ABSTRACT

THE DEDUCTIVE VS INDUCTIVE APPROACHES: HOW IT BOOSTS EFL LEARNERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE AT SMA NEGERI 11 PALEMBANG
SALSABILLAH NURHALIZA
2021710014

English tenses are important for effective communication, yet many EFL learners struggle to use English tenses correctly. This research investigated the effectiveness of deductive and inductive approaches in boosting EFL learners’ understanding of simple present tense at SMA Negeri 11 Palembang. A quantitative method was employed, using a pretest and posttest to measure the improvement in students’ understanding of tense after being taught through each approach. The sample consisted of eleventh-grade students divided into two groups: one taught using a deductive approach consisted of 35 students, where rules were explained directly, and another using an inductive approach consisted of 37 students, where students were guided to discover grammatical rules from examples. The study was conducted over twelve meetings consisting of pretest, ten treatments, and posttest. The main instrument was a multiple-choice test question. The data were analyzed using paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test to compare learning outcomes within and between the two groups. The paired sample t-test results showed that both groups experienced significant improvement. The deductive group had a t-value of -8.991 (df = 34, p < 0.001), while the inductive group had a t-value of -7.698 (df = 36, p < 0.001). The Independent Sample t-test comparing the posttest scores between the two groups showed a t-value of 2.262 (df = 70, p = 0.027), with a mean difference of 4.0849. The mean score of the experimental and control groups were 85.57 and 81.48. This indicated that deductive approach more effectiveness in teaching simple present tense. The findings suggested that both methods are effective for improving students’ understanding of simple present tense, but the degree of improvement might be vary based on the method used and student learning preferences.

Keywords: Deductive Approach, Inductive Approach, Simple Present Tense, EFL Learners, Quantitative Methods, Grammar Instruction