| Acknowledgements | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract | 第6-7页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第7-11页 |
| ·Background of the study | 第7-9页 |
| ·Layout of the thesis | 第9-11页 |
| Chapter Two Language Characteristics of English and Chinese | 第11-17页 |
| ·Characteristics of the Chinese language | 第11-14页 |
| ·Characteristics of the English language | 第14-17页 |
| Chapter Three Literature Review on Sentence Processing Theories and Researches | 第17-30页 |
| ·Sentence processing | 第17页 |
| ·Sentence processing strategies | 第17-18页 |
| ·Different theories of sentence processing | 第18-20页 |
| ·Modularity theories | 第18-19页 |
| ·Interactive theories | 第19页 |
| ·Concurrent theories | 第19-20页 |
| ·Researches on sentence processing mechanisms of Chinese and English | 第20-30页 |
| ·Researches on sentence processing mechanism of Chinese | 第21-23页 |
| ·Researches on sentence processing mechanism of English | 第23-30页 |
| Chapter Four Review of Language Transfer Theories | 第30-55页 |
| ·Definition | 第30-33页 |
| ·Classification of transfer | 第33-38页 |
| ·Manifestations of transfer | 第33-34页 |
| ·Positive transfer V.S. negative transfer | 第34-35页 |
| ·Transfer in linguistic structures | 第35-38页 |
| ·Behaviorism and early thinking on language transfer | 第38-40页 |
| ·Language transfer in relation to the Interlanguage Theory | 第40-44页 |
| ·Early Interlanguage Theory | 第41-42页 |
| ·The development of the Interlanguage Theory in the late 1970s and 1980s | 第42-44页 |
| ·Recent development in the Interlanguage Theory | 第44页 |
| ·Transfer in relation to linguistic universals | 第44-49页 |
| ·Linguistic typology and language transfer | 第46-47页 |
| ·Universal Grammar Theory and language transfer | 第47-49页 |
| ·Transfer studies from a cognitive and psychological perspective | 第49-52页 |
| ·Language transfer in relation to other disciplines | 第52-53页 |
| ·Summary | 第53-55页 |
| Chapter Five Two Experimental Studies | 第55-76页 |
| ·Research questions | 第55页 |
| ·Research design | 第55-59页 |
| ·Subjects | 第55-56页 |
| ·Materials | 第56-57页 |
| ·Method | 第57-58页 |
| ·Procedures | 第58-59页 |
| ·Pre-experiment: A reading comprehension test | 第58页 |
| ·Experiment 1: A judgment task of Chinese sentences | 第58-59页 |
| ·Experiment 2: A judgment task of English sentences | 第59页 |
| ·Data analysis | 第59-68页 |
| ·The results of the reading comprehension test | 第59-60页 |
| ·Data analysis of Experiment 1 | 第60-64页 |
| ·Data analysis of Experiment 2 | 第64-68页 |
| ·Interviews | 第68-70页 |
| ·General discussion | 第70-74页 |
| ·Summary | 第74-76页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusions | 第76-78页 |
| ·Implications | 第76页 |
| ·Suggestions for further study | 第76-78页 |
| Bibliography | 第78-84页 |
| Appendix | 第84-97页 |
