The value of pluralist views of literacy and numeracy afforded by New Literacy Studies (NLS) for researching and understanding literacy and numeracy is now well-established with the wealth of studies published, including articles in previous issues of Literacy and Numeracy Studies. NLS offers an alternative lens through which we can observe literacy and numeracy practices in places and in ways not available through the more ‘official’ and dominant lens of regulatory authorities. In this issue too, four of the authors are writing with an NLS approach and they present studies that alert us to aspects of literacy and numeracy practices that extend possibilities for further conceptual development in NLS.