ABSTRACT
This chapter presents approaches to investigating the effects of first language (L1) reading ability on second language (L2) reading. The subjects comprised 229 Chinese students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in mainland China. The data collection was undertaken at the four universities in June 2005. On one Saturday, the subjects took the Chinese reading test, which lasted 60 minutes. The morning of the next day, they took the English proficiency test, which lasted 120 minutes. In the afternoon, the English reading test was administered, which also lasted 90 minutes. The chapter describes methods adopted to carry out the experiment designed to test the hypotheses proposed within Gernsbacher's (1990) Structure Building Framework as previously formulated. The method of resolution of co-referring expressions was designed on the basis of Gernsbacher's (1990) Structure Building Theory. According to the theory, poor comprehenders have an inefficient suppression mechanism due to which they are unable to inhibit irrelevant information.
