ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of the notion of interlanguage and early ideas of why learners often had reading problems. Were they due to their reading ability or their overall language proficiency? It is impossible to answer this question without considering writing system variables and interference from the L1 writing system. There are two complementary processing strategies in language relevant to reading: holism and analysis. There are additional strategies specific to different writing systems. Readers with L1 literacy skills transfer their strategies to L2 reading. Readers can try to assimilate their L1 system as is to read the L2 or they can try to accommodate (adapt) their existing system to the new L2 system. A factor is orthographic distance, that is, how similar or dissimilar the two writing systems are. This chapter introduces four hypothetical English learners and discusses their cases in terms of transfer effects.
