A Comparative Study of the Phonological Systems of English and Burmese: The Implications for Teaching and Learning English Pronunciation

To support second-language learners, a comparative analysis of phonologies will assist in identifying difficulties in pronunciation caused by cross-linguistic influences. Furthermore, pinpointing differences in the features of L1 and L2 phonologies will help teachers devise effective pedagogies to address these challenges. Therefore, with the aim of solving Burmese learners’ difficulties in English pronunciation, this paper compares the phonological systems of English and Burmese languages through a systematic comparative study based on existing empirical literature. To achieve this, a systematic document analysis method for analyzing the selected literature was employed. The findings revealed that the English consonants /v/ /f/ /r/ and /ʒ/ sounds are absent in Burmese, while the English vowels /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ɜː/, /iː/, /uː/, /aː/, /ɔː/, /ɔɪ/, /eə/, /əʊ/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/ are absent in the Burmese vowel system. The differences between Burmese and British English are even greater in terms of stress, syllable structures, and intonation. To improve the pronunciation problems of Burmese EFL learners, the practical implications for teaching and learning English pronunciation are considered in detail in this paper.