Instilling Empathy as a Teaching and Learning Strategy in Malay Literature

Abstract

Empathy is a feeling expressed by an individual who possess the capability of understanding and feeling emotions and thoughts of others, as if they are experiencing the situation themselves. The purpose of this study is to investigate the aspect of empathy as a teaching and learning strategy in Malay Literature. The methodology used in this research is aqualitative approach by utilizing library research, document analysis and case study. The instruments used were empathy observation checklist, student reflection as well as interview protocol and the analysis of data was conducted using thematic analysis. Findings of the study showed empathy was applied in the teaching and learning of the participants through active learning, experiential learning, student-centred learning and storytelling in learning. In conclusion, students were open in voicing out their feelings about certain issues, able to use all their senses in identifying certain issues,and were able to appreciate their feelings. Implications of this study showed that empathy is aligned with the aspiration of the Curriculum Standard of Malaysian Secondary Schools built upon the six facets.