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

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages, 2021.

গ্রন্থ-পঞ্জীর বিবরন
প্রধান লেখক: Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal
অন্যান্য লেখক: Shahed, Faheem Hasan
বিন্যাস: গবেষণাপত্র
ভাষা:English
প্রকাশিত: Brac University 2021
বিষয়গুলি:
অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন:http://hdl.handle.net/10361/14925
id 10361-14925
record_format dspace
spelling 10361-149252021-08-03T21:01:28Z Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal Shahed, Faheem Hasan Brac Institutes of Languages Motivation Empathy Teacher attributes Teaching English Language and languages--Variation Second language acquisition English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers. Language and languages--Study and teaching--Social aspects This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages, 2021. Cataloged from PDF version of Thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-65). 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. Nadia Zamal Chowdhury M. in TESOL 2021-08-03T07:39:24Z 2021-08-03T07:39:24Z 2021 2021-02 Thesis ID 16277007 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/14925 en BRAC University theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. 71 pages application/pdf Brac University
institution Brac University
collection Institutional Repository
language English
topic Motivation
Empathy
Teacher attributes
Teaching English
Language and languages--Variation
Second language acquisition
English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers.
Language and languages--Study and teaching--Social aspects
spellingShingle Motivation
Empathy
Teacher attributes
Teaching English
Language and languages--Variation
Second language acquisition
English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers.
Language and languages--Study and teaching--Social aspects
Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal
Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
description This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages, 2021.
author2 Shahed, Faheem Hasan
author_facet Shahed, Faheem Hasan
Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal
format Thesis
author Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal
author_sort Chowdhury, Nadia Zamal
title Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
title_short Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
title_full Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
title_fullStr Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
title_full_unstemmed Impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
title_sort impact of teachers’ empathy towards adult learners’ struggle in acquiring a second language
publisher Brac University
publishDate 2021
url http://hdl.handle.net/10361/14925
work_keys_str_mv AT chowdhurynadiazamal impactofteachersempathytowardsadultlearnersstruggleinacquiringasecondlanguage
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