Effectiveness of Inductive and Deductive Methods in Enhancing the Paragraph Writing of Junior High School Students

Abstract

Proficiency in paragraph writing has to be developed by individuals who were obliged to participate in the academic endeavor for them to be globally competitive and likewise be a productive citizen. With this, the mentors in the academic society conscientiously played their role in considering various methods in teaching writing to make the acquisition affluent; yet followed the appropriate standards in obtaining the necessary skills in writing. For this reason, the present study was crafted, exploring the effectiveness of the inductive and deductive methods in enhancing the writing proficiency of Grade 9 students in the hinterland in the Division of Misamis Oriental. Using the quasi-experimental research design, the study assigned students to the experimental group (inductive method) and control group (deductive method). The two groups of students were given essay test before and after the interventions, which were given for almost eight weeks. The students’ level of writing proficiency was determined using an analytic rubric that covered the following writing criteria: content, organization, development and use of the language. The essays were inter-rated by the English teachers. Data were analyzed and interpreted using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that the students generally had unsatisfactory to less satisfactory writing proficiency indicating the need to improve their writing proficiency. However, after the interventions, only the deductive method was found to be effective in enhancing their writing proficiency. The inductive method did not work effectively for the hinterland students. Therefore, it was concluded that deductive method was the appropriate method to be applied in teaching paragraph writing to the students who still need guide with the acquisition of the skill. It is recommended that the deductive method be used for students who lack foundational knowledge and skills in writing for such students are not yet ready for the inductive method that requires high thinking skills.