Eliciting Empathy Through the Study of Literature in the World Language Classroom

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought questions of empathy in the modern world to the forefront of daily life. Although a natural human response, empathy can be cultivated and even taught. Recent research on the links between reading and empathy present possibilities for world language educators to integrate the purposeful study of literature with the goal of empathy awareness and cultivation in mind. This article details the design of a project-based learning unit on empathy in a post-secondary Latin American literature course during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author studied the impact of this approach by gaining a deeper understanding of learners' experiences through observation and learners' reflections and projects. The findings showed that learners articulated the ways texts elicit empathy, their own empathetic reactions, and made connections to the historical moment they were living.