| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5-8页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第8-16页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第16-22页 |
| ·Research Orientation | 第16-17页 |
| ·Rationale for the Proposed Research | 第17-20页 |
| ·Organization of the Thesis | 第20-22页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第22-47页 |
| ·Definition of Relative Clause | 第22-23页 |
| ·Two Syntactic Variables in Relative Clause Sentence Pattern | 第23-24页 |
| ·Classification of Relative Clause | 第24-25页 |
| ·Brief Review of Previous Studies | 第25-42页 |
| ·Typological Markedness | 第25-28页 |
| ·Syntactic Complexity | 第28-29页 |
| ·Filler-Gap Distance | 第29-31页 |
| ·Working Memory Limitation | 第31-35页 |
| ·Parallel Function Hypothesis and Perspective Shifting Hypothesis | 第35-37页 |
| ·Information Flow Factor | 第37-39页 |
| ·Processing Strategy | 第39-40页 |
| ·Semantic Factor | 第40-41页 |
| ·Negative Transfer from Native Language | 第41-42页 |
| ·Experimental Factors Influencing Study Results | 第42-44页 |
| ·Methodological Issues | 第42-43页 |
| ·Time Factor | 第43-44页 |
| ·Summary of Previous Studies | 第44-45页 |
| ·Limitations of Previous Studies | 第45-47页 |
| Chapter Three Research Methods and Design | 第47-54页 |
| ·Research Questions and Hypothesis | 第47-48页 |
| ·Subjects | 第48页 |
| ·Testing Materials | 第48-51页 |
| ·Reliability of the Testing Material | 第49-50页 |
| ·Validity of the Testing Material | 第50-51页 |
| ·Procedure | 第51页 |
| ·Scoring | 第51-53页 |
| ·Statistical devices | 第53-54页 |
| Chapter Four Data Collection and Results | 第54-65页 |
| ·Results of the Sentence Combination Test | 第54-62页 |
| ·Results form the Group of Undergraduates of High School | 第54-57页 |
| ·Results form the Group of Sophomores of Non-English Major | 第57-60页 |
| ·Results form the Group of Undergraduates of English Major | 第60-62页 |
| ·Summary of the Results from Three Groups | 第62-65页 |
| Chapter Five Findings and General Discussion | 第65-77页 |
| ·Major Findings of Present Study | 第65-66页 |
| ·Discussion about Present Results in Terms of RC Types | 第66-69页 |
| ·Discussion about Present Results in Terms of RC Types and Matrix Positions | 第69-75页 |
| ·Discussion about the Consistency and Inconsistency within Present Study | 第69-72页 |
| ·Discussion about the Consistency and Inconsistency between Present Study and Previous Ones | 第72-73页 |
| ·Discussion on the Four Main Sentence Patterns | 第73-75页 |
| ·Summary of the Discussion | 第75-77页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第77-81页 |
| ·Summary of Present Study | 第77-78页 |
| ·Limitations | 第78-79页 |
| ·Pedagogical Implications of Present Study | 第79-81页 |
| References | 第81-85页 |
| Appendix A A Testing for Sentence Combination | 第85-91页 |
| Appendix B Subjects' Scores of Ten Types of Relative Clauses | 第91-93页 |
