Empathy is a required skill in intercultural encounters, as having awareness of other people's feelings and needs can prevent conflicts and misunderstandings. In this study, Turkish university students taking an English composition class were required to write compare and contrast essays after they read a collection of memoirs written by foreign people living in Turkey and also reflections of Turkish authors who had an experience of an intercultural encounter abroad. The similarities as well as differences of feelings and perspectives expressed by the authors found a new voice in the essays of the Turkish students. After their essays were collected and analysed, the students were interviewed to find out how they displayed empathy. The study shows that the students' skills of evaluating intercultural issues with empathy increased as a result of this specific approach of writing.
Keywords: EFL, Empathy, Composition, intercultural communication, Memoirs.