Teaching International

English in Myanmar

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 What is international English?

What kind of English can we find in Myanmar?

How does it affect what we teach?

Practical ideas for the classroom.

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Beginning Thoughts

1. Who were the last five people you spoke to or listened to

speaking English? What country were they from? Tell the
person next to you.

2. How many people speak English as a second or foreign

language?
a. 250 million people
b. 500 million people
c. over a billion people

(Pennycook, 2012)

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 3. Around the world, are most conversations in
English between non-native speakers or between
native speakers?
What is the percentage of each kind of conversation that
takes place around the world? 50%-50%? 75% 25%

non-native speaker native speaker

non-native speaker
native speaker

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 90

10
x y
non-native speaker native speaker
non-native speaker
native speaker

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Defining some of the terms

International English = English as a lingua franca

World Englishes e.g. Indian English, Singapore

English

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Defining some of the terms

International English / English as a lingua franca

English used to communicate between speakers of different
nationalities; between both native and non native speakers.

World Englishes e.g. Indian English, Singapore English

local varieties with its own lexis, grammar and
pronunciation; they have dictionaries and grammar books.

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 Outer circle:
3 circles model Colonial past; English
was used as official
language and language
of administration.
There is a local variety
e.g. Indian English,
Singapore English with its
own features. There are
dictionaries and grammar
books.
Different groups within
the country use English to
communicate to each
Kachru (1985)
other.
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3 circles model Expanding circle:
No strong historical links
with the inner circle
English is not used
between different groups
within the country.
Instead, English is used
as a lingua franca to
communicate
internationally.

Kachru (1985)
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Why is Myanmar distinctive?

In this model, Myanmar is unusual and difficult to

categorise.

But it probably belongs in the expanding circle because:

There was historical isolation
Burmese was the only language used in schools (after
1962)
English doesnt play a role of intra-community
language; Burmese does this instead.

Kirkpatrick (2007)

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 What does that mean for English learners
here?
As an expanding circle country, perhaps Myanmar
learners want to speak like speakers from inner circle;
countries such as UK and USA.

I want to speak British or American

English

Is this true for you and your students?

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But what about international English?

Remember, most English speakers are non-native

speakers.
and, remember, most conversations are between
non-native English speakers.
Since 2009, English has been the official language
of ASEAN countries so conversations between
people from ASEAN will increase.
Increasing role of English as a lingua franca globally
and also in ASEAN and China, Japan and Korea.
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What should we teach our students

We must help them to communicate with

native speakers and non-native speakers.

Learners dont need to speak British English

and aim for native speaker norms or rules.

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Pronunciation

The biggest problem that stops people understanding

when they speak English internationally is
pronunciation. (Jenkins, 2000)
So, pronunciation is very important if you want people
to understand you in international settings.
There is a core of very important pronunciation
features that speakers need to master.

Say this sentence to your partner:

There are over 1 billion people that speak
English around the world. Is this something
surprising?

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 There are over 1 billion people that speak
English around the world. Is this something
surprising?

You might have said these two th sounds (// and //)
differently.

Do our students need to master these sounds to

communicate internationally?

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 there are speak English
Connected speech
final consonant world - worl speak - spe...., football match -
sounds mat
Weak forms speak to your friend - around the world
Almost all
consonants e.g. Book, dad, feel, go, size,
Nature of vowels
(short or long) fit - feet, full - fool
th sounds The, this // and thin, thing //
PEOPLE that SPEAK ENGLISH around the
Sentence stress WORLD
There are over 1 billion people (pause) that
Pausing between speak English (pause) around the world.
chunks in a (pause) Is this something surprising?
sentence www.britishcouncil.org 16
 What pronunciation features are core?
Very important Not important

final consonant
Connected speech sounds
Weak forms (e.g. to, for)
Almost all consonants
Sentence stress
Nature of vowels (short or long)
Pausing between th sounds
chunks in a sentence 17
What features are core
Very important Not important

Almost all consonants Nature of vowels

(short or long)

Sentence stress Connected speech

Pausing between chunks Weak forms (to) (for)

in a sentence
th sounds
final consonant sounds
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What practice can we give our students?

Use more non native models

Youtube

News Indian, Singapore, Japan, Korea etc

British Council Premier Skills

Coursebooks often have some non native models

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Using non native speaker models

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British Council Premier Skills interviews

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 minimal pairs receptive (1)
Stand up. Listen to the word. Move to the right or
the left.

beat beach

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 minimal pairs receptive

sit seat

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 minimal pairs receptive

pull pool

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 minimal pairs receptive

crash crass

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 minimal pairs receptive

fee feet

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 minimal pairs receptive

van fan

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 minimal pairs productive (1)

beat beach
sit seat
pull pool
crash crass
van fan
feel veal
lay lake
match mash
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Productive (2)

Now, we are going to practise these sounds

in sentences.

I will give you a set of sentences.

Get ready to shout these sentences!

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Receptive (3)

Read the following text about English as a Lingua Franca

pronunciation.
The following features of pronunciation are common for
English as a Lingua Franca speakers in ASEAN.
Firstly, the sounds th // and th // are not so important.
Sometimes, native speakers also pronounce these as /t/ and
/d/. So do speakers from the Phillipines, Myanmar,
Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The consonant sounds /f/ and /p/ are not distinguished in
Malay and other languages. Sometimes peope from Vietnam
say fractical, not practical. People from Laos say grouf for
group and people from the Phillipines say fersonal for
personal. (adapted from Kirkpatrick, 2007)
Identify all the /z/ sounds in the text. (12 in total)

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 The following features of pronunciation are common
for English as a Lingua Franca speakers in ASEAN.
Firstly, the sounds th // and th // are not so
important. Sometimes, native speakers also
pronounce these as /t/ and /d/. So do speakers from
the Phillipines, Myanmar, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia
and Vietnam.
The consonant sounds /f/ and /p/ are not
distinguished in Malay and other languages.
Sometimes peope from Vietnam say fractical, not
practical. People from Laos say grouf for group and
people from the Phillipines say fersonal for personal.

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 The following features of pronunciation are common
for English as a Lingua Franca speakers in ASEAN.
Firstly, the sounds th // and th // are not so
important. Sometimes, native speakers also
pronounce these as /t/ and /d/. So do speakers from
the Phillipines, Myanmar, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia
and Vietnam.
The consonant sounds /f/ and /p/ are not
distinguished in Malay and other languages. For
example, sometimes people from Vietnam say
fractical, not practical. People from Laos say grouf
for group and people from the Phillipines say
fersonal for personal.

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Some principles

Aim for intelligibility (being understood) not native

speaker correctness

Use models from a range of backgrounds

Include non native models

Provide productive and receptive practice of those

pronunciation features which are very important.

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References

Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Kachru, B. B. (1985) Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the
outer circle. In R. Quirk and H.G. Widdowson (Eds), English in the world: Teaching and learning the
language and literatures (pp. 11-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kirkpatrick, Andy (2007) World Englishes. Implications for International Communication and English
Language Teaching, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Pennycook, A., 2012. Lingua Francas as Language Ideologies. In: A. Kirkpatrick & R. Sussex, eds.
English as an International Language in Asia: Implications for Language Education. Heidelberg:
Springer, pp. 137-154.

https://elfpron.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/helping-learners-understand-different-accents/

http://dialectsarchive.com/philippines-1

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 https://padlet.com/robertsharples20/MyanmarEnglish

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