Three possible directions for literacy research in the United Kingdom (UK), in terms of three comparative perspectives are (1) cross-cultural, (2) academic/practitioner, and (3) adult/school. Walter Ong's argument that with the advent of writing human consciousness and ways of thinking were altered fundamentally, underlies many of the claims for literacy made within literacy programs in schools and in adult settings, both in the Third World and in developed societies. Recent ethnographies of literacy are beginning to challenge and undermine the theoretical basis of Ong's argument, and a new theoretical framework and a new set of questions for research are called for in literacy studies. Suggested research topics include: (1) investigation of whether the modern nation state uses literacy teaching and practices as a means to homogenize its borders and to make the cultural boundaries coterminous with political boundaries; (2) an overview of the social and cultural characteristics of literacy teaching situations that might identify features helpful to those in the field; (3) ethnographic studies on the uses of literacy in the community and on the networks and reciprocities involved to identify the teaching and learning contexts and processes most likely to succeed; and (4) a social history of the actual practices of literacy teaching and learning. (Forty-four references are attached.) (RAE)