List of Tables List of Figures Abbreviations 序一 序二 前言 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivations and General Introduction of the Study 1.1.1 Theoretical motivations 1.1.2 Empirical and practical motivations 1.1.3 Summary and intended research contributions 1.2 Research Aims and Research Questions 1.3 Organization of the Book Chapter 2 Literature Review and the Theoretical Framework for the Study 2.1 Cultural Dimensions 2.1.1 Defining ' culture' 2.1.2 Cross-cultural pragmatics 2.1.3 Intercultural communication and interlanguage pragmatics 2.1.4 British and Chinese culture and social relations (teacher-student ) 2.1.5 Summary 2.2 Politeness Theories 2.2.1 Defining politeness 2.2.2 Traditional politeness theories 2.2.2.1 Maxim-/Rule-based view on politeness 2.2.2.2 Face-management view on politeness 2.2.2.3 Summary: Critical thinking on the traditional work 2.2.3 Discursive approach to politeness 2.2.3.1 Rapport-management view on politeness 2.2.3.2 Relational work view on politeness: Locher and Watts 2.2.3.3 Summary 2.2.4 Synthesizing politeness theories for the current study 2.2.4.1 Rethinking the criticism of discursive politeness theories 2.2.4.2 A comparison between the theory of Spencer-Oatey and that of Locher and Watts 2.2.4.3 Conclusion: Incorporating Spencer-Oatey's and Locher and Watts' theories into the current study 2.2.5 Summary 2.3 The Guiding Theoretical Framework for the Study 2.4 Summary Chapter 3 Empirical Research Context 3.1 Research on Requests 3.1.1 Requests and politeness 3.1.2 Empirical studies on requests 3.1.3 Summary and implications for the present study 3.2 Request Emails 3.2.1 Studies on email communication 3.2.2 Request emails from students to university instructors——previous studies 3.2.3 Implications and inadequacies in the empirical studies 3.2.4 Summary …… Chapter 4 Methodology Chapter 5 Results Chapter 5 Relational Work: A Discursive Perspective on Linguistic Behaviour Chapter 7 Discussion Chapter 8 Conclusion References Appendixes 1 Questionnaire (The English version) 2 Questionnaire (The Chinese version for Chinese students in Britain) 3 Questionnaire (The Chinese version for Chinese students in China) 4 Sample Emails from the CS discourse community $ Sample Emails from the ES discourse community 6 Sample Emails from the CES discourse community