Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the role of empathy, one of the vital traits teachers are expected to possess, in the language acquisition process of learners of English as a second language or foreign language. It tried to assess if the presence of empathy in teachers' approach towards the language acquisition process has any significant impact on the pace of language acquisition of the learners. This also highlights if the effect of empathy and associated emotions, such as sympathy, and patience towards the struggle of learners, add positive and substantial speed to the learners’ progress. The search of the hypothesis also tried to highlight if the absence of a significant amount of empathy or complete absence of empathy slows down the acquisition process. In search of finding the scale of the impact of this attribute of teachers, qualitative research was conducted by applying multiple methodologies where the idea was to get the opinion of as many parties of the language development process as possible. To ensure and to accommodate the involvement of all parties in the process of development, face to face interviews, focused group discussions and online response to FGD questions methods were applied. The methodologies gathered information that resulted in a byproduct of how empathy in teachers may or may not enhance the mimicking of the same attribute in learners. Due to strict confidentiality of institutions in getting access to observe classes or conduct FGD with teachers and learners, larger-scale research could not be conducted that could strongly establish the substantial role of empathy in learners’ performance; but this small scale research was also able to slant towards the idea that the presence of empathy in teachers reflects positively in the performance of learners. The research also acknowledges that empathy in teachers may always not be very apparentwhile observing classes; but can be measured from considering the presence of other aspects that are crucial for effective teaching. The presence of equal opportunities in the design of class plan for all types of learners to learn and perform can also indicate the empathetic mindset of teachers. Understanding the difference between struggle and insincerity is also an indication of teachers’ capability to understand the mind of learners that lead to being empathetic towards those who are genuinely struggling. The thesis worked towards finding about the teachers’ understanding, intelligence, and effort towards knowing their students and assisting them in acquiring a second language.