The Effects of Deductive and Guided Inductive Instructional Approaches on the Learning of Grammar in the Elementary Foreign Language College Classroom

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of deductive and guided inductive approaches for teaching grammar in College French classrooms. Forty‐seven second‐semester French students were taught eight grammatical structures: four with a deductive instructional approach and four with a guided inductive instructional approach. A quasiexperimental within‐subjects design featuring pre‐ and posttests and eight immediate posttreatment quizzes assessed the long‐ and short‐term gains in grammatical knowledge for each condition. Results indicated a significant difference between participants' mean immediate test scores favoring the guided inductive approach. Findings of this study also indicated a strong trend in favor of guided induction on the long‐term learning of grammatical structures. The results of this study support using a guided inductive instructional approach to teach grammar in the beginning‐level foreign language classroom.