To teach a concept, teachers usually give examples of that concept. This practice is called Induction. But Induction contradicts the conjectures of variation theory, which is a theory of learning becoming popular in the study of classroom instruction. According to this theory, teachers should give examples of what the concept is and what it is not. This is called Contrast. The intervention study reported in this paper aimed at elucidating this theory and put it to the test in the context of teaching Chinese characters.
The study adopted a large scale pre- and post-test experimental design with three instructional conditions: Induction, Contrast and Control (random pairing). A total of 375 children from 5 kindergartens were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions.
The results were as follows: (1) the children in all the three conditions showed significant improvements between the pre- and post-tests. (2) Contrast was found to be most effective, followed by Control and the worst was Induction.
The results have important implications for the everyday practices of teachers in teaching a wide range of subject areas beyond language teaching.
These results give evidence to the conclusion that the more variation is available in the instruction, the better will be the learning outcomes.
