The mechanisms by which adults acquire vocabulary and the relationship between adults' ability to acquire vocabulary and their method of processing information were the subjects of this study. Theoretical bases of the study were ideas from cognitive psychology, particularly the work of Sternberg. Subjects were preservice education majors and inservice teachers enrolled as graduate students in education at a medium-sized college in the rural west. The study correlated performance on three measures: Schmeck's Learning Styles Inventory, the Farr Assessment of Vocabulary Acquisition, and a vocabulary test used to predict performance on the Graduate Record Exam. The 135 subjects in 7 classes were grouped according to type of class. Three data analyses were conducted: Group 1, secondary English majors; Group 2, elementary education majors; and Group 3, master's students in education. Pearson correlation coefficients provided weak support for the hypothesized positive linear relationship between the tendency to process information deeply and the ability to acquire vocabulary and the hypothesized relationship of these to actual vocabulary knowledge. Regression analyses for Groups 2 and 3 indicated that the predictor variables used in the study (learning processes and ability to acquire vocabulary in context) explained a portion of the variance in the criterion variable, vocabulary. Findings implied that cultural context must be taken into account when assessing vocabulary. (10 references) (YLB)