Should mathematics teachers be humorous? A study based on the instructional humor processing theory.

Teacher humor is considered an important factor in mathematics classroom management for improving student learning outcomes and engagement. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between teacher humor (mathematics-related humor, mathematics-unrelated humor, self-disparaging humor, and other-disparaging humor) and student engagement, with teacher-student relationships as a moderator. The respondents were 326 secondary school students, and the analysis was conducted using PLS-SEM. The results showed that six out of seven hypotheses were significant. Specifically, mathematics-related humor and other-disparaging humor had significant positive direct effects on teacher-student relationships and significant indirect effects on student engagement. In contrast, mathematics-unrelated humor had a significant negative effect on teacher-student relationships. These findings suggest that mathematics teachers can effectively use appropriate humor styles to strengthen teacher-student relationships and enhance student engagement in the mathematics classroom.