Abstract

The oral skill is one of the four skills which should be mastered while people learn English. It has direct influence on students’ oral English and communicative competence. Nowadays, more and more demands are set on oral English. It shows that teaching must focus on the improvement of oral English. 

 This paper introduces basic concepts of speech act theory, its development and its application at home and abroad. Then the author analyzes the existing problems of oral English learning and teaching in Higher Vocational School. The speech act theory should be applied to the oral English teaching in Higher Vocational School to improve the students’ oral English ability.

 Key words: speech act theory; oral English teaching and learning; Higher Vocational School