Inductive Approach and Deductive Approach in TESOL & Teacher's Role
A language is about grammar & syntax, pronunciation and vocabulary. Teaching a language means helping a novice to better understand these basics along with their usage in the language. Teaching revolves round some effective theoretical approaches to promote this comprehension among the learners.
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) instructors too rely on two principal theoretical approaches - Inductive and deductive Approach. These sums up to instructing the non-speakers of English language, enabling them to pick up the language basics in conjunction with their functioning and attain a mastery over the language.
Of the inductive approach and deductive approach in TESOL , the more traditional approach is the deductive approach while the inductive approach is a recently emerging concept. Inductive and deductive approach is something like pitting a systematical manner of teaching against an experimental pattern of teaching.
Let us understand the traditional method first. Deductive approach in TESOL advocates a prior exposure of the students to language fundamentals in a very systematic and logical method. Thus, a TESOL guide introduces the students to grammatical rules and structures in English by means of multiple media - textbooks, class-notes, lectures and via other possible means.
Thereafter, the teacher initiates the students into the usage/practice of the presented rules through controlled activities. This speeds up the learning process and finally the student is allowed to engage in wide-ranging activities, bringing in other English language elements.
The deductive approach in TESOL is very conventional and is essentially a step-by-step process - a process adopted in every field of teaching. A classic example will be training a dancer; first, the dancer is taught the steps, then comes the gestures and actions with music and finally the full performance. A music lesson, likewise, requires a teacher to guide the learners with fingering first, then with the notes, followed by small pieces and finally complete compositions.
A deductive approach based TESOL session is highly effective because it helps a learner arrive at the language through the rule . It gives a student a comprehensive sense and understanding of the English language. It also presents ample opportunities for TESOL instructors to plan the lessons properly, to rightly predict the problems students might face in the teaching session and prepare self with clarifications.
The Inductive approach in TESOL, on the other hand, is an experimental approach - an approach that lies at the opposite end of the spectrum. It is an approach, whereby the language rule is deduced/inferred by means of a controlled discovery. The teacher provides the students with the means to discover the rule - presenting the fundamentals as language examples rather than grammatical structures and rules. It is left to the students to understand the usage of the grammatical structure in the context of the language paradigms presented and thereby arrive at the rule.
The role of an ESOL/EFL guide in inductive approach is to create an understanding of the use of a grammatical structure with the help of apposite examples - examples that best demonstrate the rule. The students uncover the rule via continued practice of the structures presented through examples.
Talking of inductive and deductive approach in TESOL , we can say that while the former is a two-way method, the latter is essentially a teacher-centered curriculum. In evaluating inductive approach and deductive approach in TESOL , traditionalists have usually spoken favorably of the deductive approach citing its timesaving aspect as a major benefit, allowing for more practicing hours for language lessons. Of late, however, the deductive approach has been criticized as tiring and boring as against the inductive approach, which allows learners to explore.
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