Page 16 Walker • Humor in the Foreign Language Classroom semester. Future researchers should be warned that getting more than half of an observed class to participate in interviews may be difficult. The pressures and busyness of college life often preclude students’ willingness to accept interview requests. It should also be noted that while my group membership as a student at the same university shapes my own bias in terms of this research, it also benefited my data elicitation. Students demonstrated greater willingness to answer questions, provide more of their personal perspectives, and correct my interpretations of their answers than they likely would have in an interview conducted by an outsider, especially a researcher outside their age demographic. Conclusion Each of the three main themes elucidated by my research speak to a different yet interconnected facet of humor’s potential in foreign language (FL) classrooms. Although little data concerning the affective filter or humor as a pedagogical tool was uncovered, the themes of power distance, willingness to communicate (WTC), and self-effacing humor were prominent in the interviews. The professor’s use of humor contributed to an informal and relaxed class environment with a sense of individual freedom. These elements, consistent with a low power distance, also served to lower the students’ affective filters. Additionally, the self-effacing nature of the professor’s humor is conducive to the low power distance within the classroom. As the professor admitted and humorously recounted her own French mistakes, the students experienced decreased anxiety and increased confidence in speaking up during class, particularly in regard to making mistakes of their own. Therefore, from the intersection of the previously mentioned themes, we can also conclude that WTC is affected by the use of humor in the FL classroom. My study presents a sense of direction for future researchers, who can compare the results of their own research with my findings and establish greater credibility for the study of humor and other, less well-defined aspects of linguistics. These researchers might use a different approach to investigate the affective filter element of my research question. Study could also be done into the question of whether humor is solely a personality characteristic, as some of my participants noted, or if it can be planned and harnessed in the classroom. Overall, this research continues to expand the conversation around humor in FL classrooms, into which further investigation is still much needed.
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