The textbook holds the potential to serve as an instructional resource, to provide directives on how to effectively teach reading comprehension strategies. In this capacity, the textbook becomes a tool in the teacher's toolkit. With this tool in hand, teachers may be better prepared to face their mission--to improve adolescents' literacy. This dissertation sought to answer two overarching questions--Do teacher's editions of literature textbooks suggest that teachers provide instruction in reading comprehension strategies? If so, what kind of support are teachers given for that instruction? Using content analysis, this study analyzed reading comprehension strategy instruction in the teacher's editions of four literature textbook series, four textbooks at the 7th-grade and four textbooks at the 10th-grade level, examining instances of the elements of three approaches--direct explanation, reciprocal teaching, and transactional strategies instruction--in teaching targeted reading comprehension strategies. Instructional frameworks other than these three approaches were also coded. Within each instructional approach, the analysis targeted eight reading comprehension strategies--monitoring comprehension, questioning, making inferences, predicting, relating prior knowledge, summarizing, understanding text structure, and visualizing. The instruction of other reading strategies not targeted by the study was also coded to ascertain the number of other strategies and frequency of their instruction. Frequency counts and rich description captured the content of the textbooks. Coding was corroborated by two independent coders. Results indicated that direct explanation appears to be the preferred instructional approach in all the textbooks examined in this study. The reciprocal teaching and transactional strategies approaches were infrequently suggested, and mentioning was the most frequently suggested other approach to instruction. The evidence from this study suggests that publishers are including reading comprehension strategy instruction within their literature textbooks. However, the suggested instruction is not always teacher-led, does not embrace all of the elements of the direct explanation approach, and omits the rationale for strategy instruction. Few occasions for deliberate attempts at fostering transfer and coordination of multiple strategies are part of the reading strategy instruction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]