【Abstract】Higher vocational education is an important part of China’s higher and vocational education system. The target of which is to cultivate high-quality and skilled talents， and skills competition is one of the most direct ways to test the results of skills training. Vocational students oral English skills competition has received more and more attention， vocational colleges also make it the platform to present skills and teaching achievements to achieve the aim of deepen the reform of English teaching in vocational colleges. This paper aims to cause people’s reflection to the reform of English teaching by analyzing the current situation of the competition based on the content.
　　【Key words】Higher vocational education； oral English； skills competition
　　Foreword
　　Vocational students skills competition is proposed by education department and held by either the education department with other relevant departments or other organizations authorized by Ministry of Education， it focuses on vocational majors， it includes students vocational skills competition and teachers teaching skill competition. Among which， Oral English Skills Competition not only helps the students to develop their interest in learning，， but also practice their ability to express themselves.
　　1. The content
　　From 2004 on， English Course Guiding Committee decided to hold vocational students oral English skill competition every year； what’s more， the Ministry of Education brought the competition into national vocational students skills competition since 2011， which not only improves students’ interest to the language， but also brings enlightenment to the reform of English teaching in vocational colleges. Oral English skill competition can be divided into the preliminary contest and the quarter-final. The preliminary contest gives priority to oral retelling； students will be assigned an English passage and given 15 minutes to prepare and retell the passage within two minutes. The quarter-final is more complicated， it includes description， communication and debate. Description tests students’ statement ability by asking him/her to describe a photo or an advertisement within 15 minutes. Communication requires students to communicate with the judgers by using daily conversation expressions or professional communicative expressions after fifteen-minute preparation. Students are divided into two groups by drawing lots； judgers mark the students according to the students’ oral statement and their debating behaviors.