Aziz Kholmatov is a Lecturer at Westminster International University Tashkent and a part-time PhD student at Uzbekistan State World Languages University. His current research interest is methodological aspects of implementing humour in teaching foreign languages to enhance communicative skills of students. Besides, he is fond of exploring the topic of technology - assisted learning and teaching. He enjoys working with different teaching techniques, which can help students to progress in learning. E-mail: aholmatov@wiut.uz

 

Abstract

Teaching is a challenging career path. There are different triggers which cause teachers to stress during class time: attendance problems, challenging students behaviour, not active students, students repeating the same mistakes, much assessment, etc. Excessive stress, if not released, can bring different problems such as losing motivation, job dissatisfaction, health issues and as a result of these consequences changing the job by the teacher. This research explores the role of humour as a stress reliever for teachers during class. The questions it searches for answers to are if teachers use humour during the class when they are stressed (in stressful situations); if using humour in stressful situations gives them relief to cope with the difficulties. This research employs a qualitative method of interviewing two lecturers of Westminster International University in Tashkent who teach 3rd and 4th level students for data extraction. The findings indicate that teachers find their job stressful, but it depends on different periods. For example, assessment time is considered quite challenging. Moreover, students' behaviour and interpersonal relationship with colleagues can also trigger stress. Teachers use humour when they feel stressed during the class and in social interactions as they find this method stress relieving. Students also tend to enjoy the fun moments in class. It is recommended that the teachers use light types of humour (not 'biting' ones) so that students are not negatively affected and can still be attentive during the class. When using humour, the teacher should also avoid some specific 'tabu' topics in class.

 

Introduction

Teaching is considered one of the most stressful jobs due to different factors. It is sometimes a usual case if the working day of teachers does not last from 9 am to 6 pm, because a teacher takes some work home. Some weekends, teachers assess a pile of students’ papers, provide feedback for their works, write an article or do some other teaching-related paperwork. Besides, at work, a teacher has to deal with different personalities, which requires him/her to be more flexible. Kyriacou defines teacher stress “as the experience by a teacher of unpleasant, negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, tension, frustration or depression, resulting from some aspect of their work as a teacher” (Kyriacou, 2001, p28). In his research about teacher stress and burnout Kyriacou (2015) found out that between 20% and 30% of teachers agree that teaching as a profession is ‚very stressful or ‚extremely stressful‘ (2015, p73). According to Gallup’s report (2014), 46% of teachers in the US testify high level of everyday stress at work (which is the same stress level if compared with the stress level of nurses and physicians, which are 46% and 45% respectively). There may be different triggers which lead teachers to stress out:

• ‘teaching pupils who lack motivation;
• maintaining discipline;
• time pressures and workload;
• coping with change;
• being evaluated by others;
• dealings with colleagues;
• self-esteem and status;
• administration and management;
• role conflict and ambiguity;
• poor working conditions’ (Kyriacou, 2001, p29)

Stress experienced by the teacher can result in different negative aftereffects, which can have implications both for teachers and students. Loaded with much stress, a teacher can reduce his/her engagement in quality material development for the class and will not be attentive to lesson planning. Teachers can express more criticism towards students rather than supporting and encouraging them. Wettstein et al. (2021) pinpoint that a stressed-out teacher may emotionally and cognitively distance himself/herself from work and his/her duties. In more severe cases, teachers who experience constant stress may face a 'burnout' and obtain health problems which can subsequently bring to his/her retirement. There are multiple ways suggested by Kyriacou (2001) to reduce teacher’s stress:

• “try to keep problems in perspective;
• avoid confrontations;
• try to relax after work;
• take action to deal with problems;
• keeping feelings under control;
• devote more time to particular tasks;
• discuss problems and express feelings to others;
• have a healthy home life;

• plan ahead and prioritise;
• recognise one’s own limitations.” (Kyriacou, 2001, p30-31)

In addition to those mentioned above, Munir et al. (2021) approve of using humour during the class to reduce stress as humour is related to amusement, hence can create a positive atmosphere and cheerful emotions. Freud (1905) assumed that the sublime negative emotions are freed in the form of a joke or other types of humour, which could support the idea that teachers can express their accumulated stress in the form of a joke. Munir et al. (2021) suggest different ways of using humour in the class as currently, in the digital era one can make a use of "funny photos, manipulations, phanimation, celebrity soundboards, and PowerPoint humor” (2022, p373). Wijaya suggests that “superiority and self-defeating type of humour” bring more stress, whereas “affiliative humour” (positive humour) reduces it (Wijaya, 2017, as cited in Munir et al., 2021, p.373).

 

Methodology

This research employed the method of a literature review and the method of a semi-structured interview in order to obtain the data. The literature analysis was done to identify and critically evaluate the available literature to understand the problem in-depth and relate the received implications to the current investigation. A semi-structured interview was conducted with two lecturers (one male and one female) from Westminster International University in Tashkent who teach level 3 and level 4 students to compare the literature review results with the teachers’ classroom experience. Seven open-ended questions were prepared for the interview. The first four questions were asked to detect if the interviewees find their job stressful, the stress level they experienced during the academic year, possible stress triggers and how the teachers cope with teacher stress. The other three questions were about the effectiveness of employing humour to relieve stress and tips that interviewees could give regarding the implementation of humour during the class.

The interviewed lecturers have signed the consent forms in which they were ensured that the data obtained from the interview are to be used only for research purposes and will not be communicated to third parties. They were also informed that they could withdraw from research based on their will.

 

Results and discussion

Regarding the question about if teaching is a stressful job, interviewee 1 answered that teaching is stressful. However, it depends on the teacher's attitude to his/her job (some may consider it stressful, while others may enjoy it and forget about stress). He pinpointed that the stress level is usually higher at the end of the academic year, especially when assessment time comes. One may conclude that teachers' higher stress time can be assigned to different periods (e.g. assessment time). Interviewee 2 also agrees with the assumption that stress in teaching is periodical (i.e. a teacher during his/her job may have high-stress and low-stress times). Interviewee 1 stated that as teaching is considered stressful, probably this can be the reason why most young people avoid choosing it as their career path. In his view the most challenging areas in teaching are assessment, students' behaviour and interpersonal relationship with colleagues, which accords with the list of stress triggers provided by Kyriacou (2001). Interviewee 2 shared that most of the stress she receives is when students ignore her and when they are late to the class. She added that assessment can be a difficult period when the assessment criteria are not well developed (because a teacher thinks that he/she can make a mistake). Moreover, when a teacher is assessing with a colleague with whom they do not have a harmony (they may have the same assessment criteria, but they can belong to a different type of assessors and thus, interpret the submitted paper and its possible flows in different ways). To the question, if a teacher's work stress negatively affects his teaching, interviewee 1 answered that teacher’s accumulated negative stress affects the teacher both on the personal level (e.g. may neglect his/her health) and can influence the work.   A stressed teacher may become unproductive and cannot involve the students in the subject matter he/she is teaching. This well aligns with the research findings of Wettstein et al. (2021). They also pointed out that teacher's stress can negatively affect both teachers and students, which finds its proof in the weak engagement of the teacher in the teaching and learning process overall and their poor engagement with students. Interviewee 2 said that students sometimes do not read the assessment criteria, and when the teacher gives feedback, they do not understand the feedback and do not ask for clarification questions. After receiving feedback, students tend to ask what mark that particular work (for which the teacher gave feedback) can get. The teacher cannot share this information for different reasons, but students still ask. In these cases, she said she might feel some negative emotions. Interviewee 1 stated that if he feels stressed and has an internal issue which he cannot express with the help of other means, he usually relieves it with the help of humour. This finding matched Freud's theory regarding expressing subconscious negative energy in the form of a joke. Interviewee 1 ensured that using humour during the class to relieve stress is quite an effective tool, as humour creates a friendly and 'safe' atmosphere. Smiles of students make him stimulated and eager to work and drive him to teach.

‘Life is full of stress. You should create some certain moments in your life that release stress which students enjoy, as you can’t even control learning [you don’t even know how much learning is taking place in the class], but at least if you can give them joy time, I think it is already good.’

                                                                                                                   (Interviewee 1)

Interviewee 2 said that during the assessment, she divides the workload (so that she is not fully stressed) and tries to include some enjoyable activities (rewards herself) to relieve stress. This method can be in parallel with one of the ways of stress relief suggested by Kyriacou (2001) regarding knowing personal limitations. In class, she uses jokes effectively to relieve stress which occurs during the class:

'When students are late to the class, which makes me stressed, I usually joke. I joke on the fact that the student was late [it may be multiple times] with the idea that the student changes his/her behaviour of being late'. Another behaviour correction type of joke could be when a student addresses me not by name but by saying 'teacher', I may address him or her 'student', which is funny and at the same time effective. Using humour is better to explain that a student does something wrong.’

                                                                                                                     (Interviewee 2)

Interviewee 1 suggested that using humour in the class should be more natural as humour is mostly an innate character trait. If a teacher can use humour, he/she should employ it. As students may come from a strict environment, which may mean that they do not have much fun at home, and as a teacher, one can play a piece of humour:

“When you create fun, joyful environment, they [students] will enjoy learning and company you offer them”.

                                                                                                                    (Interviewee 1)

He also stated that the teacher should have knowledge, skills, and, importantly, confidence to use humour during the class. Interviewee 2 suggested that teachers should not take everything very seriously.

Other findings indicate that there are some conditions a teacher should take into account before using humour during the class. In the first classes, a teacher needs to learn about his/her students and reflect on their characters. He/she can use some ‘light’, a universal type of humour that can be comprehended by all students (regardless of their culture of origin). This method can help to detect if some resonating students enjoy the initiated humour instance. Alternatively, it helps observe if students understand the humour and react to it accordingly based on the teacher’s expectations. One important rule which should be followed during the classes is avoiding so-called 'tabu’ topics (e.g. jokes about nations and religion). Teachers also should avoid strong sarcasm. Interviewee 2 assured that if the teacher uses a piece of irony or sarcasm, it should be a very-very light one, as one should understand that students may be facing problems in life.

 

Conclusion

Based on the conducted research, it can be concluded that teaching is a stressful job, but the stress level (high stress or low stress) depends on different periods. For example, it can go high during the assessment time, and teachers find it challenging to cope with stress. Besides, teachers find students' negative behaviour and interpersonal relationship with colleagues to be stressors. As a result, the teacher may become less productive, which can sometimes negatively affect his/her well-being. To relieve stress, some teachers divide the work into different parts and do it during the assigned period, periodically rewarding himself/herself with a pleasant activity.

Moreover, teachers also employ humour when they teach and in their social interactions, which they find quite stress-relieving. Teacher-initiated humour can create a friendly atmosphere during the class in which students feel 'safe'. Sometimes humour can serve a didactic role in correcting students' wrong behaviour or mistakes. In order to use humour during the class, a teacher should have a good knowledge of the subject matter, be skilful, confident and most importantly, natural. Furthermore, a teacher needs to take into account that there are specific topics which he/she should avoid joking about. Also, if a teacher uses sarcasm, it should be a very light one which may bring fun but at the same time does not distance the student from the teacher and teaching and learning. 

 

References

Gallup, Inc. (2018, December 4). State of America’s Schools: The Path to Winning Again in Education. Gallup.Com. https://www.gallup.com/services/176003/state-america-schools-%20report.aspx

Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher Stress: Directions for future research. Educational Review, 53(1), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131910120033628

Kyriacou, C. (2015). Teacher Stress and Burnout: Methodological Perspectives. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 72–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.92087-7

Misnal, M., Amaliyah, Pandin, R., & Glorino, M. (2021). Work stress management model through digital humor. Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana, 26(Esp.2), 372–382. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/279/27966514031/27966514031.pdf

Sigmund, F. (1905). Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten (Electronic version made available to read by Psychoanalytische Hochschule in Berlin). Franz Deuticke.

Wettstein, A. (2021). Teacher Stress: A Psychobiological Approach to Stressful Interactions in the Classroom. Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.681258/full#:%7E:text=Around%2030%25%20of%20teachers%20report,stress%20during%20the%20school%20year

 

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