A selective review of literature related to individual differences and instructional strategies is presented. The major purpose is to give the reader a flavor of the kind of thought that is currently prevalent and the type of research that is being conducted in selected areas. No attempt is made to provide either a comprehensive or a balanced treatment. Rather, studies illustrative of certain trends have been selected and included under one of six broad areas: theories of instruction, trait-treatment interaction analysis, learner control of instruction, adaptive instructional models, training of learner traits and strategies, and designing instructional tasks. Some integration of the six areas is attempted. (Author)