A model for adult language learning is developed based on the postulates that language is semiotic, contextual, communicative, and cultural. Research in psycholinguistics has discovered that a cognitive and recognitional knowledge of language underlies and is greater than performative language. The move from the first level, the semantic base, to the operational layer is a function of grammatical, phonological, and semantic patterning. The semantic patterning is a building up of semantic networks in which lexical concepts are connected among themselves by various types of relational ties, such as taxonomic, content, part-to-whole, function, material, historical, and cultural. It can be shown that the higher one goes on the grammatical and phonological hierarchies, the more generalized is the contextual meaning, and the more specific is the lexical meaning. In the semantic hierarchy, the story level is where cultural meaning predominates and so would be the lowest level for initiating new language learning. According to the model, classroom teaching would have two procedures and related goals: laying the pre-semantic base by immersing students in the language through use of culturally relevant stories, and providing a variety of objective and subjective focusing activities requiring activity on the part of students. It is claimed that use of the model will enable students to become competent in useful linguistic and situational contexts. (AMH)