Semantic mapping, which involves the application of vocabulary meanings, increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive structure, is recommended for use with literacy students in adult learning centers. Semantic mapping can be used as a prereading or prewriting stimulus, or as a postreading check of comprehension. Also, developing postreading maps helps motivate literacy students, since these maps are a graphic illustration of how much the reader has learned from the text. As a prewriting activity, semantic mapping obliges students to brainstorm and organize their thoughts before writing. Most importantly, semantic mapping is highly motivating for adult students because it allows them to interact with teachers regarding the context of the lesson, rather than merely on a specific point of skill development. The ultimate goal of semantic mapping is to introduce the students to a technique that they can use regularly to organize what they have read, relate this content to what they already know, and expand their store of knowledge through reading. Semantic mapping was used effectively at the Marion County Adult Learning Center (West Virginia) as a prereading, postreading, and prewriting activity with a group of students, all of whom read at less than the sixth-grade level. (Seven references and a student-developed semantic map are attached.) (ARH)