearly countless， students can strengthen memory through various methods. When memorizing  words， using humorous language can yet be regarded as a kind of good method， In case of  meeting a word has more than one meaning ，can timely list some humor， such as：
　　Professor： You missed my class yesterday， did not you？
　　Student： Not in the least， sir， not in the least！
　　The word “miss” is a polysemous word， meaning no attending and ？remembering fondly. The teacher meant to blame that students were absent yesterday， while the student is deliberately misconstrued as” think of”， so his
　　Answer is that “I don't miss your class.” the humor language for more than a meaning of a word lets students to remember “miss” have different meanings more easily.
　　2.1.3 It helps improve grammar teaching
　　What’s more， humorous language helps improve grammar teaching.Without a doubt， in a language learning， the grammar is an important part. However， grammar teaching is boring， in the classroom students also distracting or dozing easily. So when teaching some grammar ， teacher collect related some humor language for example to explain the specific grammatical knowledge， which must be impress students. Such as， when learning the structure ‘the more ...the more’， the following sentence should be used， ‘The more you learn， the more you know； The more you know， the more you forget； The more you forget； the less you know. So why bother to learn？’ that sentence not only presents ”the more... The more “structure from the grammar but also shows its humorous aspect from a sense of language. Students understand the connotation of humor， at the same time， understand “the more... the more” structure more deeply.
　　2.2 Promotion for students to relieve anxiety
　　Using humorous language arts can relieve students' anxiety， and have initiative and creative， making the students’ performance more relaxed in the classroom to improve the efficiency of learning. According to Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis， in the process of language learning，because of the affective filter， the learners won’t put all their energies into the language information and make it absorbed fully. If the learner is lack of self-esteem，  self-confidence and strong learning motivation， and shows a strong sense of anxiety， his affective filter will be relatively prominent， which will cause abundant filtering information and blocking language input are also blocked. Language anxiety is a complex psychological phenomenon——the learners need to have an expression by using the foreign language during foreign language learning.
　　Humorous language can create a relaxed and pleasant learning atmosphere， to some degree， reduce the students “Affective Filter”， language anxiety and the students' psychological pressure. As a result， students can perform more excellently and improve the efficiency of their English learning.
　　2.3 Promotion for students to stimulate enthusiasm and interest for learning English
　　Humorous language art can stimulate students' enthusiasm and interest for learning English， deepen the memory of English knowledge and strengthen the understanding of English culture. Whether a student can learn English well or not， depends on the degree of his interest in this subject. In English teaching class， the teacher often hear students saying：“ we are not interested in English.” So， in the classroom，the role of the teacher is to wake up and motivate students. For instance， Many students often complain that it is very boring to memorize English words. When？interpreting the teaching practice of English words， the teacher can insert some little jokes or cultural humor appropriately about memorializing words，which makes the students understand that memorizing words is not a drudgery. For example， an English teacher ever interpret the word ‘sanguine’， split this word into three parts and write them on black board. Then， she ask students a question that， just think， if Chen Yuanyuan enters our midst and ask us where is San gui ne？ Students can't help laughing. The teacher explain： Chen Yuanyuan is a beauty， In ancient china， people often describe the beauty with her face like peach’s flower. Therefore， the meaning of sanguine is rosy. In that way， while students are having a good time，they have a deeper impression on the words. They will be more and more interested in memorizing the English words.
　　Humorous language can also increase the students' interest in learning English while lets the students feel relaxed. As a result， the level of the students’ attention will be increased. And when the learners have open brain states. They can combine the old and the new knowledge effectively， which can raise the level of English understanding and the memory of knowledge. In addition， the humorous language， on the one hand， fosters the students' sensitivity and strengthens students' interests in learning English； on the other hand， has the learners realize that the English cultural charm hidden behind the language is endless， appreciate the unique nature of English language and culture， and learn about the differences between Chinese and Western culture to let students understand and learn western culture imperceptibly.
　　2.4 Promotion to create a harmonious relationship between teachers and students in the classroom
　　In the classroom， when having classes， using humorous language art can create a harmonious relationship between teachers and students.
　　In Chinese traditional culture， in the classroom， the teacher has absolute authority. And there is a natural gap between students and teachers， the students lacking the initiative， not having different opinions， the teachers’ teaching being tiff， and the efficiency of communication between teachers and students being low. Especially in English class，  students can only blindly accepted that the teacher explained words，
　　grammar phenomenon and sentence patterns. Therefore， in the classroom， if the teachers show some sense of humor， it will give the students a hint——teachers can understand students' emotions and the way of lives， which can eliminate the barrier of communication between teachers and students and close their psychological distance.
　　Krestmanson said： “the students’ sense of language learning environment will not only affect the students' learning directly but also affect students’ future decisions whether continue to study or not （2000）.” the teacher must remember it. A harmonious emotional environment can let students want to learn more knowledge， form a good attitude towards language learning in the future. Duffy and Jones （1995） put it out that humorous attitude and the appropriate humor can increase the communication between teachers and students to create a positive learning atmosphere， which helps students build a good emotional environment in the classroom. It is beneficial to eliminate the “meaning hindrance” and let students trust teachers.
　　In the classroom， using humorous language is benefit to make the students keep good mental states and accept the teaching method of teachers. When students are in trouble about learning， it will give students courage and positive attitude to overcome the difficult， which let them enjoy the course of English study.
　　Part III Special Psychological Characteristics of Junior Middle
　　3.1 Special psychological characteristics of junior middle school
　　In the stage of junior middle school， for students， Whether physical or psychological， are developed rapidly and shaped extremely strongly. In psychological， gradually from the hazy， chaotic state to the cognitive of concept and things clearly， intelligence being increased rapidly during this stage， this stage is the optimal period of language learning。Functions in the areas of the brain language are gradually perfected， which makes them be more sensitive to language， So English teaching should make full use of this period. Junior middle school students psychological development characteristic is complicated， such as Childishness， closeness， objectivity， which determines the difficulty of the English teaching.
　　3.2 Requirements for the humor language teaching
　　In the stage of junior middle school， teenagers learn English. Its reason： first， just out of curiosity； second， hoping to express ideas in English， to satisfy their desire. In the current English teaching， language knowledge teaching is emphasized， while mastering language skills is ignored. It is not only against the law of language learning， but also not accordance with the psychological characteristics of the youth. Emphasis knowledge and ignoring skills deprives opportunity of the students who want to perform and to communicate by using English， at the same time， constraints their ability of self-expression. Therefore， during this period， to English teaching， the language knowledge and skills should be combined together. By mastering the 4 basic skills of language： listening， speaking， reading and writing，  students understand the inherent law of language gradually. So， during this period， the teachers should use right means of English teaching. Using humorous language not only satisfies students’ curiosities， but also improve the efficiency of learning.
　　Part IV Suggestions for Humorous Language Art in ELT
　　4.1 The principle of humorous language art
　　Humor is a language art， and in the process of teaching， using humorous language is a more superb teaching art. However， in the classroom，when teachers use humor language art， they should follow the following principles：
　　4.1.1 The principle of instruction
　　Humorous language teaching should be united with class and the practice of students， which means， while students are laughing， they think and comprehend language phenomenon further， which at the same time， can arouse students' interest in learning with the stimulation of extraneous. As a result， it will improve students' language ability of comprehension and memory.
　　4.1.2 The principle of elegance
　　When teaching， Using humor language arts can make students get the charming of English language and the aesthetic feelings produced by humorous language. The teaches should pay attention to whether humor language used by themselves is solemn or not and try their best to use beautiful artistic language of humor. At the same time， in case of causing students’ dislike，they should avoid to use low-level vulgar language.
　　4.1.3 The principle of naturalness
　　In class， the teachers should use humorous language arts properly and flexibly. When in different situation， different measures should be taken. The teachers should tell from different problems and use humorous language naturally， modestly， not far-fetched.
　　4.1.4 The principle of moderation
　　Using humorous language art is just a kind of teaching skill in teaching.， and can't solve all the problems. So in the classroom， when teachers use humorous language art， they should learn about students' cognitive rule and pay attention to the frequency of using humorous language. Too much humor being used in the class， it will dilute the teaching contents and targets and disperse the students' attention. As a result， the students can't grasp and master the knowledge accurately and timely， and influence the effects of teaching and learning.
　　4.2 The using technology of humorous language art in English teaching class
　　In English teaching class， using humorous language， is not only easy to understand， but can reduce the distance between students and teachers. However， if used improperly， it will cause negative effects. Therefore， in English class， using humorous language， the following aspects should be pay attention：
　　4.2.1 Regarding using humorous language as a warm-up before class
　　Students in the role of class like actor in a drama， before entering the role，They need to spend a process； Before entering the theme of the class， students also need a progress. a small cross-cultural English humor can arouse students' enthusiasm and help them to shorten into the process of the role. For instance， talking about the use of the theory of some simple English words or cultural allusions， such as： “it is a fine money”， “honeymoon suite” and so on. What more important， but teachers need to control the spent time on humorous story， or they will disturb the class arrangement.
　　4.2.2 Focusing on the teaching of the theme when using humor
　　Humor must serve teaching， so humorous background knowledge and implied meaning must be related with classroom knowledge closely. Any other things humorous to have nothing with the knowledge， in class， should be completely avoided. For example， in the interpretation of the diet themes， mention “respectively Payment ”， the phrase “go Dutch” often appears in the book.Teachers can compare it with the Chinese “AA” that students speak frequently. There is a story： During the middle ages， there were two powerful nations on maritime trade， the Netherlands and Italy， the Dutch merchants often treated Italian businessmen meal. Because the traffic was not convenient， the Italian businessman were unable to pay meal for Dutch merchants， which caused all Dutch merchants felt that they are cheated. One day， the Dutch invented a new method to pay the meal——“individual payment”. So the phrase “go Dutch” should be interpreted as “ according to the Dutch mode of payment”.
　　4.2.3 Ensuring that humor can be understood by the students
　　English classroom humor is not monologue of the teacher，it also should include the students. In the classroom， the use of humorous language should relate to the student's ages， living environment and knowledge system reasonably. For Chinese students， today， all kinds of “chinglish” surround them. Sometimes， compared these chinglish with standard English， it can make students have memory for correct English usage more profoundly. Such as， in our lives， there are the translation of Chinese dishes. Some foreign friends can not understand them at all， and be not interested in them. “Lion”， on the menu is translated into “the lion 's head”； “ Kung pao chicken ”is translated into“ the chicken coming from the Palace”； “Spring chicken” is translated as “unmarried chick”. When one foreigner ate the “unmarried chick”， he pointed it and asked waitress：“could you prove to me why this chicken is unmarried？ ”After hearing， Students burst into laughter， at the same time， they also will be more reminded to avoid creating and using “chinglish” in the life.
　　4.2.4 The humor was not abrupt but natural
　　Humor should be expressed in a completely natural way. if before you express a sense of humor， you suggest it to the student. then the humorous effect will be subdued much. Normal mode is， after students laugh， then they found themselves have fallen into the design of teachers’ humor. In English teaching practice， the cultural differences between Chinese and English， the translation error between Chinese and English， pun， irony and the use of hyperbole can be used as the imported humor Way.
　　Conclusion
　　Cartoonist Fang Cheng once said that humor makes people laugh. At the same time， it can cause association and inference， and understand the meaning of humor. In English teaching， the application of using humorous language art to improve teaching effect is not only the essential qualities of English teachers， but also it is also a personalized teaching art for a teacher with wisdom creation. If English teachers want to use humorous language art freely， except that they must learn about some means have been related， they should also have complete knowledge of psychology and pedagogy， as well expand their knowledge reserves by reading widely and accumulation of substantial knowledge. At the same time， English teachers should have a positive attitude towards life， and make efforts to cultivate and improve observation of life and teaching. Only in that way can teachers be confident in using humorous language art with a large amount of material. Besides， teachers should be positive to the life， and try their best to cultivate and improve observation of life and teaching， so that， in the teaching practice， they can form the unique style of humorous language gradually. In a word， English teaching is not only a science， but also an art. For teachers， it is an artistic teaching means to make students learn a language with humorous language. At the same time， for students，.it enables students to appreciate the charm of English as a foreign language and improves students’ English level， which achieve the optimization effect of learning process. To some degree， it is not much too difficult to let students learn English well. For students， they are interested in learning English and study it well， which is not the study of students， but also their teachers. Therefore paying more attention on the research of interspersing with humor strategies in foreign language is necessary. Every English teachers should learn to use the humorous language in English teaching class， so as to enhance students’ interest in learning and improve the teaching quality， and let children feel the charm of English as a foreign language， and improve the students’ enthusiasm and initiative in English learning to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning. 　　
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