Linguistic Levity

Classes are over and exams have started. This is a mixed joy: without classes to teach and prepare for, there is suddenly time to do all those little things that were simply not a high enough priority in the sink-or-swim semester days. On the other hand, it also means eight sets of invigilation for each teacher- enough to send the most fearless of Zen masters running.

Today’s preparatory reading was on a topic I had been putting off for a long time: Second Language Acquisition. It’s an area that intrigues me, not least because of my own chequered history with language learning. That is a story for another day, though. What really lightened up the reading, and had me in (vociferous!) stitches, was one of the activities at the end of the chapter. Written by Nina Spada and Patsy Lightbown, authorities in the field and authors of their own influential book on SLA, the chapter in Schmitt’s Introduction to Applied Linguistics (2002, Hodder Arnold) is a useful overview.

The activity shows the responses form three students to a question asking them to guess what people in a picture of an airport are saying. Two of the students’ responses are unremarkable, but one was spiked with mischievous humour. Here are the madcap student’s responses, evidently heavily influenced by The Godfather. (Incidentally, the Godfather seems to boost English ability remarkably.)

Flight attendant to passenger: Do you need something?
Customs officer to passenger waiting to board: Why did you bring this bomb?
Man in coat and hat on telephone: Where do I put the money, boss?
Man to woman: Hey, short stuff. What time is it?
Woman to crying child: Why are you crying little boy?
Boy to woman, while pointing: Hey mom! It looks like your ugly skirt!
Female officer to man: What did you find on this terrorist, agent 007?
Woman to car rental clerk: Do you have a big uncomfortable car, Mrs.?
Man at luggage desk, pointing at a mountain of suitcases, to old man: Dad, are you sure you can bring this alone?

I laughed until the tears ran, especially at “Why did you bring this bomb?”

It is extremely good for the heart to know that there is levity in a field that can be known for seriousness. And it is even better to see that the student who learnt with humour is using the target language better than those who are seriously suffering along. There is a lesson in all this….

The image is from Lightbown, P.M. and Spada, N. 2002 Second Language Acquisition, in Schmitt, N. (Ed.) 2002 Introduction to Applied Linguistics. New York: Hodder Arnold.