This study, the culmination of a 3-year effort, represents the first step in the establishment of a European unit-credit system for foreign language learning by adults. Objectives are based on learners' needs and expressed in terms of operational learning objectives, with reference to the roles a language-user has to play, the settings in which he will play these roles, and the topics he will deal with. The threshold level (T-level) is defined for a specific population. Part 1 describes the establishment of a unit-credit system and the definition of language-learning objectives. In part 2, the T-level is defined in detail with reference to the following dimensions: specific situations, language activities, language functions, behavioral specifications, general and specific notions. Finally, the degree of skill involved in T-level competence is characterized as a guideline for test construction. Criterion levels for testing are also briefly discussed. While this work deals with English, the same analytical procedure could be used for other languages. Appendices contain: (1) an alphabetical list of lexical items and their category or meaning within the T-level objectives; (2) an alphabetical grammatical inventory of English that demonstrates the range of structures and possible utterances that would have to be taught for T-level objectives; and (3) a grammatical summary of English structures. (PAE)