ABSTRACT
Reading isn’t simply recognizing words in succession. Something propels you forward as you read, helps you to anticipate so well what’s coming that you simply use cues from the print to move constantly toward meaning. This chapter addresses concepts of universality in the reading process, specifically whether a range of English-speaking readers and Chinese-speaking readers display similar reading processes when negotiating a text with multiple types of embedded errors. Gollasch and Xu asked university students and junior high school students to read a short story with embedded errors. Gollasch conducted his study using an English text adapted from the original “The Boat in the Basement.” Xu replicated Gollasch’s study using a Chinese text. Both studies (Gollasch, 1980; Xu, 1998) indicate that the error detection order is similar across all groups in Chinese and in English.
