Deductive = rule then examples; inductive = examples, then learners infer the rule. A blend is the consensus; inductive suits clear, regular patterns (comparatives, question forms), deductive suits fine-grained, exception-heavy areas (articles).
Practice
- Inductive for salient, regular patterns; deductive explanation for rule-heavy or exception-heavy items.
- Inductive takes longer: budget time; choose representative examples.
- Check for wrongly inferred rules.
- Guided discovery as a default, with a clear rule summary at the end.
Sources (as given)
Haight, Herron & Cole (2007) Foreign Language Annals 40; Thornbury (1999) How to Teach Grammar; Brown (2007).
The research beyond the post (Claude)
- Norris & Ortega (2000) and Spada & Tomita (2010): explicit instruction outperforms implicit on average, but explicit includes guided discovery (rule awareness is the variable, not who states the rule).
- DeKeyser: rule complexity matters. Simple rules suit explicit teaching; complex probabilistic patterns (articles) are learned mostly from input. That partly inverts the post’s articles advice.
Limits
Product tie-in (OUP coursebooks); one study.
Connections
Guided-discovery grammar sequence - meaning, noticing, controlled to free · Grammar teaching options - be eclectic (Thornbury) · Focus on form vs focus on formS