Effective Methods for Teaching English Grammar to University EFL Learners in Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study of Inductive and Deductive Approaches

This study is a comparative investigation of the impact of inductive and deductive teaching approaches. The aim of this study is to investigate which approach to teaching grammar was more effective for helping Saudi Arabian EFL undergraduate students acquire grammatical proficiency in English. A second objective was to shed light on the students’ preferences between the two approaches. The study is significant as the findings of this research can contribute to improved student outcomes by suggesting the best teaching strategy for Saudi students to learn English grammar. The author seeks to address the following question: Do inductive and deductive teaching approaches have similar effects on Saudi university-level EFL students’ learning of English grammar? A quantitative research design was employed with a sample of 42 undergraduate EFL university students, who were divided into an inductive group and a deductive group. Their knowledge of English grammar was assessed with pre- post-treatment tests, followed by administration of a Likert scale questionnaire eliciting the students’ perceptions of these approaches. The results indicated a statistically significant difference (p = 0.0025) favoring the inductive group. This outcome suggests that the positive impact of the inductive approach exceeded that of the deductive approach. The students’ preference results revealed that they slightly preferred the inductive approach, but the difference between groups was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that university students should learn grammar inductively. Additionally, teachers and researchers should be encouraged to incorporate an inductive teaching approach in their curricula and studies to enhance learning outcomes.