Pilar Diez

This systematic review explores how teacher factors influence motivation and participation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Accepting that teachers’ psychological and interpersonal characteristics are important, this article examines the role of these teacher factors in designing learning experiences that matter. The goal is to understand how factors such as empathy, emotional intelligence, enthusiasm, and interpersonal skills influence students’ motivation and participation. A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, including studies were published between 2017 and 2025 analyzing empirical studies, as a result, 18 studies that were selected from Google Scholar, ERIC, SciELO, and Elsevier. The findings indicate that emotionally intelligent and empathetic teachers create emotionally safe learning environments that foster students’ engagement in learning. Personality traits, such as enthusiasm, openness, and friendliness contributed to students’ perceptions of the classroom and their participation in learning. Interpersonal skills, especially effective communication and cultural competence, also proved to be essential for creating an inclusive and motivating language learning environment. This study concludes that teacher training programs should be encouraged to include psychological and interpersonal characteristics and train teachers to develop these areas to assist with the success of their teaching practices and their learners’ motivation and engagement in EFL contexts.