Examining the Challenges of Teaching Grammar Implicitly Among Iraqi EFL Learners: According to Teachers’ Perceptions

The current study aims to discuss the problems faced by teachers in teaching EFL grammar implicitly with Iraqi EFL learners from teachers' point of view. Although the explicit teaching of grammar has been reduced in communicative language teaching, the way of implementing the implicit teaching of grammar in EFL is still limited. In the Iraqi context, explicit rule-based teaching of grammar is still dominating, and this gap between theory and practice needs to be addressed. The method used in this study is quantitative descriptive. A structured questionnaire was used, which comprised quantitative items with Likert-scale and qualitative items with open-ended questions to collect data from 36 EFL teachers in Iraq. The results show that teachers' attitudes overall are positive in relation to implicit grammar teaching, especially about fluency and natural language use and student involvement. A clear gap was identified between the beliefs of teachers and what they are doing in their classrooms, however. The difficulties that were found were as follows: insufficient instructional time, large classes, an examination-based system, students' desire for explicit teaching, and insufficient professional training. These make it difficult to implement implicit grammar teaching and promote traditional methods. The study concludes that the improvement of grammar instruction in Iraqi EFL classrooms demands consideration of both pedagogical and contextual barriers, which could be solved by developing teachers' training, designing and adapting suitable and effective curriculum, and reforming assessment systems.