A theory of learning based on recent insights from sociology and semiotics is explicated. Building on the work of Vygotsky, Dewey, Halliday, Barnes, Deely, Eisner, and others, this sociosemiotic model of learning is used as a frame of reference for thinking about the process by which texts are created from sensation. It is argued that the process by which learners come to make sense of their world is virtually the same for all learners. The essential nature of the social dimension of learning must be recognized. The story of two boys learning by watching a spider illustrates that learning is a social and psychological semiotic process. The process by which sensation, context, foreground, text, and data pool interact is psychological; and this process allows people to interact as members of a social community. While the apparatus for cognition is psychological, the substance of the process (the data perceived and the texts created) is sociological. A social theory of learning posits that knowledge is a construction of beliefs derived from the learner's active participation within a social community. Knowledge is based in part on empirical observation, but sense is made of what is perceived through the learner's active search for patterns of understanding, using present needs and past experiences. Eleven flowcharts illustrate the relationships among aspects of knowledge and learning. (SLD)