Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. For example, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for determining one or more modulation orders to be used for the communication of control channels and/or data channels. An exemplary method, performed by a UE, may include receiving downlink control information (DCI) that allocates resources for a communication, the DCI may include a first field that indicates a transport block size (TBS) of the communication and a second field, different from the first field, that indicates a modulation order of the communication, wherein the communication includes a transmission or a reception, and processing the communication according to the indicated modulation order. Numerous other aspects are provided.