By: Carlos Gontow
Much has been written and discussed about inductive grammar. Talking about the use of deductive grammar in the classroom is considered a crime. But is inductive grammar really that useful?
I have been a teacher for 25 years, and I’ve used both approaches to teaching grammar. From my experience, I really believe that inductive grammar is highly overrated in the English class.
When you teach grammar deductively, you present the rule and students will work from that. The presentation is followed by examples which show to students how the rule is used in context. After that students will practice the grammar point by doing exercises. When you teach grammar inductively, you don’t present the rules. You present several examples. Students look at the examples, compare them, try different things and see what works and what doesn’t, until they figure out the grammar rule. And after that students will do exercises.
Supporters of inductive grammar say that students learn best when they think and make connections and discover the rules by themselves. However, this process is very time-consuming and it takes up a lot of precious classroom time. Besides, it can be misleading. I’ve seen students who analyze the examples and come up with rules that are not really true. Then they tend to remember the wrong rules that they have created.
For inductive grammar to be effective, students have to be guided to the desired conclusion through examples and questions that will put them on the right path. This depends a lot on the book and on the teacher. I have seen books where the examples are open to misinterpretations and where the questions are just deductive grammar questions in disguise.
What really makes students learn is practice. This is what they need to be able to speak and write in English. Student will not learn English because they know the rules, but because they are able to use the rules without realizing that they are using the rules. They have to practice the structures so much that they can internalize the rules and speak English. When they speak and write, the words have to come to them naturally, without their having to think about the rule. And we can only achieve this by extensive practice.
We should use more time in the classroom to make students practice the language. Grammar is important, but it’s not the most important thing. We should present the grammar, give examples and have them practice, practice and practice through controlled exercises – exercises in which they will practice the structure more mechanically, but also meaningfully. Students will acquire the language by using it so many times that it will become natural to them. And after they internalize the structures, it’s important that they use them in more uncontrolled situations. This is when we will be sure they have acquired the rules.
I’m not defending the use of the audio-lingual approach. I just think that there isn’t enough controlled practice these days. Students are encouraged to speak English freely without having the time to practice the structures first. And we skip an important step in helping students to learn English.
The time we spend making students coming up with the rules is sometimes too long. And many times there are students who don’t come up with the right rule, or students who still don’t get it. And I’ve seen teachers who finish the inductive grammar lesson by giving a whole grammar explanation. So, what was the whole point?
Knowing the rule is not important. Many times you know that something is right but you can’t explain why. This happens because you have used that structure so many times that it just sounds right. You have internalized the grammar rule. And it doesn’t matter if you learned it inductively or deductively. It just feels right.
We really need to include more practice in our lessons. We spend too much time with inductive grammar. I believe this time would be better spent on practice. It is much more useful to students.
