| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第1-6页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第6-9页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第9-12页 |
| Table of Contents | 第12-15页 |
| List of Tables and Graphs | 第15-16页 |
| List of Abbreviations | 第16-18页 |
| Chapter One INTRODUCTION | 第18-22页 |
| ·Background of the study | 第18-19页 |
| ·Need for the study | 第19-21页 |
| ·Structure of the thesis | 第21-22页 |
| Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW | 第22-41页 |
| ·Relative clause as a theoretical concept | 第22-25页 |
| ·Definition of relative clause | 第22页 |
| ·Classification of relative clause | 第22-25页 |
| ·Major hypotheses on processing relative clauses | 第25-30页 |
| ·Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Hypothesis | 第25-28页 |
| ·Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis | 第28-29页 |
| ·SO Hierarchy Hypothesis | 第29-30页 |
| ·Animacy Preference Constraints | 第30页 |
| ·Empirical studies on the processing of relative clauses | 第30-40页 |
| ·Previous studies on the effect of relative clause type on the processing of relative clauses | 第31-33页 |
| ·Previous studies on the effects of relative clause type and language proficiency on the processing of relative clauses | 第33-36页 |
| ·Previous studies on the effect of animacy on the processing of relative clauses | 第36-38页 |
| ·Previous studies on the effects of relative clause type and animacy on the processing of relative clauses | 第38-40页 |
| ·Problems in the previous studies | 第40-41页 |
| Chapter Three METHODOLOGY | 第41-50页 |
| ·Research questions | 第41-42页 |
| ·Research design | 第42-48页 |
| ·Subjects | 第42-43页 |
| ·Instruments | 第43-45页 |
| ·Scoring methods | 第45-47页 |
| ·Reliability analysis | 第47-48页 |
| ·Operationalizing variables | 第48-50页 |
| ·Language proficiency | 第48页 |
| ·Relative clause type and antecedent animacy | 第48-50页 |
| Chapter Four RESULTS and DISCUSSION | 第50-66页 |
| ·Results | 第50-57页 |
| ·Descriptive statistics for the processing of relative clauses | 第50-52页 |
| ·Assumptions of a mixed ANOVA | 第52-54页 |
| ·The main effect of each factor on EFL learners' processing ability of relative clauses | 第54-55页 |
| ·The interaction effects of the multi-factors on EFL learners' processing ability of relative clauses | 第55-57页 |
| ·Discussion | 第57-66页 |
| ·The significant main effect of relative clause type on EFL learners' processing ability of relative clauses | 第58-60页 |
| ·The interaction effect of language proficiency and relative clause type on EFL learners' processing ability of relative clauses | 第60-63页 |
| ·The interaction effect of relative clause type and antecedent animacy on EFL learners' processing ability of relative clauses | 第63-66页 |
| Chapter Five CONCLUSION | 第66-70页 |
| ·Major Findings | 第66-67页 |
| ·Implications | 第67-68页 |
| ·Theoretical implications | 第67-68页 |
| ·Methodological implications | 第68页 |
| ·Pedagogical implications | 第68页 |
| ·Limitations and suggestions | 第68-70页 |
| REFERENCES | 第70-76页 |
| Appendixes | 第76-93页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ | 第76-86页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ | 第86-93页 |
