The literature advisory group--comprised of English teachers at all levels, language arts supervisors, and professionals with a national perspective--convened in March 1972 to begin the revision of the literature objectives which had been created in 1965-66 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In this booklet, literature is defined as language used imaginatively to communicate ideas and feelings, express perceptions, provide interpretations, and present visions of human experience. Literature exists in all cultures at all times and appears in oral, written, and enacted forms. The advisory committee intended that the three major objectives be seen as a sequence of increasingly complex activities. The first objective emphasizes immediate experience with literature--the witness must be aware of imaginative language. The second objective emphasizes the ways in which the observer can participate in an experience with literature, and the third objective emphasizes literature as a cultural phenomenon. Two appendixes list the participants for the literature objectives conference and for the review conference. (LL) Primary type of information provided by report: Assessment Instrument (Objectives); Procedures (Objectives Development).