Spontaneous Play in the Language Classroom - Creating a Community

This book investigates the importance of humour and play in the establishment of individual and group identities among adult language learners on an intensive business English course. The enclosed setting allows the emergent nature of community building and identity projection to be traced, foregrounding the important role of humorous play in these vital social processes. The book will be of interest to students and researchers of applied linguistics, second language acquisition and humour studies.


David Hann is a Central Academic Staff Lecturer in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University, UK. His research focuses on the forms and social functions of humorous language play among non-native speakers of English in a language classroom setting.