Now I Know My AБВ’s: A Comparison of Inductive and Deductive Methods of Teaching on the Acquisition of the Cyrillic Alphabet

Authors

Jennifer Bown
Thomas Bown
Courtenay Christiansen
Shalise Dudley
Shea Gibbons
Janine Green

Keywords

teaching methods, Russian alphabet, study, language

Abstract

The study was designed to compare the effects of inductive verse deductive teaching methods on acquisition of the Russian alphabet. Inductive instruction refers to methods in which learners are first exposed to examples and then asked to extrapolate a rule from the example, whereas deductive instruction refers to methods in which learners are presented with a rule from the start. Eighty participants were randomly divided into two instructional groups, one receiving deductive instruction and the other receiving inductive instruction. Participants were given a pretest on Russian words and given instruction on the Cyrillic alphabet based on an inductive or a deductive lesson plan. A post-test was then administered. The results indicated the inductive group performed significantly higher than those in the deductive group on Cyrillic alphabet acquisition. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Recommended Citation

Bown, Jennifer; Bown, Thomas; Christiansen, Courtenay; Dudley, Shalise; Gibbons, Shea; and Green, Janine (2007) "Now I Know My AБВ’s: A Comparison of Inductive and Deductive Methods of Teaching on the Acquisition of the Cyrillic Alphabet," Russian Language Journal: Vol. 57: Iss. 1, Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70163/0036-0252.1221
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol57/iss1/6