English Consonant and Vowel Perception among First-year Myanmar Students in English Major at Chandrakasem Rajabhat University

Abstract

             This study aimed to 1) examine Myanmar students’ ability to perceive English initial consonants, final consonants, and vowel sounds, and 2) investigate the factors influencing their English speech perception, with particular attention to the role of the first language (L1) sound system. The participants were 30 first-year Myanmar students majoring in English at Chandrakasem Rajabhat University, selected through purposive sampling. The research instruments consisted of a 48-item English speech perception test developed from minimal pairs, as well as a semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The English speech perception test had an average Index of Item–Objective Congruence (IOC) of 0.85. The semi-structured interview had an average IOC of 0.74.

              The findings revealed that Myanmar students demonstrated a high level of ability in perceiving initial consonants (91.1%) and vowel sounds (83.5%), whereas their ability to perceive final consonants was considerably lower, with a mean score of 55.6%, which was below the predetermined criterion of 70%. The most problematic final consonant contrasts were /k/–/g/, followed by /p/–/b/ and /s/–/z/. Moreover, the interview findings showed that the influence of the first language played a significant role in English speech perception. Myanmar students tended to associate English sounds with their first language, resulting in difficulty perceiving and discriminating English phonemes that are absent from the Myanmar sound system.