Deduction Challenges

About This Activity Type

Overview

Most of these activities are highly suitable for English language beginners and near-beginners, as most can be successfully enjoyed after learning 20 or fewer vocabulary words. However, a few of the activities listed below, such as the Country Clues Deduction Challenge, are ideal for learners who are close to an intermediate level.

In each activity, one or more askers try to determine which option in front of them matches the secret card drawn randomly from a deck by an activity partner, the answerer. By restricting the answerer’s responses to yes/no answers, askers benefit from hundreds of repetitions of practice forming questions using one or more sentence patterns during each practice session.

Methodological Basis

Deduction Challenges are an excellent example of information-gap activities, which serve as communication practice exercises in both Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). These challenges provide language learners with repeated practice of important sentence patterns and topic-specific vocabulary. Since successful completion of the Deduction Challenge tasks listed below relies on accurately communicating information, they offer students an excellent opportunity to self-assess their communication accuracy and make necessary adjustments.

Activity Versions

There are four different types of Deduction Challenges that can be implemented for most sets of materials.

Pair Practice (Speaking)
Two partners can work together, taking turns being the asker and the answerer. For each round, the answerer draws a card from the secret card deck, while the asker crosses off possibilities on a deduction panel or deduction table.
Pair Practice (Writing)
Instead of communicating verbally, the partner with the secret card must write a detailed description of the content on the card. Upon receiving their written description, the other partner must try to determine which possibility on their deduction panel is the best match. To ensure efficient use of time, both partners can each write descriptions about a different secret card simultaneously and then exchange their written descriptions when they are ready.
Group Match Finding
A group of learners (preferably 16 or more participants) each draw a card from a deck that contains exactly two copies of each card. When the round begins, each participant must find the person who has the matching card. This can be done as a competition with the first two participants to find their match being the winners. Alternatively, each round can continue until all participants have found their match.
Competitive Team Play
For activities with more than 60 total cards across all available card sets, competitive team Deduction Challenges can be conducted. Each team receives a combination of several card sets, forming a single super deck. Teams designate one team-member as their answerer, who draws a card from a separate secret card super deck. The answerer can view the secret card and respond with yes or no to their teammate’s questions, but cannot show the card to anyone else. Once the round begins, each team competes to be the first to identify which of their 60 or more cards matches the secret card held by their designated answerer.