A Genre Analysis Of Impromptu Speeches In English Speaking Competitions

This paper sets out to do a descriptive genre analysis of impromptu speeches by analyzing the generic structure potential,moves and steps of impromptu speeches and tries to find out an ideal way of constructing effective impromptu speeches.The analysis of impromptu speeches in this thesis is to be done both qualitatively and quantitatively. 42 successful impromptu speeches from the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth of the 21st Century Ericsson Cup National English Competition were chosen to analyze their move structures, generate their generic features and the GSP formula and look into their textual organization.It is found that successful impromptu speeches have fixed moves and obligatory generic elements. Ineffective impromptu speeches usually lack a clear generic structure and corresponding moves and do not own the obligatory generic elements.It is suggested that the finding of this thesis could be used to guide contestants who take part in various English-speaking competitions or who deliver impromptu speeches in English classes or other occasions of public speaking.