Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Rationale

1.1.1 Motivation of this study

1.1.1.1 Sterility of structuralist studies of language

1.1.1.2 Limitations of Z.S.Harris's Discourse Analysis

1.1.2 Insufficiency of Halliday's exploration of context and text

1.1.3 Significance of this current study

1.2 Research Methodology

1.3 Collection and selection of corpora

1.3.1 Data collection and selection

l.3.2 Justification for the adoption of spoken prose as corpora

l.3.3 Transcription of real-life spoken data

1.4 Theoretical framework of this study

1.5 Structure of this research

Chapter 2 Literature Review on Context of and Text

2.1 Introductory remarks

2.2 Context

2.2.1 Context defined by different linguists

2.2.1.1 Malinowski's definition of context

2.2.1.2 J.R.Firth's definition of context

2.2.1.3 Halliday and Hasan's notion of context

2.2.1.4 Roman Jacobson's definition of context

2.2.1.5 D.Hymes's definition of context

2.2.1.6 Elinor Ochs's definition of context

2.2.1.7 CHEN Wangdao's definition of context

2.2.2 Cognitive context

2.2.2.1 Philosophers'statement of objective context and cognitive context

2.2.2.2 Context in cognitive linguistics

2.2.2.3 Problems with the theory of cognitive context

2.3 Text

2.3.1 Text,discourse,conversation

2.3.1.1 van Dijk's definition of text and discourse

2.3.1.2 Halliday and Hasan's definition of text

2.3.1.3 Brown and Yule's definition of discourse and text

2.3.1.4 Beaugrande and Dressler's definition of text

2.3.1.5 Coulthard's definition of discourse

2.3.1.6 Fowler's notion of text and discourse

2.4 Text and Context in this research

2.4.1 Text in this research

2.4.1.1 Informativity

2.4.1.2 Semantic compatibility

2.4.1.3 Associability

2.4.1.4 Cognitivity

2.4.1.5 Length felicity

2.4.2 Context in this research

Chapter 3 Impact of Field upon Text

3.1 Introductory remarks

3.2 Field and its components

3.2.1 Suzanne Eggins's description of field

3.2.2 Leckie-Tarry's description of field

3.2.2.1 Arena/activities

3.2.2.2 Participants

3.2.2.3 Semantic domain

3.2.3 A brief summary

3.3 The impact of field upon text

3.3.1 The impact of subject matter upon text

3.3.2 The impact of participants upon text

3.3.3 The impact of setting upon text

3.3.3.1 Conversation inside the classroom

3.3.3.2 Conversation outside the classroom

3.4 Summary

Chapter 4 Impact of Tenor upon Text

4.1 Introductory remarks

4.2 Different definitions of tenor

4.2.1 Gregory's definition of tenor

4.2.1.1 Personal tenor

4.2.1.2 Functional tenor

4.2.2 Poynton's definition of tenor

4.2.2.1 Power

4.2.2.2 Contact

4.2.2.3 Affective involvement

4.2.3 Martin's definition of tenor

4.2.3.1 Status

4.2.3.2 Contact

4.2.3.3 Affect

4.2.4 Leckie-Tarry's definition of tenor

4.2.4.1 Formality

4.2.4.2 Role

4.2.4.3 Focus

4.2.5 A brief summary

4.3 Impact of tenor upon text

4.3.1 Impact of power upon text

4.3.2 Impact of contact upon text

4.3.3 Impact of affective involvement upon text

4.4 Summary

Chapter 5 Impact of Mode upon Text

5.1 Introductory remarks

5.2 Definitions of mode

5.2.1 Halliday's definition of mode

5.2.2 Leckie-Tarry's definition of mode

5.2.2.1 Planning

5.2.2.2 Feedback

5.2.2.3 Contextualization

5.2.2.4 Medium

5.2.3 Martin's definition of mode

5.2.3.1 Spatial/interpersonal distance

5.2.3.2 Experiential distance

5.2.4 Summary of the quoted definitions

5.2.5 The definition of mode to be taken in this research

5.3 Impact of mode upon text

5.3.1 Differences between spoken mode and written mode

5.3.1.1 Referential choices between spoken mode and written mode

5.3.1.2 Nominalization:a typical feature of written mode

5.3.2 Written-to-be-spoken mode and its actualization

5.3.3 Internet relay chat and face-to-face conversation

5.3.3.1 Sequential organization in QS-CMC:The misinterpretation of adjacency

5.3.3.2 Phantom responsiveness and phantom adjacency pairs

5.3.3.3 Turn-taking in QS-CMC:The problem of virtual simultaneity

5.3.3.4 The misinterpretation of silence

5.3.3.5 Miscommunication in QS-CMC

5.4 Summary

Chapter 6 Interaction between Contextual Factors and Its Impact upon Text

6.1 Introductory remarks

6.2 Contextual factors revisited

6.3 Impact of field upon mode

6.4 Impact of mode upon tenor

6.5 Impact of tenor upon field

6.6 Impact of tenor on mode

6.7 Impact of field upon tenor

6.8 Summary

Chapter 7 Conclusion

7.1 Conclusions

7.2 Contributions of the current research

7.3 Insufficiencies of the current research

7.4 Suggestions for future research

7.5 Pedagogical implications of this research

References