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Article

On the appreciation of English punny jokes by Arabic-speaking EFL learners

Mar 31, 2019

DOI:

Published in: The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics

Publisher: the Centre for Applied English Studies at the University of Hong Kong

Abdul Salam Alnamer Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh Sulafah Alnamer

This study measures the extent Arabic-speaking EFL learners appreciate English punny jokes. It also aims at identifying the challenges they face with certain types of these jokes and providing explanations for these challanges. For the purpose of the study, a test of 16 punny jokes on four types of punny jokes, namely, look-alike, sound-alike, close-sounding, and texting was developed and distributed to 60 Arabic-speaking EFL learners. Generally, the results show that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have little appreciation of English punny jokes. The study discusses the challenges that Arabic-speaking EFL learners face when they encounter any of the four types of punny jokes. Finally, the study concludes with pedagogical implications and with some suggestions for further studies.

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