The controversial field of semiotics has been criticized for its "unwillingness to respect boundaries" and its "conviction that everything is a sign." The central concerns of this wide-ranging field, however, can be defined, and its implications for teaching can be outlined. Semiotics is the study of signs (symbols, icons, and indexes) which can be organized into systems of objects and behaviors. There are three basic areas of semiotics--semantics, pragmatics, and syntactics. In oral language, reading, and literature, pragmatics has had a growing influence. A comprehensive view of curriculum is implicit in semiotics insofar as all existing school subjects--and even subjects not yet formulated--are by their nature ways of organizing signs. The very range of semiotics and its potential for organizing thinking about curriculum in new ways can add structure and substance to arguments for the things that teachers value: oral language, the written word, the arts, interdisciplinary study, and articulate exchange of ideas and feelings among students. Fifteen sources for further reading are provided. (RS)