| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-9页 |
| 摘要 | 第9-16页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第16-19页 |
| ·Background of the research | 第16-17页 |
| ·Significance of the study | 第17-18页 |
| ·The overall structure of this thesis | 第18-19页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第19-28页 |
| ·Previous studies on refusal by foreign scholars | 第19-22页 |
| ·The classification study of refusal speech act | 第19-21页 |
| ·The classification study of refusal strategies | 第21页 |
| ·The study of refusal strategies against cross-cultural background | 第21-22页 |
| ·Previous studies on refusal by Chinese scholars | 第22-27页 |
| ·Strategies and models of refusal speech act | 第22-24页 |
| ·The research of refusal speech act in second language acquisition | 第24页 |
| ·The factors influencing refusal speech act | 第24-27页 |
| ·Comments on the previous studies and the innovations of this thesis | 第27-28页 |
| Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework | 第28-38页 |
| ·Brown and Levinson's Face Theory | 第28-30页 |
| ·Positive and negative face | 第28页 |
| ·Face-threatening act (FTA) | 第28-29页 |
| ·Strategies for doing FTA | 第29-30页 |
| ·Gender Theory | 第30-32页 |
| ·The dominance approach | 第30-31页 |
| ·The difference approach | 第31页 |
| ·The social constructionist approach | 第31-32页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第32-38页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第32-33页 |
| ·Indirect speech act | 第33-34页 |
| ·Refusal speech act | 第34-38页 |
| ·Definition of refusal | 第34-35页 |
| ·Strategies of refusal | 第35-38页 |
| Chapter 4 Research Design and Discussion | 第38-67页 |
| ·Research Design | 第38-40页 |
| ·Research questions | 第38-39页 |
| ·Data collection | 第39页 |
| ·Classification of refusal speech acts | 第39-40页 |
| ·Analytical procedure | 第40页 |
| ·Results and Discussion | 第40-67页 |
| ·Overall frequency of refusal strategies used by males and females | 第40-50页 |
| ·Gender differences indicated by direct and indirect refusal strategies | 第42-43页 |
| ·Indirect strategies comparison between males and females | 第43-50页 |
| ·Refusal strategies for threatening positive face | 第50-55页 |
| ·Different refusal strategies of offer between males and females | 第51-53页 |
| ·Different refusal strategies of invitation between males and females | 第53-55页 |
| ·Refusal strategies for threatening negative face | 第55-59页 |
| ·Different refusal strategies of request between males and females | 第56-58页 |
| ·Different refusal strategies of suggestion between males and females | 第58-59页 |
| ·Summary of the result | 第59-61页 |
| ·Underlying reasons for the differences | 第61-67页 |
| ·Physiological factor | 第61-63页 |
| ·Psychological factor | 第63-64页 |
| ·Social factor | 第64-67页 |
| Chapter 5 Conclusion | 第67-71页 |
| ·Main Findings | 第67-68页 |
| ·Implications | 第68-69页 |
| ·Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research | 第69-71页 |
| References | 第71-73页 |
