Dustin De Felice

Living an Endangered Language: Learning Nahuatl and Its Vocabulary in Modern-day Mexico Dustin De Felice

Language acquisition for adult learners, specifically the acquisition of vocabulary, is a complex and difficult undertaking.  An adult learner may learn the target language in either a natural setting or a more traditional classroom.  The natural setting and the traditional classroom can be divided into two broad categories: informal or formal. The two acquisition categories exist on a continuum and each category has inherent strengths and weaknesses.  This case study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of both categories as they apply to a multilingual speaker and his acquisition of vocabulary.  The case study also demonstrates the strategies used by the subject in order to acquire the needed vocabulary necessary for each environment.