Humorous Linguistic Memes as Students' Coping Relief Against COVID-19 Anxiety
Main Article Content
Keywords
coping, COVID-19 anxiety, humorous, linguistic, memes
Abstract
This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of humorous linguistic memes as a coping strategy against anxiety. The respondents consisted of 41 students who were purposefully selected based on their manifestation of COVID-19 anxiety. These participants received interventions using humorous linguistic memes. The study used a researcher-made instrument on COVID-19 anxiety composed of 30 items on common anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic. The study utilized the mean for descriptive data analysis, the Mann-Whitney U, and the t-test for inferential data analysis. The researcher also analyzed the respondents' impressions of humorous linguistic memes. Data analysis deduced that funny linguistic memes can potentially reduce a person's anxiety about COVID-19. Frequent exposure to funny memes may contribute to good mental and emotional health. The study suggests that individuals can be exposed to humorous linguistic memes when confronted with a stressful situation.
Publication History
Version of Record online: December 28, 2023
Manuscript accepted: December 22, 2023
Manuscript revised: December 20, 2023
Manuscript received: April 1, 2022
References
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Chandu, V. C., Pachava, S., Vadapalli, V., & Marella, Y. (2020). Development and initial validation of the COVID-19 anxiety scale. Indian Journal of Public Health 64(6), 201-204. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.IJPH_492_20
Chiodo, C. P., Broughton, K. K., & Michalski, M. P. (2020). Caution: Wit and humor during the COVID-19 pandemic. journals.sagepub.com/home/fai. https://doi.org/10.1177/1071100720923651
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Harshavardhan, V., Wilson, D., & Kumar, M. V. (2019). Humor discourse in internet memes: An aid in ESL classrooms. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 29(1), 41-53.
Hussein, A. T., & Aljamili, L. N. (2020). COVID-19 humor in Jordanian social media: A socio-semiotic approach. Heliyon, 6(12). DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon. 2020.e05696.
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Reizer, A., Munk, Y., & Frankfurter, L. K. (2022). Laughing all the way to the lockdown: On humor, optimism, and well-being during COVID 19, Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111164 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111164.
Richter, F. R. (2021). The Philippines' New Development Plans. https://horasis.org/the-philippines-new-development-plans/.
Rothermich, K., Ogunlana, A., Jaworska, N. (2021). Change in humor and sarcasm use based on anxiety and depression symptom severity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 140, 95-100.
Saricali, M., Satici, S.A., Satici, B., Gocet-Tekin, E., & Griffiths, M.D. (2022). Fear of COVID-19, mindfulness, humor, and hopelessness: A multiple mediation analysis. Int J Ment Health Addiction 20, 2151-2164.
Sariah, J. N. (2021). Expression of language and culture through homecomers' (travellers') funny memes. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity, and Change. 15(6).
Torres-Marín, J., Navarro-Carrillo, G., Eid, M., and Carretero-Dios. (2022). Humor styles, perceived threat, funniness of COVID-19 memes, and affective mood in the early stages of COVID-19 lockdown. J Happiness Stud 23, 2541-2561.
UNESCO's Education 2030, Incheon Declaration, and Action Framework. (May 2016). Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245656.
Vinokurova, V. (2021). Memes: Learning, bonding, and emotional support in times of COVID-19. Russian Language Journal, 71(2).
Yoon, I. (2016). Why is it not just a joke? Analysis of internet memes associated with racism and the hidden ideology of colorblindness. The Media in a Post-Racial Society, 33.
Zahoor, A. (2020). Linguistic humor in to mitigate post-COVID-19 severity. Linguistics and Literature Review (LLR). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3807105.
Zubaidah, N., & Ardelia, I. (2018). A discourse analysis of memes. Getsempena English Education Journal (GEEJ), 5(2).
AmBisyon Natin 2040, Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 (n.d.). Philippine Development Plan. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-57953-4#Sec14.
Ajayi, T.M. (2020). Beyond joking: A pragmatic (De)construction of "Nigerian realities" in selected humour-evoking facebook memes. Israeli Journal of Humor Research, 9(1).
Akram, U., Irvine, K., Allen, S. F, Stevenson, J. C., Ellis, J. G., & Drabble, J. (2021). Internet memes related to the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential coping mechanism for anxiety. Sci Rep 11, 22305. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00857-8.
Amici, P. (2020). Humor in the age of COVID-19 lockdown: An explorative qualitative study. Psychiatria Danubina, 32(1), pp 15-20.
Ary, D., Jacobs, C., & Sorencen, C. (2010). Introduction to research in education (8th Ed). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Baysac, P. E. G. (2017). Laughter in class: Humorous memes in 21st-century learning. Journal of Social Sciences (COES&RJ-JSS), 6(2), 267-281. https://doi.org/10.25255/jss.2017.6.2.267.281.
Bensaber, Y. (2020). Humor and gender: Males and females' understanding and appreciation of humor in memes and written Jokes: A case study of 3rd year students of English at Frères Mentouri Constantine 1 University. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3716928.
Brown, J. D. (2020). What do you meme, professor? An experiment using "memes" in pharmacy. Education Pharmacy, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy8040202.
Benveniste, A. (2022). The meaning and history of memes. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/crosswords/what-is-a-meme.html.
Chandu, V. C., Pachava, S., Vadapalli, V., & Marella, Y. (2020). Development and initial validation of the COVID-19 anxiety scale. Indian Journal of Public Health 64(6), 201-204. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.IJPH_492_20
Chiodo, C. P., Broughton, K. K., & Michalski, M. P. (2020). Caution: Wit and humor during the COVID-19 pandemic. journals.sagepub.com/home/fai. https://doi.org/10.1177/1071100720923651
DepED 024, Section 2022 (January, 2022). Basic Education Development Plan 2030. https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DO_s2022_024.pdf.
Dynel, M. (2016). "I have seen image Macros!" Advice on animal memes as visual-v jokes International Journal of Communication, 10. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4101/1556.
Fritz, H. L. (2020). Why are humor styles associated with well-being, and does social competence matter? Examining relations to psychological and physical well-being, reappraisal, and social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 154, 109645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109641
Harshavardhan, V., Wilson, D., & Kumar, M. V. (2019). Humor discourse in internet memes: An aid in ESL classrooms. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 29(1), 41-53.
Hussein, A. T., & Aljamili, L. N. (2020). COVID-19 humor in Jordanian social media: A socio-semiotic approach. Heliyon, 6(12). DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon. 2020.e05696.
Iloh, C. (2021). Do it for the culture: The case for memes in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20. DOI:10.1177/16094069211025896.
Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, B., & Shalevska, E. (2018). Internet memes and their socio-linguistic features. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies , 9, 1-2. http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1492894.
Martin, R. A., & Ford, T. E. (2018). The Psychology of Humor. UK: Academic Press, Elsevier, Inc.
Newton, G., Zappavigna, M., Drysdale, K., & Newman, C. E. (2022). More than humor: Memes as bonding icons for belonging in donor-conceived people. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage.
Oduor, J. A. & Kodak, B. (2020). Online humor as a coping mechanism in the face of the coronavirus pandemic: The Kenyan context. East African Scholars Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, 2(4).
Onanuga, P. (2019). Transnationalizing humour on social media: A linguistic analysis of ideology, identity and didactics in Robert Mugabe Quotes memes1. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqz019
Pranoto, B. E., & Suprayogi (2021). Insights from students' perspective of 9GAG humorous memes used in EFL classroom. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Applied Linguistics, 546, 72-76.
Reizer, A., Munk, Y., & Frankfurter, L. K. (2022). Laughing all the way to the lockdown: On humor, optimism, and well-being during COVID 19, Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111164 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111164.
Richter, F. R. (2021). The Philippines' New Development Plans. https://horasis.org/the-philippines-new-development-plans/.
Rothermich, K., Ogunlana, A., Jaworska, N. (2021). Change in humor and sarcasm use based on anxiety and depression symptom severity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 140, 95-100.
Saricali, M., Satici, S.A., Satici, B., Gocet-Tekin, E., & Griffiths, M.D. (2022). Fear of COVID-19, mindfulness, humor, and hopelessness: A multiple mediation analysis. Int J Ment Health Addiction 20, 2151-2164.
Sariah, J. N. (2021). Expression of language and culture through homecomers' (travellers') funny memes. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity, and Change. 15(6).
Torres-Marín, J., Navarro-Carrillo, G., Eid, M., and Carretero-Dios. (2022). Humor styles, perceived threat, funniness of COVID-19 memes, and affective mood in the early stages of COVID-19 lockdown. J Happiness Stud 23, 2541-2561.
UNESCO's Education 2030, Incheon Declaration, and Action Framework. (May 2016). Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245656.
Vinokurova, V. (2021). Memes: Learning, bonding, and emotional support in times of COVID-19. Russian Language Journal, 71(2).
Yoon, I. (2016). Why is it not just a joke? Analysis of internet memes associated with racism and the hidden ideology of colorblindness. The Media in a Post-Racial Society, 33.
Zahoor, A. (2020). Linguistic humor in to mitigate post-COVID-19 severity. Linguistics and Literature Review (LLR). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3807105.
Zubaidah, N., & Ardelia, I. (2018). A discourse analysis of memes. Getsempena English Education Journal (GEEJ), 5(2).
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Published
Dec 28, 2023
Article Details
How to Cite
Frigillano, S. (2023). Humorous Linguistic Memes as Students’ Coping Relief Against COVID-19 Anxiety. The Normal Lights, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.56278/tnl.v17i2.2175
Section
Research Article
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