EFL students’ learning and their perceptions of teacher humor: A mixed methods study

Abstract Humor has been reported to be beneficial for language learning. However, limited research has explored how different aspects of teacher humor — such as humor appropriateness and humor homophily — function together to influence various learning outcomes, particularly from the students’ perspective. The present study employed a mixed methods sequential explanatory design to explore students’ perceptions of teacher humor, humor appropriateness, and humor homophily as potential predictors of their cognitive learning, affective learning, and L2 achievement. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 298 EFL learners nationwide. Participants completed five questionnaires, and structured interviews were conducted with 23 students. Quantitative data were analyzed using multiple regression and path analysis, and thematic analysis with NVivo 12 was used for qualitative data. The results indicated that humor homophily was the strongest predictor of affective learning. Teacher humor, humor appropriateness, and humor homophily moderately predicted affective learning but had weaker predictive power for cognitive learning and L2 achievement. However, the concurrent use of different types of humor demonstrated higher direct effects on L2 achievement. Qualitative findings confirmed the quantitative results. By focusing on students’ perceptions, this study addresses a significant gap in the literature and provides context-specific insights into how humor can be strategically employed to support emotional engagement and language learning.