Enhanced Empathy for English Language Learners: How ESOL Teachers' Past Language Learning Informs Their Teacher Knowledge and Practices

Abstract

While there has been a growing interest in teachers' empathy within TESOL, the various dimensions of empathy remain less explored compared to other fields such as anthropology, medicine, and psychology. Guided by the theoretical framing of “teacher knowledge” (TK), this paper reports on one key theme from a doctoral study concerning how ESOL teachers perceive the ways their instructed additional language (AL) learning experiences contributed to their teaching practices. Two stages of teacher empathy, rooted in participants' recollections of their past instructed AL learning, emerged from the data. This paper drew on responses from 10 New Zealand‐based teachers across TESOL sectors, collected through focus groups and individual phenomenological interviews. Subsequent data analysis employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) described the theme of ESOL teachers' enhanced empathy for English language learners (ELLs). Findings suggest that such increased empathy is tied to teachers' personal experiences with AL learning. Consequently, participants reportedly made pedagogical decisions to incorporate empathetic teaching practices informed by their reflective insights. This paper contributes to the applied linguistics literature by introducing the notions of “reflective empathy” and “enacted empathy” in the context of instructed AL learning and teaching while exploring their significance. Furthermore, it proposes that more attention should be given to ESOL teachers' instructed AL‐learning experiences as a valuable resource of their TK.