Major factors influencing goals and outcomes of foreign language education are reviewed in order to identify a common core of goals. Alternative approaches to specifying outcomes are discussed and sample lists of outcomes for three levels of study are presented. The review of the main influences on the educational scene during the past decade leads to the identification of four major goals: (1) communicative functioning ability; (2) intercultural and international understanding; (3) a knowledge of language and how it works, and the development of effective learning strategies; and (4) career awareness. Several existing approaches are reviewed and critiqued. An alternative approach is described which is based on the four goals enumerated above. This approach involves: (1) defining the goals more specifically in order to identify the essential components; (2) translating the resulting material into terms compatible with educational reality and existing information about learners' potential and limitations; and (3) sequencing the material according to essentiality and difficulty, by levels of study. (Author/AMH)