In this review article, we study the influence of cross-phase modulation, higher order nonlinear effects such as self-steepening, self-induced Raman scattering and higher order dispersion effects such as third and fourth order dispersion on cross-phase modulational instability for a highly elliptical birefringent optical fibre, and obtain the conditions for the occurrence of cross-phase modulational instability in the normal dispersion regime. In addition, we also consider the pulse propagation through a fibre Bragg grating structure where we investigate the occurrence of modulational instability at the two edges of the photonic bandgap as well as on the upper and lower branches of the dispersion curves.