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Studies on empathy have shifted away from the broad humanistic ideal of how teachers should treat learners toward understanding how teacher behavior affects learners\' attention, trust, classroom participation, and sense of emotional safety. This article reviews literature on empathy in language teaching in five historical phases: the humanistic/communicative period, the interactional period, the affective classroom period, the positive psychology/emotion period, and the current interpersonal communication period. Early publications viewed empathy as an aspect of teachers\' general humanistic attitude toward students. Recent publications characterize it as observable teaching practices that help students attend to instruction, take risks with the target language, and cope with anxiety. In studies from the Ecuadorian university context, a shift in thinking from general teaching philosophy toward observable behaviors seems evident in research on rapport, classroom climate, student-centered teaching, and sympathetic communication. Learners react positively when teachers communicate that they understand and care about them, respect their identities, and make them feel safe. The article shows that sympathy is more than moral ideal; it is a prerequisite for language learning.