Abstract

This paper is to investigate the relationship between the employment of cohesive devices in English speech and the quality of speech. The quality of speech is measured remarks given by judges; and cohesive devices in speech are counted and analyzed from following aspects such as grammatical cohesive devices and lexical cohesive devices. Objects of study are chosen from five texts of impromptu speech of CCTV English Speaking Contest and five of the 21st Century English Speaking Contest. The research approach is based on quantitative paradigm. Study with the distribution of cohesive devices in these ten examples shows that the employment of cohesive devices has relationship with the quality of transcripts.

Key Words: cohesive device, quantitative analysis, Chinese college students, impromptu speech

摘要

本文旨在探究英语演讲中衔接手段的运用和演讲稿质量的关系。其中演讲稿的质量由评委评分来量化。衔接手段主要分为语法衔接和词汇衔接两类，本文也主要从以上两个方面进行分析。研究材料选择自CCTV英语演讲和21世纪英语演讲中的即兴演讲文本记录材料，研究方法则是定量分析法。本文通过分析，将得出英语衔接手段运用和英语即兴演讲质量之间的关系。

关键词：衔接手段，定量分析，中国大学生，即兴演讲

Introduction
 Among the four basic skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking, without any doubt, is of great significance in terms of communication. In Nanjing Normal University, students are encouraged to participate in English speaking contest like The CCTV Cup and The 21st Century English Speaking Contest, which usually provide students abundant opportunities to practice English speaking skills on the national stage.
    Generally speaking, an English speaking contest can be divided into three parts: prepared speech, impromptu speech and Q&A. In prepared speech, speakers are required to write their script on a given topic before delivering their speech, which allows speakers to have splendid time to practice and rehearse. While in the section of impromptu speech, it will be very different from the prepared speech. The fact is that students have to deliver their speech without given time to prepare, practice and polish. Therefore, it is obvious that English speaking contest, especially the impromptu speech, can efficiently improve students’ communication skills .