Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching

Empathy has often been associated with how people come to know the minds of others. Theory of mind (ToM) proposes that through social cognition people make unique inferences about unobservable mental states such as intentions, goals and beliefs. This chapter explores the association between teacher...

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Main Author: McAlinden, Maggie
Other Authors: Dunworth, K.
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Springer 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21655
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author McAlinden, Maggie
author2 Dunworth, K.
author_facet Dunworth, K.
McAlinden, Maggie
author_sort McAlinden, Maggie
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Empathy has often been associated with how people come to know the minds of others. Theory of mind (ToM) proposes that through social cognition people make unique inferences about unobservable mental states such as intentions, goals and beliefs. This chapter explores the association between teacher empathy, ToM and interculturality, and the expression and interpretation of emotion in intercultural educational settings. The chapter raises questions about the universality of non-verbal emotional expression and interpretation of emotion across cultures, and suggests that teachers may not always be accurate in their interpretations of learners' emotional cues in intercultural encounters. The chapter concludes that reflexivity and empathy are essential elements of being in interculturally effective educator.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-216552023-02-27T07:34:30Z Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching McAlinden, Maggie Dunworth, K. Zhang, G. Theory of mind Learner body language Intercultural education Teacher empathy Empathy has often been associated with how people come to know the minds of others. Theory of mind (ToM) proposes that through social cognition people make unique inferences about unobservable mental states such as intentions, goals and beliefs. This chapter explores the association between teacher empathy, ToM and interculturality, and the expression and interpretation of emotion in intercultural educational settings. The chapter raises questions about the universality of non-verbal emotional expression and interpretation of emotion across cultures, and suggests that teachers may not always be accurate in their interpretations of learners' emotional cues in intercultural encounters. The chapter concludes that reflexivity and empathy are essential elements of being in interculturally effective educator. 2014 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21655 10.1007/978-3-319-06185-6_5 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Theory of mind
Learner body language
Intercultural education
Teacher empathy
McAlinden, Maggie
Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title_full Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title_fullStr Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title_full_unstemmed Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title_short Can teachers know learners' minds? Teacher empathy and learner body language in English language teaching
title_sort can teachers know learners' minds? teacher empathy and learner body language in english language teaching
topic Theory of mind
Learner body language
Intercultural education
Teacher empathy
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21655