本研究採用語音學實證研究方式，探討中文學習者在不同習得年齡對英文母音之感知與發音表現，並分析中英兩個語言共同的母音、母音空間面積、區辨與發音能力間的關聯性等影響表現的可能因素。研究對象共分為四組，小學生依英文習得年齡分為早期學習組與晚期學習組，成人依其母語分為英文母語組及中文母語組，每組皆為15人。實驗方法為中英文區辨能力測驗及中英文發音能力測驗，早期及晚期學習組完整參與四個測驗，成人只參與其母語之區辨及發音能力測驗。
研究發現，早期學習者在區辨英文母音的能力上優於晚期學習者，但兩個語言共同的母音並非影響或促進他們區辨能力的關鍵因素。早期與晚期學習者表現上的差異也呈現在英文母音的發音測驗中，晚期學習者呈現與英文母人士不同的母音空間面積，且在發音上受到母語的影響。然而，縱然早期與晚期學習者擁有不同的英文母音表現，他們的區辨能力與發音能力間都存在正相關，換言之，發音能力皆奠基在辨識能力之上。綜合以上實驗結果，英文習得年齡是影響中文學習者英文習得能力及是否接近母語人士表現的重要因素。

The present study aims to investigate the perception and production of English vowels by Chinese learners of English at different ages of acquisition from an acoustic perspective. Factors regarding English vowel performances, which were vowel familiarity, vowel space area (VSA), relation between perception and production, were examined. A total of 30 Chinese elementary children, including 15 early learners and 15 late learners, were recruited to compare their performances to the English and Chinese native adults, each of which consisted of 15 participants. The learner groups took part in four tasks (i.e., English and Chinese vowel perception and production tasks), and the adult groups were asked to complete only their native language tasks.
The results of this research indicated that the early learners outperformed the late learners on the English vowel perception task, but vowel familiarity was not a decisive factor. Regarding the participants’ English production, the differences between the early and late learners were also investigated. It was found that the late learners demonstrated a distinct VSA from the English natives, and they transferred L1 features to their English production. However, despite the different performances between two learner groups, both of them displayed a positive relationship between perception and production. To sum up, age of acquisition was verified to be an influential factor affecting the participants’ more native-like performances.

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