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

In English impromptu speech, all of the cohesive devices have been employed by speakers. It is obvious that some cohesive devices have a relatively higher frequency; while others, relatively lower. Generally speaking, the cohesive device of reference is utilized the most frequently; reiteration and conjunction take the second place; speakers use substitution, ellipsis and collocation less. From the three tables, we can see the overall trend of the employment of cohesive devices. We can also infer that the employment of cohesive devices has relationship with the quality of transcripts. Moreover, cohesive devices are necessary but not sufficient to achieve cohesion and to establish internal relations between sentences. In fact, some speakers have misapplied conjunction in their speeches. That is to say, they assume that they can achieve cohesion simply by utilizing conjunctive words, however, they ignore the internal relations between sentences. To develop the ideas coherently, the most important thing speakers have to pay great attention is logical flow, which requires transitions and sign posting.