Empowered learners are more motivated to perform classroom tasks, and they feel more competent in the classroom, find the required tasks more meaningful, and feel they have an impact on their learning process. Previous work has concluded that empowerment is primarily influenced by teacher behavior, which is not consistent with contemporary research on achievement motivation. The focus of the present study was to examine the role of student characteristics (temperament and learner orientation) on empowerment along with the impact of instructor communication behavior (nonverbal immediacy and clarity). Interpretation of results via the motivation model revealed teacher clarity to be the primary predictor of student empowerment and learning. Student temperament and learner orientation had little impact On empowerment. (Contains 4 tables.)