Deductive and Inductive Approaches in ESL Grammar Learning

"A different language is a different vision of life." - Federico Fellini

Communication is the heart and soul of the human experience.

Grammar is very important within the English language, since it is, in effect,
the glue that holds the language together. Learning English as a second
language certainly provides students with an array of amazing new
opportunities that would have been otherwise unattainable.
When it comes to learning the challenging English language, one of the
most common problem areas for students is the proper use of grammar. With
so many little details to learn and things to remember, it can be a somewhat
unnatural experience for those just getting started. In fact, English grammar
can be so hard to grasp perfectly for foreigners that even after many years
speaking English common mistakes frequently occur.
In the past grammar, teaching was seen as the fundamental goal in
foreign language classrooms. It was taught to produce correct sententes both
written and orally. It was presented directly in text books so that the learners
obtained the rules of language first. This type of teaching approach is called
deductive teaching which was applied mostly in grammar translation
method.The deductive approach is when the teacher tells or shows directly
what she/he wants to teach. A deductive approach to teaching language
starts by:giving learners rules, then examples, then practice. It is a teachercentred approach to presenting new content.
Advantages and disadvantages of using this type of teaching:

However, grammar teaching approaches have been largely changed

from deductive to inductive, because when pupils are taught in a deductive
approach their attention is directed to grammar the rules rather than
understanding the language. In an inductive teaching, learners are taught
grammar rules as well. However, the aim is allow students to discover the
rules themselves from the provided examples. Nowadays an inductive
teaching approach is more preferred by language teachers as it is more
student-centered. Even though the objective of both approaches is teaching
grammar, they differ in the ways of teaching. Instruction makes use of student
noticing.

Instead of explaining a given concept and following this explanation

with examples, the teacher presents students with many examples showing
how the concept is used. The intent is for students to notice, by way of the
examples, how the concept works.

Advantages and disadvantages of using this type of teaching: