The effects of guided inductive, deductive, and garden path instructional approaches and techniques on the learning of grammatical patterns and deviations in the beginning-level foreign language classroom

This study investigated instructional approaches and techniques for teaching 12 linguistic patterns and deviations from these patterns in beginning-level French classrooms. This question was studied by first examining how well FREN 101 students learned linguistic patterns in a guided inductive (GI) versus a deductive condition (D). Secondly, this study investigated whether the Garden Path technique (GP), for teaching deviations from linguistic patterns, coupled with a guided inductive presentation of the linguistic pattern, was more effective in teaching linguistic deviations than an explicit technique (E) for teaching deviations coupled with a deductive presentation of the pattern. The GP technique employed in this study is an instructional technique whereby FREN 101 students were induced, through a practice activity featuring the structure in question, to make an overgeneralization error of the grammatical pattern. This strategy was compared to an explicit strategy (E) whereby students received a teacher explanation of the exception before they overgeneralized the pattern, and therefore avoided making an error.;The effects of these instructional approaches and strategies (GIGP and DE) on the short and long-term learning of 12 linguistic patterns and deviations were measured through an equivalent time samples design featuring grammar pre and post tests and immediate post-treatment quizzes. This study also examined student preferences and opinions concerning the featured grammar instruction.;Findings from this study indicated statistically significant evidence in favor of the GI approach over the D approach concerning the short-term learning of linguistic patterns. Statistical analyses concerning the effectiveness of the GIGP and the DE approaches on the short-term learning of deviations from linguistic patterns indicated no statistically significant differences between the two methods. The results of the analyses comparing the long-term effectiveness of the two instructional approaches for teaching linguistic patterns coupled with the two techniques for teaching deviations, GIGP and DE, on the learning of patterns and deviations were not statistically significant. Although the majority of the FREN 101 students learned linguistic patterns taught with the guided inductive approach, they overwhelming preferred explicit grammar instruction.