Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Research Background 1.2 Purposes and Research Questions 1.3 Organization of the Study Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1 Key Terms Defined 2.1.1 Bilingual 2.1.2 Speech Production 2.1.3 Lexical Access 2.1.4 Priming 2.1.5 Bilingual Language Control 2.2 Theories of Speech Production 2.2.1 Monolingual Speech Production Models 2.2.2 Bilingual Speech Production Models 2.3 Research on the BLC Mechanism 2.3.1 Nature of the BLC Mechanism 2.3.2 Scope oftheBLC Mechanism 2.3.3 Behavioral After-effects of the BLC Mechanism 2.3.4 Research Paradigms and Methodology 2.4 Limitations of Previous Research 2.5 Summary Chapter Three Experiment Design 3.1 Participants 3.2 Materials 3.3 Procedure 3.3.1 Sequence 3.3.2 Time 3.3.3 Color Cue 3.4 Data Collection and Pretreatment Chapter Four Results 4.1 Results of the Higher-L2-proficiency Group 4.1.1 Start Block vs Return Block: New Items 4.1.2 Start Block vs Return Block: Repeated Items 4.1.3 Switch Block: New Items vs Repeated Items 4.1.4 Cross-section Comparisons 4.2 Results of the Lower-L2-proficiency Group 4.2.1 Start Block vs Return Block: New Items 4.2.2 Start Block vs Return Block: Repeated Items 4.2.3 Switch Block: New Items vs Repeated Items 4.2.4 Cross-section Comparisons 4.3 Comparison of the Two Participant Groups 4.3.1 Similarities of the Two Groups 4.3.2 Differences of the Two Groups 4.4 Summary Chapter Five Discussion 5.1 Nature of the BLC Mechanism 5.1.1 Language Control of L1 5.1.2 Language Control of L2 5.2 Scope of the BLC Mechanism 5.3 Behavioral After-effects of Language Switching 5.3.1 Priming Effects 5.3.2 Language Switching Effects 5.4 The Role of L2 Proficiency 5.5 Summary Chapter Six Conclusion 6.1 Summary of the Present Study 6.2 Major Findings of the Present Study 6.3 Significance and Implications of the Present Study 6.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research References Appendix �� Participant Consent Form Appendix �� Language Background Questionnaire Appendix �� Pictures of the Experiment Afterword