First-exposure L2 acquisition and loss

This study investigates language attrition following minimal exposure to an unknown L2, focussing on the relationship between patterns in vocabulary, morphosyntax, and task type. 31 L1 Italian participants with no competence in the target language took an intensive 14-hour L2 Polish course. The input was entirely recorded and transcribed, which made it possible to quantify the frequency of occurrence of lexical and grammatical items. L2 data were collected using a structured task and a route direction task. In a delayed data collection session, the same tasks were administered 8 months after the end of the course, during which time the participants received no further input. The findings from the delayed post-test indicate that within the structured task, there was evidence of lexical attrition, accompanied by a moderate decline in morphological accuracy. Conversely, the route direction task demonstrated a pronounced reduction in the use of prepositional phrases, likely attributable to significant lexical attrition.