Inductive Approach In Teaching Grammar

In general, there were two approaches that could be applied to teach grammar: deductive and inductive. This dichotomy was built upon rule-based and example-based teaching. The deductive approach, also known as a 'top down ' approach, was a rule-based teaching style that involved explaining the grammar item to learners before they encountered how rules functioned in language and then applying it; therefore, the deductive approach was one of the explicit teaching styles (Cowan, 2008). This approach was derived from the notion of deductive reasoning where the concept went from the general to the specific. It can also be called rule driven learning. In such an approach, the most favorable method was Grammar Translation Method where the

In contrast, the inductive approach was identified as a rule-search or discovery-based approach (Robinson, 1996; Ellis, 2002), which involved having learners formulated rules from examples (Cowan, 2008). Inductive was known as a 'bottom up ' approach. In other words, students discovered and asked to infer grammar rules while working through exercises. At this juncture, this approach came from inductive reasoning stating that a reasoning progression proceeded from particulars to generalities (for example, rules, laws, concepts or theories) (Felder & Henriques, 1995). Actually, Inductive approach was often correlated with Direct Method and Natural Approach in English teaching, therefore, the rules of the language were supposedly acquired out of the experience of the understanding and repeating examples which had been systematically graded for difficulty and put into a clear context” (Thornburry, 2002, p.50). With this approach, the learners were not taught grammatical or other types of rules directly but they were left to discover or induce rules from meaningful contexts provided by the teacher and their experience of using the language ( Richard& Platt,1997). The inductive approach related to subconscious learning processes similar to the concept of language acquisition. Learners learnt the language in the same way as children acquired their first or second

Which is the best approach to be implemented? This question relates to a long-standing debate among language teachers in the context of EFL/ESL, since the two had their own significances for Particular learner progress. On one side, deductive approach can be effective with students of a lower level, who are beginning to learn the basic structures of the language, or with students who are accustomed to a more traditional style of learning (Goner, Philips, and Walters,1995,p.134). Also, Deductive approach goes straightforwardly to the point and can, therefore, be time-saving for the teacher and the class. Robinson (1996) proved that learners performed grammatical tasks better and reacted faster in deductive rather than inductive teaching. Erlam (2003) confirmed that deductive teaching was easier for learners to acquire direct object pronouns in French as a second language, and it was highly likely that the same holds true for learners of