Enhancing the Grammatical Competence of Middle-School EFL Low-Achievers Through a Progressive English Syntax Teaching Program

Robust studies have employed inductive and deductive methods to teach grammar to second-language learners in various contexts (e.g., Benitez-Correa et al., 2019; Seliger, 1975; VanPatten & Oikkeno, 1996). However, few have investigated the effectiveness of grammar teaching methods designed for low-achieving learners in the context of learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The current study therefore developed a grammar sentence pattern remedial program (i.e., the Progressive English Syntax Teaching [P-BEST] program) to enhance the grammar proficiency of middle-school EFL low-achievers. A pretest–posttest equal-group experimental design was adopted for this study, which was conducted over a period of 2 years (four semesters). Ninety students who failed their Diagnostic and Certification English Competence subtests were enrolled in this study. The P-BEST program was implemented for 35 students, who formed the experimental group, and traditional instruction was implemented for the other 55 students, who formed the control group. The results reveal that the P-BEST intervention significantly improved the grammar scores of the students in the experimental group, resulting in the experimental group students significantly outscoring the control group on grammar tests after the intervention. These results provide evidence that an inductive or implicit-instruction method can effectively improve the grammar proficiency of low-achieving EFL learners. With an improved understanding of the proficiencies of learners and their learning environments, the grammar teaching strategies used in the P-BEST program can be applied to other EFL contexts.