Empirical Study of Comparative Literature Course Effectiveness in Developing Intercultural Empathy at a North Central Nigerian University

Intercultural empathy, the imaginative capacity to understand perspectives shaped by cultural frameworks different from one's own, is widely claimed as a central benefit of comparative literature education, but this claim has rarely been empirically tested in Nigerian educational contexts. This study empirically assessed the effectiveness of a comparative literature course in developing intercultural empathy among second-year students at the University of Abuja. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design was employed, with 95 students enrolled in a comparative literature course (treatment group) and 90 students in a Nigeria-only literature course (comparison group). The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale and a purpose-designed Comparative Literary Empathy Instrument were administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Post-test comparisons showed significantly higher gains in intercultural empathy among comparative literature course students on four of five Intercultural Sensitivity Scale subscales (p < 0.05 for all four). The Comparative Literary Empathy Instrument showed a 31.4 percent mean gain for the treatment group versus 8.7 percent for the comparison group. Qualitative data from reading journals suggested that students showed the most empathic engagement with texts featuring characters navigating political conflict and family obligation, suggesting that these thematic entry points are most effective for cross-cultural identification. The study provides the first experimental evidence for the empathy-developing function of comparative literature courses in a Nigerian university context and recommends the findings for curriculum justification arguments in NUC submissions by literature departments seeking programme funding. Keywords: intercultural empathy, comparative literature course, quasi-experimental study, University of Abuja, North Central Nigeria