This chapter provides an overview of some common objectives of first exposure studies conducted in SLA and the sporadic results of such studies to date. The 'first exposure' designation applies to studies in which data are collected from the very first moment of contact with the TL and within the first seconds, minutes and hours of subsequent exposure, and in which all TL input is controlled. Researchers working at this early stage of L2 acquisition seek to learn more about the learner's pre-existing system, including the role that implicit and explicit knowledge and linguistic knowledge (L1 and other L2s) play in their ability to process elements of the new TL. In addition, such research investigates the influence of the linguistic environment (TL input) on the learners' processing of the new TL during specific language activities (perception, comprehension, grammatical analysis and production) and on their acquisition of the TL within the first seconds, minutes and hours of exposure to the given linguistic environment. Learner differences are also an area of investigation. We will begin with a discussion of general objectives of first exposure studies, followed by a survey of the exiguous studies that have been conducted at this initial phase of L2 acquisition. This will set the stage for the presentation of our study on initial processing of foreign language input.

Objectives of First Exposure Studies

Knowledge brought to the acquisition task: The pre-existing system

Research conducted on first exposure to a TL shares the universal question: what do adult learners bring to this task of acquiring a new language? In this section we will explore what some SLA researchers have identified as factors of a 'prior system' (Giacobbe, 1992b), that is, the system that can be attributed to adult learners at the moment of first exposure to a new language.