Discovery Adventure

It’s up to a teacher to decide how to present new material: to give the rule to learners or to make learners discover this rule by themselves. Technically, the result will be the same: learners know the rule. In fact there is an enormous gap between being told about something and discover something by yourself.

As an EAL instructor I prefer inductive approach in teaching grammar. First of all, it is much more engaging and motivating for learners. Inductive grammar lesson assures adult learners that their teacher trusts them and is quite confident with their language skills. To some degree they do not want to let their teacher down, and that is why learners do their best to figure out how everything works. A good Chinese proverb states: Tell me, I’ll forget. Show me, I’ll remember. Involve me, I’ll understand. Inductive grammar lessons are all about involving, thus about understanding.

Secondly, inductive grammar lessons hold endless creativity opportunities for the instructor: realia in the classroom, field trips, stories from personal experience, etc. Therefore, grammar lessons are fun and might contribute to the flow in the classroom. 

At the same time, I am aware of disadvantages of ‘discovery’ approach (it can be too time-consuming; learners may not get some ideas or misconceive them). In these cases, I prefer to resort to Plan B (deductive grammar teaching). For example, I can explain one aspect of the rule deductively, and then get back to discovery adventures again.