This paper argues that literacy needs to be conceived within a broad social order, what Street and others have called a "new communicative order." This new order takes account of the literacy practices associated with screen-based technologies. It recognizes that print-based reading and writing is now only part of what people have to learn to be literate. It begins by focusing on some of the important characteristics of the new communication order, discussing their implications for English curriculum and pedagogy. The paper then makes a number of suggestions about the directions research might take to further understanding of the new order. It concludes with the proposition that if we are witnessing the emergence of a new communication order, then the term "communication practices" might be more useful for English teachers than "literacy practices" as it is less tainted by reductive interpretations, theoretically more generative and a politically strategic move. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/RS)