UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE SANTO DOMINGO

(UASD)
PRIMADA DE AMÉRICA
Fundada el 28 de octubre del 1538
Facultad de Humanidades
Escuela de Idiomas

Student’s Perceptions about Learning Grammar Inductively and Deductively in a

Private School of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the first period of 2021.

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages Majoring in English

By
Janny Maria
Abel Rosario
Jesus Mercedes

Advisor
Berlina Henriquez

Dominican Republic
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank God [Jehova] for allowing me to get this far in my career and
for helping to achieve my projects and succeed in all of them as well as for giving me
the strength I needed to overcome the difficulties that even though are part of life, I
needed a special push to go through them.

I also want to thank my advisor Berlina Henriquez for the orientation throughout
this process. In addition, a special thanks to my professors from La Escuela de Idiomas,
especially Sabino Morla, Isaias Santana, and Zobeida Sanchez. I enjoyed every second
of your class because you are amazing professors that more than capable, you are
knowledgeable beyond comparison. Thank you for every word, sentence, project, and
expression you correct me; you made me the professional I am today. the pleasure of
being your student

Moreover, I want to thank my family for supporting me and helping me with

anything I needed so I could finally be a professional. A special thanks to my mother
Juana Agustina should be stated here, so, mom I love you and I am beyond grateful for
everything you have taught me, for everything you have given me, and for everything
you have not. Thank you, “Papi Manuel, thank you “Papi Adolfo”, and thank you
“Padre William” for always caring and supporting me. Thank you, “Papi Ramon Emilio”,
and “Papi Cuco” even though you are not here to see me graduate and grow. I know
you would have been the proudest and happiest dads a person could have. Moreover,
“Mami Zeneida”, “Mami Aida”, “Mami Nidia” thank you, you are the best mothers I
could have possibly asked for; I love you. Nuria, Mariel, Anyi, Patricia, Cinthia, Daury,
Nino, and Jeudy I love you all and thank you for being part of my growth and path.

Esther Caceres and Lily Fabian (Bladdy), my two dearest best friends you know I do
not have words to thank you for everything you’ve done and for all the time you have
spent with me, I love you both. Darlin M. Cortico, this project without your help would
have been a nightmare and almost impossible to finish. You stuck around when I really
needed you not only for the project but personally as well and that’s much
appreciated, thank you so, so much.
Janny Maria Sanchez
Abstract
Acknowledgment 2

Chapter I: Introduction 6
Research Problem 7
Delimitation and Context 7
Population 7
Background 7
Purpose of the Study 7
General Question 8
Research Questions 8
Objectives 8
General Objective 9
Specific Objectives 9
Definition of terms 9
Antecedents 9

Chapter II:  Review of the Literature 13

Deductive approach 13
Advantages 14
Disadvantages 14
Inductive approach 14
Advantages 15
Disadvantages 16
Grammar rules and teaching English 16
Teaching Different Age Groups 17
Kindergartners 17
Elementary School Students 17
Juniors 18
Adults 18
Emotion on Morphosyntactic Learning 19
Grammar 20
 English Teaching in Dominican Republic 20
Materials used to teach English 21

Chapter III: Research Methodology 21

Research Design 21
Participants 21
Data Gathering Procedures 21
Instruments and techniques for data collection 21
Limitations of this Study 21

Chapter IV: Presentation of Results 22

Presentation of Results 22
Analysis and Interpretation of the Results 22
Conclusions 22
Recommendations 22
References 22
Appendices 22
 Chapter I: Introduction

Grammar is an essential language skill that both educators and language

students are familiarized with, it was even the main aspect around which the early

teaching methods went. We can notice this by looking briefly at the well-known

Grammar Translation Method (GTM), and the Reading Method. These two

methodologies placed special emphasis on developing the ability to read and translate

classical texts (Greek and Latin), which were already dead languages. It's important to

point out that these traditional methods were deductive-explanation oriented, and

between the mid 19th century and mid 20th century, they had become the most

common way to also teach modern languages (Kelly, L. G., 1969).

It is during World War II when soldiers found themselves in the need of learning the

allies or enemies’ language. That’s when they realized that these two methods were

not efficient when it came to communicating. It’s in these years where grammar turns

itself into a topic of discussion in the teaching community. More specifically, the

debate about whether it should be taught or not in EFL (English as a foreign language)

classes started to gain a great deal of attention. Besides, in schools where it is taught, it

is not very clear which way can be the more effective one when it comes to the

inductive or deductive method. How is it better? How do students grasp it faster and

more accurately? This study aims to explore the different approaches in regards to

grammar teaching, seeking to determine which one can work better for EFL learners.

Research Problem

Grammar is the skill of a language that students dislike the most (Jean &

Simard, 2011), which leads us to look into the following questions: what is the problem
with grammar? Is grammar itself the problem? Or is it the way grammar is taught?

Teachers still teach grammar in the same way they were taught in the eighties,

seventies, and even sixties which makes us see that it is not considered how students

feel more at ease learning grammar or if they even feel comfortable when they are

learning grammar with the western traditional way, deductive (Brown, H.D, 2007).

This study aims to discover what is the perception of students when learning

grammar inductively and deductively so educators take into consideration or are

aware of the needs and perceptions of their students as well as adopting the most

convenient and/or appropriate method for students to learn grammar.

Delimitation and Context

Population

Background

A combination of Inductive and Deductive approaches produces the

best results (Freeman, 1999). The old controversy about whether one should

provide the rule first and then the examples, or vice versa, is now seen to be

merely a matter of tactics to which no categorical answer can be given. On the

other hand, a second research was made; it is based on the basic cognitive

process in children of 4th grade of high school where a significant difference is

identified in the perceptual cognitive process and the analogical process

(Marivi, 2010). The population consists of 217 male students. The instrument

used was the Questionnaire of Honey-Alonso of learning styles (CHAEA) and the

academic performance of students used the consolidated registers of

evaluation of the English area 2009. For the statistical analysis used the SPSS
 15.0, the results indicated a statistically significant association between the

theoretical and pragmatic style to the final annual English average.

Another related research that shares the same interest with our
research is Glayds Jean ( 2013) The study experimented with the inductive and
deductive approaches to grammar instruction with junior high school students
to uncover their preferences and seek possible relationships between their
learning gains, preferences and learning styles. Students were found to have
expressed a preference for the deductive approach but rated both approaches
as equally effective. No relationships were discovered between their gains and
their preferences or learning styles, which revealed that liking or not an
approach had no influence on learning in this case.

Herdoiza (2015) identified through a direct relationship between the

researcher and the educational institution, for which a dialogue was held with
the authorities of the Ambato Experimental College, thus obtaining the
necessary permits to carry out the research, applying a survey and interview.
The objective was to deepen the use of the inductive method to facilitate the
teaching of grammar of the English Language. After carrying out the field work,
the result was the need to design an activity guide applying the inductive
method and thus achieve a high performance of the students, which will be
based on the book of the Ministry of Education of the third level.

Purpose of the Study

As students, one has witnessed how different learners struggle with grammar,

how most of them state that grammar is not easy and that they do not like it. What, as

we see it, is a problem that should be studied and take care of. This situation and

students have served as inspiration for us to study the matter and throw light on the

students’ perceptions about grammar and make the results public so different

teachers/ professors or even students can benefit from the results.

General Question

What are students’ perceptions about grammar teaching methods?

Research Questions

1. What approach do students prefer, deductive or inductive grammar?

2. Which method best fits the students according to the level they are

being taught?

General Objectives

Explore students' perceptions about grammar teaching methods.

Specific Objectives

1. Show what method, inductive or deductive, students prefer.

2. Demonstrate which method best fits students’ current level of english.

Definition of terms

ESL: EFL

Chapter II:  Review of the Literature

Deductive approach

Deductive reasoning is essentially a top-down approach that moves from the

more general to the more specific. In other words, we start with a general notion or

theory, which we then narrow down to specific hypotheses, which are then tested.

(Oxford University Press, 2015).

A deductive approach is more teacher-centered learning where the points of

English grammar are explicitly stated to the students and then tested. Once the

grammar is introduced and explained, students usually complete grammar exercises to

become familiar with the pattern. This is a method that has been commonly used in

English classrooms in the west.

 Advantages

● It gets straight to the point, and can therefore be time-saving.

● It respects the intelligence and maturity of many - especially adult -students
and acknowledges the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition.
● It confirms many students' expectations about classroom learning,
● It allows the teacher to deal with language points as they come up
● Most material can be easily taught this way.
● It encourages faster learning of the material

Disadvantages

● Starting the lesson with a grammar presentation may be off-putting for some
students, especially younger ones.
● Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission-style
classroom;.
● Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as
demonstration.
● Such an approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simply a

case of knowing the rules.

Inductive approach

Inductive reasoning is more of a bottom-up approach, moving from the more

specific to the more general, in which we make specific observations, detect patterns,

formulate hypotheses and draw conclusions.

According to the International Teacher Training Organization (2010), the

inductive teaching approach is such a disclosure discovering that centers around the

students. For instance, a teacher may utilize or show a couple examples of grammar

points in English and afterward ask students what they notice. As a rule, the language

point may be presented by basically captivating the students in a guided discussion to

gradually present it. The educator guides the students to noticing the grammar

pattern, and finally explicitly exposes them to it.

Advantages

● Rules learners discover for themselves are more likely to fit their existing
mental structures than rules they have been presented with.
● The mental effort involved ensures a greater degree of cognitive depth which,
again,
● Ensures greater memorability.
● Students are more actively involved in the learning process, rather than being
simply passive recipients.
● It is an approach which favors pattern-recognition and problem-solving abilities
● If the problem-solving is done collaboratively, and in the target language,
learners get the opportunity for extra language practice.
● Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self-reliance
and is therefore, conducive to learner autonomy.
● Student interaction and participation.
● Students rely on their critical thinking to figure out the language.
● Students gain a deeper understanding of the language.

Disadvantages

● The time and energy spent in working out rules may mislead students into
believing that rules are the objective of language learning, rather than a means.
● The time taken to work out a rule may be at the expense of time spent in
putting the rule to some sort of productive practice.
● Students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their version of the rule may be
either too broad.
● It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a lesson.
● An inductive approach frustrates students who, by dint of their personal

learning style or their past learning experience (or both), would prefer simply to

be told the rule.

Grammar rules and teaching English

Creating confidence among students in language aptitudes is seemingly the

most significant result of our educating procedure. Adhikari (2012) states that from a
pedagogical point of view, communicative grammar ought to be given priority over

other grammars, for it is not just about the principles of a language, yet also about the

standards of language use that considers sociolinguistic and discourse factors. Besides,

it considers grammar as a competence. The term “language principles” alludes to a

body of the center essentials for manipulating and understanding one's language, and

for sure, learning a foreign one and its grammar.

Barbara (2007) states that scholars have set their own mark on the

development of grammatical thought from a century. Philosophers like Aristotle and

Socrates realized the significance of grammar for all types of language expression,

especially public speaking (rhetoric) and debate. Grammar, at that point, is a subset of

those standards which rule the arrangements that morphology and syntax of a

language assume. These standards are a portion of what is “known” automatically by

all native speakers of a language; indeed, they do not exist outside native speakers. A

Roman, Marcus Varro, delivered 25 volumes regarding the matter, translating the

Greek and afterward applying the grammar to Latin.

Teaching Different Age Groups

When instructing distinctive age groups, you'll understand the significance of

having the option to identify with what is happening in your students' universes. You

start to glance back at when you were their age and can't help thinking about what

spoke to you, and on the off chance that it will at present impact them today.

(Saxoncourt, 2020).

Kindergartners
 In order to keep the students active and entertained as well as get the target

language across, teachers will need to be innovative. This age group responds very well

to songs, colorful images and movement. Kindergartens react well to exaggerated

facial expressions, big movements and loud sounds. Keep lessons active while

including the target language in fun ways. Try not to include activities which require a

lot of coordination or ball skills. This age group is still developing those skills and if they

are asked to do something they lack confidence in, the student will shy away and not

want to participate. (Saxoncourt, 2020).

Elementary School Students

These students are now at school in structured classrooms with lessons. The

elementary students are at a stage where they are slowly beginning to think for

themselves and many of them think they already know it all. At this age role-playing is

effective, as the students like to see themselves as tiny adults. Playing games where

they role-play adult occupations is fun and an easy way to include the target language.

The lessons can now also include a competitive aspect as this age group does not shy

away from competing with each other. (Saxoncourt, 2020).

Juniors

The best way to make these lessons for juniors work is to make them relatable.

The first lesson will always be awkward no matter what, as the students are just

getting to know you and their classmates. So, use the first lesson to get to know them.

Do this by doing a quiz, or a questionnaire to find out their favorite movies, music and

things they do in their free time. Once you have this information, you are able to get to

know their world, and they have had a chance to learn about each other, often finding
common interests. Now that you know what their interests are, use them to make

your future lessons more relevant. If the lesson is structured around a topic they

understand or have an interest in, you will more easily keep them engaged. Not only

can you make use of the students’ interests, also make use of popular media channels

they use. For example, set out an activity where they need to make a snap chat video

in English, or write up a good Instagram caption. This will encourage them to use

English in their everyday lives and understand various situations that certain language

is used in. (Saxoncourt, 2020).

Adults

Teachers will need to have a different attitude to this class as they are not

children you need to discipline. Have the classroom environment feel more like a meet

up of friends, a place to learn from each other and help each other out. Try not repeat

words of praise like you would with younger students as this may sound

condescending. Your attitude towards these students must be transparent, open and

honest.

When getting to know them, find similarities between yourself and them. Talk

about music, sport or current affairs around the area which the students may know

about or be able to relate to. (Saxoncourt, 2020).

Emotion on Morphosyntactic Learning

Emotions profoundly affect our decisions and different intellectual cycles,

shading how we see the rest of the world. Language learning is additionally firmly

connected with the basic cognitive processes, for example, perception, categorization,

attention, and memory, making it sensible to expect that feeling may have an impact
on language learning also. As indicated by the Affective Filter Hypothesis, the capacity

to get familiar with a language will be generally constrained by people's emotional

states. As a fundamental type of effect, emotion is a complex mental state which is

described by a specific level of pleasure or displeasure. Students are learning foreign

language abilities in various emotional states consistently. Emotion can offer such a

general setting for language learning and processing that its impact can be pervasive.

Earlier investigations have reliably discovered that facilitate the memorization and

processing of data when its emotional meaning matches the individual's affective

states, which is known as the emotional congruence effect. However, the emotional

congruence effect only rises when people are engaged with retention-based exercises,

for example, vocabulary learning. The research on the impacts of emotions on

morphosyntactic learning or processing has been somewhat restricted and whether

emotions influence morphosyntactic learning is as yet not completely clear. The

investigation just presented here, found that negative emotions facilitated

morphosyntactic learning in foreign language students. Given that perception has

consistently been prioritized over emotion in the researchers of a foreign language, the

current study gives crucial proof of evidence for the inseparability of cognition and

emotion in the learning process. The discoveries additionally have significant

implications for the hypothetical understanding of morphosyntactic learning,

recommending that there may be deductive parts of morphosyntactic learning.

Hopefully, future research in this area will expand our knowledge of the relation

between emotion and foreign language learning.

Grammar

Grammar has a great deal of importance in any language, therefore, it’s important to

understand what the concept refers to. When defining grammar, we will come across

different ways of establishing what it exactly is, but we will go over some of the ways

in which grammar is defined. In general, grammar is concerned with the relations

between words in sentences. Classes of words, or parts of speech, as they are often

called, are distinguished because they occupy different places in sentence structure

(Britannica, 2020). Another common definition for grammar is as the rules of a

language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their

combination and interpretation (Richards, 2020). We can point out that grammar is

often used to tell apart “good language” from bad language, but for linguists, grammar

is simply the collection of principles defining how to put together a sentence (Chung,

Pullum,1982). However, as Diane Larse-Freeman, said in her thesis “Teaching

Grammar”, Grammar is a set of patterns and reason. To say that grammar is a set of

rules implicates that it is not allowed to change, but language itself is not something

static, it changes - not only that, language is in constant change. Stating things should

be understood why grammar should be considered a set of reason and “patterns”

instead of a group of laws to follow.

English Teaching in Dominican Republic

Even though students take English classes for six (6) or eight (8) years, they do not

learn it (Garcia & Minaya, 2018). This situation seems to be due to the lack of interest

students have to learn a second language and how teachers that have not actually
graduated in this area of education and of course are not prepared to teach English are

the ones who guide these students through the process of learning English.

Chapter III: Research Methodology

Research Design

Qualitative Research was the type of research design or method used to conduct

this investigation. Qualitative Research is an approach that seeks to understand and

explore the meaning that humans give to a social problem. This approach is
characterized by open ended questions, the interviews conducted in the participants

setting or environment instead of laboratory as other methods, and the data being

interpreted by researchers. This approach is used for those who support inductive

analysis of problems, focus on individual meaning, as well as for those who are

interested in showing how complex a situation may be.

Participants

Dominican university students ranging from 19 to 30 years of age, studying in

an English immersion program.

Data Gathering Procedures

Instruments and techniques for data collection

Limitations of this Study

 Chapter IV: Presentation of Results

Presentation of Results

Analysis and Interpretation of the Results

Conclusions

Recommendations

References

Appendices

1. Have you ever taken English Classes besides the one from school? If you have,

why did you start the classes? if you have not, Why?

2. How interested in learning English are you?

3. Do you like English grammar? Why or Why not?

4. What do you think about grammar?

5. Do you think grammar is necessary to learn English? Why or why not?

6. Do you think the grammar rules you have learned have helped you to

communicate better in English? Why or why not?

7. What do you prefer, to be taught grammar or to discover grammar by yourself

with examples and why?