| 摘要 | 第4-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5页 |
| List of Abbreviations | 第9-10页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第10-13页 |
| 1.1 Research background | 第10-11页 |
| 1.2 Purpose and significance of the study | 第11-12页 |
| 1.3 General organization of the thesis | 第12-13页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第13-30页 |
| 2.1 Theoretical framework concerning syntactic complexity | 第13-16页 |
| 2.1.1 Definition of syntactic complexity | 第13-14页 |
| 2.1.2 Role of syntactic complexity in writing | 第14-15页 |
| 2.1.3 Development of syntactic complexity | 第15-16页 |
| 2.2 Measures of syntactic complexity investigated in present study | 第16-22页 |
| 2.2.1 Syntactic complexity measures | 第16-20页 |
| 2.2.2 Syntactic diversity measures | 第20-22页 |
| 2.3 Research on syntactic complexity in writing | 第22-28页 |
| 2.3.1 Syntactic complexity features and its development | 第23-24页 |
| 2.3.2 Relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality | 第24-26页 |
| 2.3.3 Effect of genre and task differences on syntactic complexity | 第26-27页 |
| 2.3.4 Differences on syntactic complexity features between ESL learnersand native speakers | 第27-28页 |
| 2.4 A review on holistic scoring technique of ESL writing ability | 第28-29页 |
| 2.5 Summary | 第29-30页 |
| Chapter Three Methodology | 第30-34页 |
| 3.1 Research questions | 第30页 |
| 3.2 Participants | 第30-31页 |
| 3.3 Instruments | 第31页 |
| 3.3.1 Writing task | 第31页 |
| 3.3.2 Measures of syntactic complexity | 第31页 |
| 3.4 Procedure | 第31-32页 |
| 3.5 Data collection and analysis | 第32-33页 |
| 3.6 Summary | 第33-34页 |
| Chapter Four Results and Discussions | 第34-61页 |
| 4.1 Syntactic complexity demonstrated by students of different grade levels | 第34-52页 |
| 4.1.1 Frequencies of production units of different grade levels | 第34-37页 |
| 4.1.2 Mean length of production units of different grade levels | 第37-41页 |
| 4.1.3 Syntactic complexity ratios of different grade levels | 第41-45页 |
| 4.1.4 Sentence patterns of different grade levels | 第45-49页 |
| 4.1.5 Dependent clause types of different grade levels | 第49-52页 |
| 4.2 Relationships between syntactic complexity and writing quality | 第52-60页 |
| 4.2.1 Holistic writing scores achieved by students of different grades | 第52-53页 |
| 4.2.2 Frequencies of production units of different performance levels | 第53-54页 |
| 4.2.3 Mean length of production units of different performance levels | 第54页 |
| 4.2.4 Syntactic complexity ratios of different performance levels | 第54-55页 |
| 4.2.5 Sentence patterns of different performance levels | 第55页 |
| 4.2.6 Dependent clause types of different performance levels | 第55-60页 |
| 4.3 Summary | 第60-61页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第61-64页 |
| 5.1 Major findings | 第61-62页 |
| 5.2 Implications | 第62页 |
| 5.3 Limitations and suggestions | 第62-64页 |
| References | 第64-69页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ | 第69-71页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ | 第71-73页 |
| Appendix Ⅲ | 第73-74页 |
| Appendix Ⅳ | 第74-76页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第76-77页 |
| Papers Published in the Study of M.A | 第77页 |
