本研究的目的在探討準備時間（planning time）對以英語為外語的成人學習者在英語口說表現（speaking performance）上的影響。藉由檢視高成就（high achievers）與低成就者（low achievers）的口語表達內容、準備時間對口語表現的影響程度，以及以英語為外語的成人學習者常犯的語言錯誤，希望能夠對英語外語教學領域有所貢獻。
本研究實驗對象為三十位以英語為外語的成人學習者，分別來自國立台灣師範大學第二專長班及英語文訓練中心的公務班，程度分為高、低兩級，參與兩種情境的實驗研究。本研究共設計「有準備時間」與「無準備時間」兩種情境，在每一種情境中各要參與實驗者完成口頭圖片描述（picture description）。為避免受試者在重複測試時記憶圖片內容，造成「練習效應（practice effect）」，本研究採用兩張不同但難度相當的彩色圖片。
實驗結果顯示，高成就者的口語表達總體而言較低成就者更順暢（fluent）、所用語言結構更複雜（complex），且語言精準度更高（accurate）。此外，本研究亦發現準備時間對低成就者的助益較高成就者大。對低成就者而言，準備時間雖然對語言流暢度的影響趨於負面，但就語言結構的複雜度與語言表達的精準度來說，準備時間具正面的影響，甚至達到顯著性差異。但對於高成就者而言，準備時間只有對語言結構的複雜有正面的影響力，其餘則偏負面。最後，本研究也從這三十名以英語為外語的成人學習者口語表達中發現許多不同類型的錯誤，而這些錯誤類型對於英語教師在指導外語學習者口語表達時將有所幫助。

The present study discusses the influence of planning on adult EFL learners’ speaking performance by investigating the characteristics of the high and low achievers’ oral production, the effect of planning on the resultant discourse and the common errors made by the EFL learners, hoping to shed light on EFL teaching.
Two planning settings, planned and unplanned, were administered to thirty adult EFL learners, with two different proficiency levels—high and low. Two different pictures with a similar level of difficulty were adopted in order to avoid the “practice effect.” All the thirty subjects had to carry out the task of picture description in the two settings.
The overall results show that the oral production of the high achieves was different from those of the low achievers. On the whole, the high achievers were able to produce significantly more fluent, more complex and more accurate utterance than the low achievers. In addition, the differences among fluency, complexity and accuracy were significant only for the low proficiency group in the planned condition.
Moreover, planning was more effective for the low achievers than for the high achievers. It was found that the low achievers produced more complex and more accurate utterance in the planned condition than in the unplanned condition, the differences in complexity even reached a significant level. However, planning did not help the low achievers generate more fluent speech. With regard to the high achievers, planning only had a positive effect on complexity, but the effect was not significant. As for fluency and accuracy, the effects were negative.
Finally, it was found that the subjects in the present study produced five types of errors (i.e., split, new, absent, coalesced and correspondence) in their oral production. Other types of errors, such as inter- and intra-lingual errors, were also found. However, these error types were not generalizable due to the small size of the subject pool. Thus, further research is necessary.

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