See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/345349247

Book review: First Exposure to a Second Language: Learners’ Initial Input

Article · November 2020

CITATIONS READS
0 121

1 author:

Abdu Al Kadi
PU
49 PUBLICATIONS   135 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

An edited volume View project

Translating 'Youth and Peace' Training Toolkit View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Abdu Al Kadi on 23 November 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 LINGUIST List 31.3559
Thu Nov 19 2020
Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Han, Rast (2019)
Editor for this issue: Jeremy Coburn <jecoburnlinguistlist.org>

Date: 18-Jun-2020
From: Abdu Alkadi <findtalibgmail.com>
Subject: First Exposure to a Second Language
E-mail this message to a friend

Discuss this message

Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-973.html

EDITOR: ZhaoHong Han

EDITOR: Rebekah Rast
TITLE: First Exposure to a Second Language
SUBTITLE: Learners' Initial Input Processing
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Abdu Alkadi

SUMMARY

The book First Exposure to a Second Language: Learners’ Initial Input Processing, published in 2014 by
Cambridge University Press, is an edited volume, which is organized in six chapters of 224 pages. The
chapters are preceded by a short introduction and followed by an epilogue. The publication is the product of
joint efforts of 12 research scholars affiliated to universities in Canada, USA, France, and Korea. It gives a
bird’s eye view of learners’ processing of input at the very early stages of exposure to foreign languages other
than English: the Norwegian language in Chapter 1, Korean in Chapter 2, Polish in Chapter 3, German in
Chapter 4, and Spanish/Romanian in the fifth chapter.

The publication is rather a collection of empirical studies that were, in part, an outcome of a colloquium at
Georgetown University in 2009. It commences with an introduction in which the editors outline the theme and
contents of the volume. They highlighted the difference between language input and language intake, giving
reasons for selecting the topic of processing initial input of novice second language learners and defining input
processing as “the mediating process of intake” (p. 1). When reading this book, it is important to keep in mind
that much input that a learner is exposed to is not fully comprehended, and as a result may not affect the
learner’s linguistic system.

Following the introduction, Chapter 1, which is a replication of an earlier study, hones in on an argument that
the first exposure the learners start out with is form, not meaning. This is contrary to an earlier claim that
content words are processed before grammatical morphemes (VanPatten, 2004, 2007). Han and Sun support
their argument that for meaning to be processed, prior knowledge of the target language is necessary. In this
chapter, as in the following chapter, the authors, depending on the self-reporting techniques, vindicate
spontaneous processing of language input and shed light on what learners process on their own.

In Chapter 2, which is part of a larger exploratory inquiry, Eun Park heavily connects the current study with
their earlier publications, including the adaptation of what they referred to as an ‘input marking task’ and
‘learners’ think-aloud protocols.’ The former means that learners can pose any question about L2 input and the
latter records the process when learners naturally think aloud. The findings showed that each task had its pros
and cons; the input-marking task was better in terms of recording ‘surface-level features’ whereas the think-
aloud task was more effective to students who naturally preferred to talk aloud or their ‘deeper-level noticing.’
The current analysis is only concerned with the ‘zero knowledge’ condition wherein the participants had their
very first exposure to L2. Like Chapter 1, this chapter dwells on an argument that form comes before meaning.
The author maintained that for word processing to take place, learners must have sufficient knowledge of the
target words and their neighboring words.

In Chapter 3, Rast, Watorek, Hilton, and Shoemaker used two tasks, referred to as the ‘grammaticality
judgment’ and the ‘sentence production’ tasks, to examine the acquisition of Polish in formal educational
settings. The contributors traced a group of students’ first exposure to Polish and how they perceived and used
the new forms, and how their use was impacted by their L1, French. The results showed that students tend to
learn better when they are exposed to the target language over time, and their learning is impacted by whether
the tasks are implemented synchronously or asynchronously.

In Chapter 4, Carroll examined word learning through first exposure using what the author refers to as a
‘receptive task’. The study used posters to employ 50 undergraduate students at the University of Calgary. The
students were shown pictures of people along with descriptions in German. The task was to learn the names of
the people shown in the pictures. Some of the important findings of this chapter include the concept that L1
greatly affects the way adult learners learn a second language and that their L1 skills assist them in using the
target language. The study reported that the top down approach affects students owing to using the target
language to activate L1 words. Moreover, the author found that learners do not need extensive exposure to be
able to segment sound forms.

Chapter 5, by Nuria Sagarra, explicates the difference between first exposure learners and beginners wherein
the former have no previous knowledge and the latter have incipient knowledge of the target language. The
author reports a study based on 142 right-handed 18-40-year olds. They had high school or more education and
normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Input in this chapter is highly manipulated to test L1 transfer.
Investigating subject-verb agreement with a prime focus on previous findings from first exposure research, the
study showed that L1 transfer does not seem to occur in initial input processing and transferring likely take
place in the beginners’ case.

In Chapter 6, Moreno brings up a very important issue that studying language input is actually dealing with an
invisible phenomenon, and measuring the unseen is never straightforward and hence ends up with inconclusive
findings. The thrust of the chapter is the internal validity of input processing studies. The author draws on
VanPatten’s study of allocation of learners’ attention to form and meaning. The chapter provides
recommendations of research that maximize validity of such studies.

The book ends with an epilogue in which Bill VanPatten meticulously commented on every chapter. He
adamantly opines that processing is not noticing. In the former, learners connect meaning and form while the
latter (noticing) does not entail a connection between meaning and form. To the author, form and meaning are
connected from the start, contrary to the rest of contributors’ argument that there can be phases or levels of
processing. The epiloguer brought to the foreground insightful ideas for further consideration.

EVALUATION

First Exposure to a Second Language: Learners’ Initial Input Processing is an addition to the field of second
language acquisition (SLA). The book exhibits the contributors’ knowledge and familiarity with the topic.
Notwithstanding many books on the capacious subject of SLA with numerous variables, this volume
succinctly discusses how novice learners process the first exposure to the target language, which is a
complicated area of research. The authors managed to provide a thorough and timely account of the
controversial issue of initial language input. The publication has an academic style and erudite tone that make
it more appropriate for scholarly audiences within the boundaries of SLA.

As the title indicates, the volume undertakes learners’ first input processing. It focuses on SLA in the initial
stage of exposure to the target languages – input inducement and constraints. It touches on the difficulty of
measuring the amount of ‘input’, which is processed and turned into ‘intake’. It hinges on such questions as
what learners do when faced with a language they know little or nothing about, how beginners treat form and
meaning, as well as the factors mediating beginning learners’ processing of input. This is a shared concern
amongst SLA researchers. It is agreeable that SLA without input is unsuccessful (Rast, 2008) and the part of
input that the learner notices and internalizes is understood as intake (Krashen, 1985, 2009; Rast, 2008;
Truscott & Sharwood Smith, 2011).

The contributors used a diversity of techniques including introspections/self-reporting (Chapters 1 & 2),
grammaticality judgment tasks (Chapter 3), accuracy and latency measures/think-aloud (Chapter 4), and real
time measures such as self-paced reading/listening and eye-tracking (Chapter 5). Results collected from
multiple contexts and sources extended the investigation the book endures. The editors managed to create a
semblance of uniformity in chapter arrangement.

The volume has a few key terms that need more clarification such as ‘zero knowledge’ of the target language,
noticing, novice learners and beginners. Today it is hard to identify participants with zero knowledge of the
targeted language. The inevitable exposure to other languages through modern communication technologies
make the term ‘novice learners’ and ‘first exposure’ hard to define. Learners might have picked up words and
expressions of the target language before they are employed in an input processing experiment. Hence, the
term ‘beginners’ arguably serves the purpose when referring to learners with no previous exposure: beginners
are being already exposed to a few words and structure of the target language.

In addition, in the volume there is no clear-cut definition of processing. It sometimes confounds with noticing.
Throughout the book it is hypothesized that processing input has levels or phases and noticing occurs
somewhere in such levels. This entails that form and meaning are not connected from the start − contrary to
Bill VanPatten’s contention that form and meaning are well-linked at the very early stage of input processing.
Defending his argument, VanPattern thought processing is unconscious and implicit and noticing is conscious
and explicit, which introduced more controversies to the content of the book. Since the two terms are not
equivalent, it is important that researchers use techniques for processing which differ from techniques of
 noticing. This is because using research paradigms for noticing is worthless to argue for or against principles
related to processing (VanPatten, 2015).

Still, as it stands, the book is of central importance to theorists and teachers because of its overriding theme of
the state of learner spontaneous input processing in foreign language learning, and the extent to which this
processing leads to intake. It is also an essential resource for academics, researchers, pedagogues, and students
of applied linguistics pursuing their academic research within SLA and L2 pedagogy. The wide range of issues
the book covers may interest other researchers to pursue investigation by building on the results, or make some
inferences about processing. It also provides practitioners with insights to manipulate intake through
pedagogical interventions.

The valuable biographies and references used in writing the volume are worthwhile to read for depth and
breadth of the topic. For even more understanding of the phenomenon in question, the publication could be
combined with another volume by VanPatten and Williams (2015) in which the contributors delve into the
concepts of input, output, interaction, and SLA contemporary theories.

REFERENCES

Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York: Longman

Krashen, S. (2009). The comprehension hypothesis extended. In T. Piske & M. Young-Scholten

(Eds.), Input matters in SLA (pp. 81-94). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Rast, R. (2008). Foreign language input: Initial processing. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Truscott & Sharwood Smith, M. (2011). Input, intake, and consciousness: The quest for a theoretical
foundation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 497–528.
doi:10.1017/S0272263111000295

VanPatten & Williams (2015). Second Language acquisition research series: Theoretical
and methodological issues (Eds.). New York & London: Routledge.

VanPatten, B. (2004). Input processing in second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten (Ed.),

Processing instruction (pp. 1-31). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

VanPatten, B. (2015). Input processing in Adult SLA. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in
second language acquisition (pp. 113-134). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Abdu Al-Kadi, an assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, has contributed to courses in linguistics, English
as a Foreign Language (EFL), and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). He has authored, co-authored, and
reviewed articles in scholarly journals within the realm of L2 education, informal language learning, post-
method pedagogy, linguistics, and CALL. He serves now as a reviewer of the MEXTESOL Journal and is a
member of the International Editorial Board of the Journal of Education and Science (EGITIM VE BILIM) as
well as Language Teaching and Educational Research (LATER).

Page Updated: 19-Nov-2020

View publication stats