ABSTRACT

Rhetorical competence is a kind of competence which refers to the frequency of rhetorical devices and the ability of using rhetorical methods. Rhetorical competence is a very important competence in language learning. It mainly deals with identification of rhetoric, explanation of rhetoric, appreciation of rhetoric and application of rhetoric. Excellent rhetoric competence can both help students to recognize the sentence structures and improve their reading comprehension in the second language learning. The use of figures of speech is a manifestation of language output of rhetorical competence. Many students employ figures of speech in their compositions to add vividness to their compositions.

The research objects in this paper are 30 English compositions of seniors in Foreign Language School of Jiangsu University. The paper analyzes the statics of figures of speech in the 30 compositions. According to the study, we find that the using of figures of speech in the senior English major students’ compositions has the following features:

1.The number and frequency of figures of speech appear in every article are different, which means the rhetorical competence of every student is various.

2.The number and frequency of phonetic figures of speech, syntactic figures of speech, semantic figures of speech and logical figures of speech are different. The most used figures of speech are semantic figures of speech, followed by syntactic figures of speech and phonetic figures of speech. The least used figures of speech are logical figures of speech.

3.Sometimes, the using of figures of speech is apparently wrong. The accuracy of the using of figures of speech is not very high and the accuracy needs to be improved and strengthened.

These studies indicate that the senior English major students have gained some rhetorical competence. They have grasped many different kinds of figures of speech. However, the studies find that the using of figures of speech of the senior English major students has the following limitations. Firstly, they do not know how to use high level figures of speech. They are limited to use comparatively simple figures of speech. Secondly, figures of speech employed in their compositions are monotonous. Thirdly, the research shows that students should pay more attention to phonetic figures of speech and logical figures of speech.

Key words: Rhetoric Analysis; Figures of Speech; Frequency; Accuracy

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One   INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two   LITERATURE   REVIEW-3

2.1   Definition of rhetoric-3

2.2   Studies of Rhetoric home and abroad-4

2.2.1 Studies of Contrastive Rhetoric-4

2.2.2 Studies of Figures of speech-5

2.2.3 Studies of Syntax Rhetoric-5

2.3   Summary-5

Chapter Three   RESEARCH DESIGN-7

3.1   Research Questions-7

3.2   Research Subjects-7

3.3   Research Method-8

3.4   Research Process-8

3.5   Summary-9

Chapter Four   DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS-10

4.1   The frequency of figures of speech in every article.-10

4.2   Classification of the Figures of speech-12

4.2.1 General Description-12

4.2.2 Phonetic figures of speech-14

4.2.3 Syntactic figures of speech-16

4.2.4 Semantic figures of speech-20

4.2.5 Logical figures of speech-22

4.2.6 Discussion-23

4.3   The accuracy of figures of speech-24

4.4   Findings-25

Chapter Five   CONCLUSION-26

REFERENCES-28