This paper deals with the acquisition of the lexicon of a foreign language by adult learners. The first part of the paper offers a brief overview of research on vocabulary learning and teaching; it also touches on the needs of adult language learners and the controversial question of whether vocabulary should be taught explicitly or not. The second part of the paper discusses relevant insights from cognitive psychology and language awareness studies. In conclusion, some suggestions are made on how language learning materials could be structured to promote effective lexical acquisition. / Hierdie artikel handel oar die verwerwing van die woordeskat van 'n vreemde taal deur volwasse leerders. Die eerste deel bied 'n bree oorsig oar navorsing oar die aanleer en onderrig van woordeskat; dit verwys oak na die behoeftes van volwasse leerders en die omstrede vraag of woordeskqt eksplisiet onderrig moet word of nie. Die tweede deel bespreek relevante insigte verkry uit kognitiewe sielkun(ie en taalbewustheidstudies. Ten slotte word voorstelle gemaak oar hoe taalverwerwingsmateriaal gestruktureer kan word am effektiewe woordeskatverwerwing te bevorder