| Acknowledgement | 第5-6页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第6页 |
| 摘要 | 第7-8页 |
| CONTENTS | 第8-10页 |
| LIST OF TABLES | 第10页 |
| LIST OF FIGURES | 第10-11页 |
| CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION | 第11-15页 |
| 1.1 Orientation of this study | 第11-12页 |
| 1.2 Rationale of this study | 第12-13页 |
| 1.3 Structure of this thesis | 第13-15页 |
| CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW | 第15-34页 |
| 2.1 Pragmatic competence | 第15-17页 |
| 2.2 Chinese pragmatic test | 第17-18页 |
| 2.3 Use of rating scale | 第18-19页 |
| 2.4 Raters’ rating process | 第19-24页 |
| 2.5 Rating reliability and rater effects | 第24-28页 |
| 2.6 Factors accounting for rater variability | 第28-30页 |
| 2.7 A framework for comparison between raters and rater groups | 第30-31页 |
| 2.8 Significance of studying severity/leniency effect and central tendency effect | 第31-32页 |
| 2.9 Rationale fot studying raters’ gender®ion differences | 第32-34页 |
| CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY | 第34-38页 |
| 3.1 Participants | 第34-35页 |
| 3.1.1 Raters | 第34页 |
| 3.1.2 Candidates | 第34-35页 |
| 3.2 Instruments | 第35页 |
| 3.3 Procedure | 第35-38页 |
| 3.3.1 Rating material preparation | 第35页 |
| 3.3.2 Rater training | 第35-36页 |
| 3.3.3 Data collection and analysis | 第36页 |
| 3.3.4 A semi-structured interview | 第36-38页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS | 第38-68页 |
| 4.1 FACETS summary | 第38-40页 |
| 4.2 Overall severities and internal-consistency of the raters and the factors | 第40-44页 |
| 4.3 The functioning of rating scale | 第44-46页 |
| 4.4 Rater bias in terms of rating criterion and the factors | 第46-52页 |
| 4.5 Rater bias in terms of testing item and the factors | 第52-61页 |
| 4.6 Rater No.4’s central tendency effect and the factors | 第61-64页 |
| 4.7 A summary of research findings | 第64-68页 |
| 4.7.1 Summary of research findings on individual level | 第65-67页 |
| 4.7.2 Summary of research findings on group level | 第67-68页 |
| CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION | 第68-77页 |
| 5.1 Raters’ self-consistency and overall severities | 第68-72页 |
| 5.2 Rater bias in terms of marking criterion | 第72-73页 |
| 5.3 Rater bias in terms of test item | 第73-77页 |
| 5.3.1 Characterization of rater preferences | 第73-75页 |
| 5.3.2 Analysis of representative items | 第75-77页 |
| CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION | 第77-83页 |
| 6.1 Answer to two research questions | 第77-79页 |
| 6.2 Implications of present study | 第79-82页 |
| 6.3 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further research | 第82-83页 |
| REFERENCES | 第83-88页 |
| APPENDICES | 第88-94页 |
