Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1��1 Background
1��2 Chinese Aging and the Gap in its Research
1��2��1 The Problem of the Elders in China
1��2��2 Language-related Chinese Aging Research and its Gap
1��3 The Significance of the Present Study
1��4 Goals of the Present Study
1��5 Brief Descriptions about the Present Research
1��6
Chapter Overview

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2��1 Picture-elicited Narratives
2��2 Previous Research in Aging Using Picture-elicited Narratives
2��3 The Previous Research Using the Insights of Transitivity in SFT
2��4 The Relation of the Present Research with the Previous Research

Chapter 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3��1 A Brief Introduction to SFT
3��1��1 A Brief Introduction to Halliday's SFT
3��1��2 The Difference between Halliday and Martin
3��1��3 The Difference between Berry and Halliday
3��1��4 The Overlap between Halliday�� Vygotsky and Bemstein��
3��2 Transitivity
3��2��1 The Position of Transitivity in SFT
3��2��2 The Development of Transitivity
3��2��3 The Content of Transitivity
3��2��4 The Difference between Halliday's Transitivity and the Traditional Transitivity
3��2��5 Transitivity����the Intersection of SFT and Other Schools of Linguistics
3��2��6 Transitivity in Neurological and Health Science Research
3��3 Chinese and Transitivity
3��3��1 The Compatibility of Transitivity for Studying Chinese
3��3��2 Chinese Scholars' Research in Transitivity

Chapter 4 METHODOLOGY
4��1 Hypotheses
4��2 Data Collection
4��3 Rationale for Using Secondary Chinese Data
4��4 Participants
4��5 Instrument
4��6 Purpose of Analyzing the Pic~tre-elicited Narrative
4��7 Coding System
4��8 Post-explanation

Chapter 5 ANALYSIS
5��1 Coding
5��2 Coder Training
5��3 Raters Accuracy and Reliability
5��4 Transitivity
5��5 Analysis
5��6 Analyses with Extracts

Chapter 6 RESULTS
6��1 Statistical Solution
6��2 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on the Participants' Overall Performance of Transitivity
6��3 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on Material Process
6��4 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender Impact on Mental Process
6��5 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on Verbal Process Performances
6��6 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on Behavioral Process Performance
6��7 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on Relational Process
6��8 Impact of Age�� Education and Gender on Existential Process Performance
6��9 Summary of Age�� Education and Gender Impact on Transitivity

Chapter 7 CONCLUSION
7��1 Summary of the Objectives�� Results and Analysis
7��2 Strengths of the Present Research
7��2��1 Transitivity as a Proper Framework for an Aging Study
7��2��2 Justification of Paradis' Stimuli and Development of Coding System
7��2��3 Proper Use of GLM to Determine Significant Impact
7��3 Limitations
7��3��1 Absence of Post-reflective Comment
7��3��2 Quasi-Longitudinal Study and No True Longitudinal Study
7��3��3 No Requirement for Processing Speed
7��4 Recommendations for Future Research
7��4��1 Extension of Age-span
7��4��2 The Comparison of Normal Elders with Elderly Patients
7��4��3 Mini-lingual Status Examination
7��4��4 Semi-computerized Coding
7��5 Final Remarks
REFERENCES
Appendix
Appendix A�� Coding Sheet*
Appendix B�� Examples of Empty "be" Relational Process in Chinese
Appendix C�� Abbreviations