Effects of deductive and explicit‐inductive instruction on tertiary‐level Chinese learners’ use of English subjunctive as a pragmatic mitigator

• Published in: International journal of applied linguistics 2024-02, Vol.34 (1), p.333-347
• Main Authors: Chen, Xinren, Xia, Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chinese languages; Chinese learners; deductive/inductive instruction; English as a second language instruction; English as a second language teaching methods; English subjunctive; explicit‐inductive instruction; Grammar instruction; implicit/explicit instruction; Learning outcomes; Logic; mitigator; Pragmatics; Subjunctive; 隐性/显性教学; 演绎/归纳教学; 显性归纳教学; 英语虚拟语气; 语用缓和语; 中国学习者
• ISSN: 0802-6106; 1473-4192
• DOI: 10.1111/ijal.12496

This quasi‐experimental study investigates the immediate and long‐term effects of deductive instruction and explicit‐inductive instruction to L2 learners on the use of the English subjunctive as a pragmatic mitigator. Two intact classes of tertiary‐level Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, labeled as the deductive group and the explicit‐inductive group, respectively, received two 45‐min sessions of pragmatic intervention, whereas a third intact class serving as the control group was given grammatical instruction. The immediate post‐test and delayed post‐test administered to the three groups shows that the deductive group had an immediate edge but not a long‐term one over the explicit‐inductive group, in terms of appropriateness and linguistic accuracy; however, the gain of the explicit‐inductive group was better retained than in the deductive group. This study contributes to the expansion of instructional targets within the field of L2 pragmatics. It also highlights the relative advantage of deductive and explicit‐inductive instruction methods. 摘要 这项准实验研究探讨了演绎教学和显性归纳教学对中国大学生英语虚拟语气语用缓和功能习得的即时效果和延时效果。研究选取两个由英语作为二语的大学生学习者组成的教学自然班, 分别作为演绎组和显性归纳组, 分别进行了两个45分钟的语用干预, 而作为对照组的第三个班级则接受了单纯的语法教学。对三个组别进行的即时后测和延迟后测显示, 演绎组在适切性和准确性方面在即时效果上略胜于显性归纳组, 然而, 显性归纳组的语用习得效果比演绎组具有更好的持久性。这项研究有助于扩展二语语用学领域的教学对象, 也突显了演绎和显性归纳教学方法的相对优势。