| Acknowledgement | 第1-6页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第6-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-8页 |
| Chapter One Literature Review | 第8-22页 |
| ·Communicative Competence | 第8-10页 |
| ·The Ethnography of Communication | 第10-16页 |
| ·The Subject Matter of the Ethnography of Communication | 第12页 |
| ·Essential Concepts in the Ethnography of Communication | 第12-15页 |
| ·Speech Community | 第12-13页 |
| ·Speech Situation, Speech Event and Speech Act | 第13-15页 |
| ·The Significance of Speech Act Studies | 第15-16页 |
| ·The Speech Act of Apologizing | 第16-22页 |
| ·Definition | 第16-18页 |
| ·Previous Work on Apologizing Behavior | 第18-22页 |
| Chapter Two Background of the Present Research | 第22-29页 |
| ·Reasons for the Present Study | 第22-24页 |
| ·The Goals of the Research | 第24-25页 |
| ·Research Methodology | 第25-29页 |
| ·Observation | 第25-26页 |
| ·Interview | 第26页 |
| ·Questionnaires | 第26-28页 |
| ·Data from Play | 第28-29页 |
| Chapter Three Results of the Chinese Finding | 第29-39页 |
| ·Findings of Apologizing Used in the Beijing Speech Community | 第29-38页 |
| ·Analysis of the Apology Strategies | 第29-36页 |
| ·Strategy Types of Chinese Apologies | 第29-32页 |
| ·Apology Intensification and Downgrading | 第32-33页 |
| ·Apology Strategies in Relation to Socio-Pragmatic Factors | 第33-36页 |
| ·Apologies in Relation to Gender | 第36-37页 |
| ·Apologies in Relation to Social Status | 第37页 |
| ·Apologies in Relation to Social Distance | 第37-38页 |
| ·Apologies in Relation to Type of Offense | 第38页 |
| ·Limitations of the Study | 第38-39页 |
| Chapter Four Cross-cultural Comparison | 第39-47页 |
| ·Review of the Previous Studies | 第39-42页 |
| ·Comparison Between American English and Other Languages | 第39-41页 |
| ·Comparison between American English and Chinese | 第41-42页 |
| ·An Ethnographic Analysis of the Current Study | 第42-46页 |
| ·Similarities in Chinese and American Apologizing | 第43页 |
| ·Differences in Chinese and American Apologizing | 第43-45页 |
| ·Possible Reasons for these Differences | 第45-46页 |
| ·Implications | 第46-47页 |
| Conclusions | 第47-49页 |
| Appendix | 第49-51页 |
| REFERENCES | 第51-54页 |
