Effective learning is strongly related to effective teacher and effective teaching. In this concept, teachers' characteristics gain crucial importance in understanding and lessening the problems and difficulties hindering students' long lasting learning process. The aim of this study is to present a literature review about the features of an effective English language teacher by comprising of the common characteristics in the studies and to give some pedagogical suggestions for English language teachers on how to increase their effectiveness in the classroom. Therefore, over 30 studies conducted in foreign language education area were overviewed and main characteristics of an effective English language teacher mostly cited in these studies were categorized under four headings. These four categories are as follow: socio-affective skills, pedagogical knowledge, subject-matter knowledge and personality characteristics. Findings showed that an English language teacher should have socio-affective skills, pedagogical knowledge, subject matter knowledge and personal qualities for better language teaching and learning. In addition, an effective English language teacher should have a balanced combination of these four main aspects.