| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5-7页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第7-16页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第16-20页 |
| ·General description of the study | 第16页 |
| ·Need for the study | 第16-18页 |
| ·Overall structure of the thesis | 第18-20页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第20-38页 |
| ·Overview | 第20页 |
| ·Studies on polysemy | 第20-22页 |
| ·Definition of polysemy | 第20-21页 |
| ·Polysemy and homonymy | 第21-22页 |
| ·Studies on mental lexicon | 第22-26页 |
| ·The notion of mental lexicon | 第22-23页 |
| ·Mental lexicon | 第22-23页 |
| ·Mental lexicon and book dictionary | 第23页 |
| ·Organization of mental lexicon | 第23-26页 |
| ·Hierarchical network model | 第24页 |
| ·Spreading activation model | 第24-26页 |
| ·Studies on polysemous representation abroad and at home | 第26-31页 |
| ·Previous studies on polysemous representation abroad | 第26-28页 |
| ·The core-sense view | 第26-27页 |
| ·The separate-sense view | 第27-28页 |
| ·Previous studies on polysemous representation at home | 第28-29页 |
| ·Experimental method in studies of polysemous representation: categorization | 第29-31页 |
| ·Kinds of categories | 第29-31页 |
| ·Categorization experiment in psycholinguistics | 第31页 |
| ·Studies on lexical access abroad and at home | 第31-36页 |
| ·Lexical access models | 第31-32页 |
| ·Selective access model | 第31-32页 |
| ·The logogen model | 第32页 |
| ·Previous studies on lexical access abroad | 第32-34页 |
| ·Previous studies on lexical access at home | 第34-35页 |
| ·Previous studies on factors affecting access effects | 第35-36页 |
| ·Summary | 第36-38页 |
| Chapter Three Theoretical Framework | 第38-45页 |
| ·Theoretical foundations | 第38-41页 |
| ·The operational definition of polysemy | 第38-39页 |
| ·Spreading activation model in polysemous representation | 第39-40页 |
| ·Two kinds of categories used in the representation experiment | 第40页 |
| ·Lexical access models in accessing process | 第40-41页 |
| ·Theoretical framework for the present study | 第41-42页 |
| ·Variables to be investigated and their operational definitions | 第42-43页 |
| ·Specific research questions | 第43-45页 |
| Chapter Four Research Methodology | 第45-50页 |
| ·Design for polysemous representation experiment | 第45-47页 |
| ·Subjects | 第45页 |
| ·Materials | 第45-46页 |
| ·Procedure | 第46-47页 |
| ·Design for lexical access experiment | 第47-50页 |
| ·Subjects | 第47页 |
| ·Materials | 第47-48页 |
| ·Procedure | 第48-49页 |
| ·Scoring scheme | 第49-50页 |
| Chapter Five Results for the Empirical Study | 第50-61页 |
| ·Results of the polysemous representation experiment | 第50-56页 |
| ·General analysis of polysemous representation | 第50-54页 |
| ·Contrastive analysis between freshmen and seniors | 第54-55页 |
| ·Correlation analysis of proficiency and TCHC.ACC or TCHC.RT | 第55-56页 |
| ·Results of the lexical access experiment | 第56-61页 |
| ·General analysis of access RT and scores between freshmen and seniors | 第56-58页 |
| ·Analysis of scores and RT of various polysemous senses at high- and low- frequency levels between freshmen and seniors | 第58-60页 |
| ·Correlations between RT and score | 第60-61页 |
| Chapter Six Findings, Discussions and Conclusions | 第61-83页 |
| ·Major findings | 第61-63页 |
| ·Discussions for the major findings | 第63-79页 |
| ·The differences in polysemous representation between high- and low- proficiency EFL learners | 第63-64页 |
| ·Explanation of polysemous representation in mental lexicon based on SAM | 第64-65页 |
| ·The differences and similarities in lexical access quality and speed for the high-frequency polysemous words between high- and low-proficiency EFL learners | 第65-69页 |
| ·The difference and similarity in lexical access quality and speed for the low-frequency polysemous words between high- and low-proficiency EFL learners | 第69-70页 |
| ·Four major findings revisited | 第70-76页 |
| ·Theorizing the development of polysemous representation in access process | 第76-79页 |
| ·Conclusions | 第79-80页 |
| ·Pedagogical implications | 第80-81页 |
| ·Limitations | 第81页 |
| ·Suggestions for further research | 第81-83页 |
| References | 第83-89页 |
| Appendix I | 第89-91页 |
| Appendix II | 第91-94页 |
