Mexican High School Students’ Perceptions Regarding Inductive and Deductive Grammar Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions that Mexican high school students hold toward deductive and inductive grammar teaching. This study followed the qualitative method to make sense of the data provided by the participants. The study took place in a private catholic high school in Guanajuato, Mexico. Three female Mexican students who were on average 17 years old were the participants in this investigation. This research was a case study that examined participants’ perceptions very closely. The data in the study were gathered through two questionnaires, and one interview. To analyze the data, the researcher implemented thematic analysis which permitted the identification of salient themes. Overall, the results seem to suggest that students perceive the implementation of the inductive approach as an interactive teaching strategy that generates an appealing learning environment. On the negative side, the participants considered that the use of the inductive approach took too much class time, and they saw this as a disadvantage. Moreover, the results indicate that students are used to the deductive approach, and they consider it to be easier to be applied and followed in the language classroom.