OICC Press Journal of New Trends in English Language Learning (JNTELL) 2821-2290 4 1 2025 04 23 Explicit vs. Implicit Instruction of Phonotactic Constraints: Enhancing Pronunciation and Sensitivity in Iraqi EFL Learners 10.57647/jntell.2025.0401.02 EN Wurud Ammar Hassan Hassan Department of English, Isf. C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2456-0517 Zargham Ghabanchi English Language Department, Faculty of Letters, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8941-5277 Salih Mahdi Adday Al-Mamoory Department of English Language/College of Education for Human Sciences-University of Babylon, Hilla, Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4171-0159 Journal Article 2025 04 23 This study compared the effect of explicit and implicit teaching on phonotactic difficulties that Iraqi EFL learners experience with regard to both double onset and coda clusters. Borrowing partly from the cognitive load theory, it examined how relative benefits between a rule-based practice structured and contextual, experiential in nature, could help promote learners' phonological development. Through a quasi-experimental design, the study involved 112 Iraqi EFL intermediate-level learners from the University of Baghdad and assigned them to explicit instruction, implicit instruction, and a control group. The data collection was done through pre-tests, post-tests, and delayed post-tests. It also aimed at measuring gains in pronunciation accuracy and phonotactic sensitivity. The results indicate that explicit instruction is far superior to the implicit approach in developing learners' phonological accuracy and phonotactic awareness. Explicitly taught learners demonstrated significant improvement on all measures with sustained gains over time, underlining the effectiveness of structured rule explanation and focused practice. Implicit instruction was only moderately effective, with less dramatic gains, to reveal some limitations for complex L2 phonological structures. These findings align with the broader contemporary SLA research into the critical role of explicit instruction in mitigating L1-L2 interference and supporting adult learners' capacity for rule-based learning. The research contributes to second language acquisition theory by corroborating the centrality of explicit methods in addressing phonotactic problems, particularly for those learners whose native languages are quite distant from the target language. The findings also imply a pedagogical imperative for embedding explicit instruction in EFL curricula and thus have practical implications for teaching, curriculum design, and policy-making.    Correction: https://doi.org/10.57647/jntell.2025.0401.02-correction