Students’ Perception on the Use of Humor in the Teaching of English as a Second Language in Nigeria

Learners’ perceptions about foreign language or second language are becoming issue of attention from various scholars in applied linguistics in recent time (Ayman, 2012; Masoumeh, 2012). The effective teaching of English as Second Language (ESL) is one of the major concerns in Applied Linguistics. Hence, the paper was set out to investigate the perceptions of the use of humor in the teaching of English as L2 on the students of a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria. This approach unraveled the implication of humor both from the positive and negative sides. The paper reflected the relationship between culture and humor as reported by students. It was therefore suggested that the use of humor in the teaching of English as second language (ESL) should be done by teachers with care considering the fact that the linguistic environment is cross cultural, so that the purpose of effective teaching of ESL to learners will be achieved.