Leading With Empathy: How TESOL Teachers Can Support a Caring Classroom Environment

Julie Roberts,  Salt Lake Community College and University of Utah, Utah, USA

In my 20-year career, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many other English teachers, and I’m always struck by one common motivator: we care. Of course, as people who engage with words daily, we care (and frequently obsess) about language, pronunciation, rhetoric, and vocabulary. But, above all, we care about our students. We are concerned about our students’ mental, physical, and emotional well-being, and we want to do what we can to create an environment where they feel welcomed and supported.

But does empathy really matter in the classroom? The research shows that it does. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology uncovered “a strong link between teacher empathy and student mental health outcomes, with emerging evidence suggesting that this relationship extends to student engagement as well” (Ampofo et al., 2025). However, it’s important to note that creating an empathetic teaching space goes beyond creating a superficial feel-good environment; it requires initiating meaningful interactions with students so they know we recognize them as unique individuals with their own distinct backgrounds, cultures, and personalities. 

However, in teaching multilingual learners, educators frequently find themselves at a disadvantage when it comes to expressing empathy in a way that students can understand and appreciate. One critical concern pertains to the inevitable language barriers in the TESOL classroom. The Century Foundation reports that “U.S. Census data show that U.S. teachers remain disproportionately monolingual. Just 13 percent of U.S. teachers speak a non-English language at home, compared with around 22 percent of people in the United States” (Williams, 2023). This means that many U.S. TESOL educators aren’t proficient in their ESL students’ first languages, and so they might feel limited in expressing concern to students or assessing if they need extra support. 

However, there are still ways to determine when it might be a vital moment to reach out to a student either in person or via email, and the most crucial instances might be when students stop coming to class or fail to complete their course work. In those cases, the most empathetic action a teacher can take is to connect with the student to determine what assistance they need to succeed in the class.

Additionally, in many cases, all it takes to know that a student needs support is to observe their facial expressions and body language for signs of concern or distress. When teachers witness those signals, we should keep in mind that we don’t have to express the perfect combination of words to connect with someone. Even if students don’t always comprehend the minute details of the message, they can comprehend the intention behind a warm tone and engaging smile. In fact, according to Psychology Today (n.d.), “microexpressions (brief displays of emotion on the face), hand gestures, and posture all register in the human brain almost immediately—even when a person is not consciously aware they have perceived anything.”

Another challenge that TESOL teachers face is relating to students who have differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This can even extend to simple gestures like making direct eye contact with a person, which is common in American culture but not in Japanese culture (Eichbaum et. al., 2023). And, in some Arabic societies, engaging in prolonged eye contact is considered an appropriate behavior, which can feel unusual to Americans (Mednick, 2022). These cultural disparities can inhibit educators’ effectiveness in expressing empathy in their classrooms.

One way that we as teachers can overcome this difficulty is to avoid judging students through our own cultural lenses. Multilingual  learners come from a variety of different cultures and countries, and their societal norms are just as deep-seated as our own. Some may have even departed from their countries under troubling circumstances; others may be refugees who have experienced intense trauma. Taking these factors into consideration, we should be mindful that our multilingual learners  will respond differently to life events than their American counterparts do, and we should take an empathetic stance to help them adjust to their new environments.

Another essential thing for teachers to remember is that we should use empathy to avoid making assumptions about our students based on our own cultural biases pertaining to “suitable” classroom participation. While many U.S. educators believe that students should demonstrate interest in the course material by raising their hands and speaking up in class discussions, this isn’t the case in many other countries where participation is centered around students listening quietly to the professor. One effective way to address this situation is to explain to students what it means to participate and engage in your classroom – and then to be understanding if they aren’t able to meet those expectations right away. Adapting to new educational environments takes time, and our students deserve our support and compassion as they navigate these situations.

Taking an empathetic approach in the classroom isn’t always easy. Teachers are notoriously overworked and underpaid, and adding more considerations to their workloads can feel daunting. But by creating strong connections with our students, we are also enriching our own teaching experiences significantly. And, even more importantly, by setting our own examples of empathetic behavior in the classroom, we can hope that students will learn to mirror those patterns in their own lives. Teaching with an empathetic focus is a powerful and impactful practice that can yield positive outcomes in the classroom and beyond. 

Julie Roberts is an English teacher; she instructs students at the Utah Global program at the University of Utah and at Salt Lake Community College. Her interests include rhetoric, composition, communication, children’s literature, and English language learners. She has a BA in English, a Master of Professional Communication, and a TESOL certification. Julie is also a freelance writer and editor. 

References

Ampofo, J., Bentum-Micah, G., Xusheng, Q., Sun, B., & Mensah Asumang, R. (2025). Exploring the role of teacher empathy in student mental health outcomes: a comparative SEM approach to understanding the complexities of emotional support in educational settings. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1503258. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1503258

Eichbaum, Q., Barbeau-Meunier, C. A., White, M., Ravi, R., Grant, E., Riess, H., & Bleakley, A. (2023). Empathy across cultures–one size does not fit all: from the ego-logical to the eco-logical of relational empathy. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 28 (2), 643-657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10158-y

Mednick, J. (2022, August 24). The importance of positive body language in the classroom: NEA. Positive Body Language in the Classroom. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/bring-positive-body-language-classroom

Psychology Today (n.d.). Body language. Sussex Publishers, LLC. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/body-language

Williams, C. P. (2023, November 16). America’s missing bilingual teachers. The Century Foundation. https://tcf.org/content/commentary/americas-missing-bilingual-teachers/