Puns as tools for teaching English grammar in a university context

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of teaching grammar to students who are learning English at the tertiary level, especially those who have taken up English as a university subject. It makes a case for incorporating yet another tool in the extensive toolkit already available to their teachers: puns, an ambiguity-based wordplay whose effect springs from correlating two distinct meanings via one linguistic form. The paper outlines arguments for the pedagogical value of using puns in the classroom and presents examples of specific activities that can be employed in the classroom to raise L2 learners awareness of a whole range of grammar-related issues.