Having opportunities to work with literary texts in language teaching is crucial to promoting students' language development,general education, and personal growth. Despite the recognized importance of reading literary texts in research and in policy,to date, little is known about the frequency and characteristics of literature instruction in the teaching of English as a second,foreign, or additional language. To illuminate classroom practices, this large-scale,longitudinal, video-observationstudy of naturallyoccurring English instruction in Norway examines to what extent students read literature in the classroom, what kindsof literary texts are read, and what opportunities teachers create for students to explore those texts across 200 lessons. The studyinvolves lower secondary English teaching in 43 classrooms during the past decade (2015–2024) and integrates a quantitativemapping of the presence and forms of the literature read with a qualitative analysis of the literature lessons using an observationprotocol for exploration in teaching. The results indicate that literary texts were often included in English teaching and that theirpresence was consistent over time. However, there may be a need to support teachers in implementing in-depthexplorations ofliterary texts that can foster students' engaged, reflective, and multilayered literary reading and response.