Research on input processing in the acquisition of a non-primary language has rested largely on the assumption that learners use a meaning-based approach as the "default" when processing input (VanPatten, 1996). The study reported here poses a challenge to this assumption: findings show that participants who were absolute beginners used a primarily form-based approach when processing Norwegian, a language they had not been exposed to previously. We argue that when positing principles of input processing, there is a need to differentiate between learners who have and who have not developed intermediate grammars of the target language, and that input which is linguistically incomprehensible, as well as devoid of extralinguistic clues, induces form-based processing. The paper concludes with two hypotheses: (1) learners who have acquired some knowledge of the target language will adopt a meaning-based approach to input processing; and (2) learners who have no existing knowledge of the target language will adopt a form-based approach. (Contains 6 tables, 2 figures and 10 notes.)