ABSTRACT

Reading is the most important way to acquire language input. And it is also regarded as a complex cognitive process. When reading, readers usually translate, understand and evaluate the article with the help of mother tongue intentionally or unintentionally. Namely, Chinese is used as an intermediary to set up the relationship between English and Chinese. These two languages belong to separate language systems, so one of the largest obstacles in college students’ English reading is Chinese interference. Using retrospective interviews with 30 Chinese college students, this study aims to explore how the modes of thinking influence English reading and countermeasures to eliminate the interference as much as possible. Analysis has shown that students of a lower level in the reading process rely more on Chinese thinking, which has great impact on their reading, while students of a higher level rely less on mother tongue.

Key words: English reading; Chinese interference; mode of thinking

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Review of Related Studies-3

2.1.1 Foreign Studies-3

2.1.2 Domestic Studies-4

2.2 Deficiencies of the Previous Studies-5

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN-6

3.1 Subjects-6

3.2 Tools-6

3.3 Data Collection-7

3.4 Data Analysis-7

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-13

4.1 Chinese Mode of Thinking in Students at Different Levels of English-13

4.2 Countermeasures to Chinese Interference in English Reading-14

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-17

REFERENCES-19