| Declaration | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-5页 |
| Acknowledgement | 第5-9页 |
| CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION | 第9-14页 |
| ·Overview | 第9-10页 |
| ·Underlying rationale for the present study | 第10-12页 |
| ·Research orientation | 第12-13页 |
| ·Content organization of the thesis | 第13-14页 |
| CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE RE0IEW | 第14-27页 |
| ·Overview | 第14页 |
| ·Equivocation-focused research | 第14-20页 |
| ·Theoretical studies | 第14-19页 |
| ·Empirical studies | 第19-20页 |
| ·Communication-based research | 第20-22页 |
| ·Studies on organizational communication | 第20-21页 |
| ·Studies on communication in China | 第21-22页 |
| ·Instruments to measure equivocation | 第22-24页 |
| ·Imperfect aspects of the previous researches | 第24-25页 |
| ·Summary | 第25-27页 |
| CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK | 第27-36页 |
| ·Theoretical foundation of the research | 第27-28页 |
| ·A working definition of equivocal communication in this study | 第28-29页 |
| ·Terminology differentiation | 第29-31页 |
| ·Equivocation, ambiguity and vagueness | 第29-30页 |
| ·Equivocation and deception | 第30-31页 |
| ·Equivocation and inability to be clear | 第31页 |
| ·Hypothetical models | 第31-34页 |
| ·Research questions | 第34-36页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY | 第36-53页 |
| ·Overview | 第36页 |
| ·Research design | 第36-38页 |
| ·Approaches | 第36-37页 |
| ·Testing material | 第37页 |
| ·Participants | 第37-38页 |
| ·Instrumentation | 第38-50页 |
| ·Prompt equivocal conversations | 第39-41页 |
| ·Prior consideration | 第41-45页 |
| ·Scaling and norm setting | 第45-47页 |
| ·Test of reliability---pilot studies | 第47-48页 |
| ·Test administration | 第48-50页 |
| ·Data processing | 第50-52页 |
| ·Statistical treatment to quantitative data | 第50页 |
| ·Qualitative analysis of the think-aloud and interview data | 第50-52页 |
| ·Summary | 第52-53页 |
| CHAPTER FIVE RESULTS | 第53-65页 |
| ·Overview | 第53页 |
| ·Quantitative results | 第53-58页 |
| ·Mean analysis of ED and CD | 第53-55页 |
| ·Correlation between ED and CD | 第55页 |
| ·Variation analysis of Exp. CD and Non-exp. CD | 第55-56页 |
| ·Examination of comprehension correctness | 第56-58页 |
| ·Qualitative results | 第58-64页 |
| ·Introspective data | 第58-61页 |
| ·Retrospective data together with introspective data | 第61-64页 |
| ·Summary | 第64-65页 |
| CHAPTER SIX DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION | 第65-89页 |
| ·Data-based discussion | 第65-72页 |
| ·Disparity between ED, CD and CC on the statistic basis | 第65-67页 |
| ·The common feature shared by the four special conversations | 第67-68页 |
| ·Causes leading to comprehension incorrectness | 第68-72页 |
| ·Extended discussion---more theoretical exploration on equivocation comprehension | 第72-79页 |
| ·The process of adequate implicature attainment | 第72-77页 |
| ·Causes to misunderstanding and Solutions to minimize it on the hearer's part | 第77-79页 |
| ·Conclusions | 第79-89页 |
| ·Major findings | 第79-81页 |
| ·Possible pattern of subordinate's inference of implicature from superior's equivocation | 第81-84页 |
| ·Features of the pattern compared with the hypothetical model in Chapter 3 | 第84页 |
| ·Limitations | 第84-85页 |
| ·Implications and suggestions for further study | 第85-89页 |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY | 第89-91页 |
| APPENDIXES | 第91-100页 |
