Teaching

International
English in Myanmar

1
 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.

2
Defining some of the terms
International English

English as a lingua franca

World Englishes e.g. Indian English,

Singapore English

\ 3
Defining some of the terms
International English English used to communicate
between speakers of different nationalities; between both
native and non native speakers. A variety?

English as a lingua franca English used between

speakers of different L1s. A function.

World Englishes e.g. Indian English, Singapore English

local varieties with its own lexis, grammar and
pronunciation; has dictionaries and grammar books

4
3 circles model
Outer circle:
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
Kachru (1985) the country use English to
communicate.
5
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)

6
Why is Myanmar
distinctive?
Myanmar is unusual and difficult to categorise.

But it probably belongs in the expanding circle

because:
Isolation under Ne Win from 1962.
Burmese was exclusively used as a medium of
instruction (after 1962)
English doesnt play a role of intra-community
language; Burmese does this instead.

Kirkpatrick (2007)

7
 What does that mean for
English learners here?
As an expanding circle country, Myanmar
learners want to speak like speakers from inner
circle; countries such as UK and USA.
A local variety of Myanmar English doesnt
exist.yet.
Lower English proficiency for a post colonial
country.

Learners dont need to aim for native speaker

model.
Increasing role of English as a lingua franca 8
 Implications for teaching

n e s s Lex
o l i te gra is an
P la s , mm d
r m u
fo n g s , ar
e e t i ,
gr e n t s
pl i m
c om s s
re
add a ti o n
Pronu n ci

Examples of particularly Myanmar

features?
9
 Go and look at the ideas from another
group.

Do you think these features are

acceptable in a international context;
would they be confusing?

10
What can we do in class?
Lexis and Grammar
Allow some local variations
Dont focus on native speaker idiomatic
language.
Aim for intelligibility

11
Pronunciation
By far the greatest source of
misunderstandings when English is used
internationally is pronunciation. (Jenkins,
2000)
There is a core of very important
pronunciation features that affect
intelligibility.

12
 What features are core
Very important Not important

Connected speech
Weak forms (e.g. to, for) Almost all consonants
Nature of vowels (short or long) Sentence stress
Pausing between
th sounds
chunks in a sentence
13
What features are core Nature of vowels
Almost all (short or long)
Very important Not important
consonants
Connected
speech
Sentence stress
Weak forms (to)
(for)

Pausing between
chunks in a th sounds
sentence
14
What pronunciation
models can we provide?
Use more non native models

Use TED Talks

Youtube

News Indian, Singapore, Japan, Korea etc

Coursebooks often have some non native models

15
Using non native speaker
models

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17
 What to do
Meaning focused task with it?

Noticing features for this speaker.

Analysing pronunciation features.

Predicting how other phrases will sound

Reflection and discussion

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

18
Reflection stage
What can we get our students to
reflect on after watching this video?

19
Reflection stage
What can we get our students to
reflect on after watching this video?
- Importance of listening to different speakers of
English.

- Validity of different kinds of pronunciation.

- Importance of getting plenty of practice

- Encourage them to listen to a range of

accents. 20
Some principles
Aim for intelligibility not
correctness

Use models from a range of

backgrounds

Include non native models

Be sensitive when choosing

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www.britishcouncil.org 22
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
https://elfpron.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/helping-
learners-understand-different-accents/
http://dialectsarchive.com/philippines-1
23
 Were demonstrating that hes
intelligible but uses a slightly different
set of sounds.
This is an activity that we can do with
our students
It is giving the students practice
listening to a range of different speaker
types.
Its a more realistic model than native
speaker only. www.britishcouncil.org 24