It is the purpose of this volume to present some of the highlights of the literature survey inaugurated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement which was undertaken in nine countries: Belgium, Chile, England, Finland, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. Information was sought concerning the curriculum in literature for two age levels--age 14, the highest age at which all students in each of the participating nations were still in school, and age 18, the pre-university year. The major hypotheses of the study dealt with the relationships among the stated aims of literature instruction and the relationship of those aims to the place of literature in the nation's culture, the outcomes of literature instruction in terms of cognitive achievement, interests, and attitudes, and the patterns of expressed responses by individuals to the works they read. Findings showed that the ability to comprehend and interpret literary texts was a subset of reading ability and was less the result of any particular curricular effort of the school than it was the result of a favorable home and school environment. (HOD)