| The aim of this study was to investigate the production and perception of English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] by Indonesian English Learners (IELs). In English, the vowels [i, ?] and [u, ?] are distinctive categories and they distinguish meanings; however, in Indonesian, the vowels [i, ?] and [u, ?] are used interchangeably (Dardjowidjojo, 2009). According to Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) by Lado (1957, as cited by Zampini, 2008), L2 sounds which are similar to the L1 sounds will be easy to acquire by L2 learners; but, those which are different from the L1 sounds will be hard to acquire. If so, IELs will have no problems in producing the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] because those vowels are also produced in Indonesian. However, according to Speech Learning Model (SLM) by Flege (1995), L2 learners are able to master the L2 sounds which differ from the L1 sounds; but, they will never be able to produce the L2 sounds which have some similarities to the L1 sounds. This means that, it will be hard for IELs to be able to produce the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] accurately since, in Indonesian, they are in free variation; so IELs produce those English vowels in the same manner as producing the Indonesian vowels According to Flege (1995, 1987), perception can influence production. If the L2 sounds perception is accurate, the L2 sounds production is also accurate, and vice versa. Thus, when IELs can produce the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] accurately, they can also discern those four vowels accurately. On the other hand, when IELs fail in producing the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] accurately, they are also unsuccessful in perceiving those vowels accurately. In order to get the results of this investigation, the writer conducted two kinds of tests. The first test was a production test adapted from Flege’s study (1987); and, the second test was a perception test adapted from Markovic’s study (2009). The findings of the production test show that, as predicted by SLM, IELs could not produce the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] accurately from the early on. In contrast, the findings of the perception test show that they were able to perceive the vowels [i, ?, u, ?] accurately. This indicates that the IELs’ failure in producing the English vowels [i, ?, u, ?] was not influenced by their perception of those vowels. |