A method for conveying signaling information of a communication system that uses MIMO antenna systems. To enable a relatively larger amount of information to be conveyed over the communication system and thus exploit the use of the MIMO antenna system, forward link signaling channels are provided where such channels contain swapping information that allow the communication system to retransmit traffic information using any one of the antenna elements of a MIMO system. The forward link signaling channels also contain channel assignment information that indicate which particular groups of channels are available for use by particular users of the communication system. To further accommodate for the relatively larger amount of information being conveyed over the communication system, the format of the reverse link signaling information is modified using any one or any combination of the following three mechanisms: (1) reverse signaling link information is time division multiplexed; (2) the reverse link information is modulated at relatively higher order modulation; (3) additional channels are provided for the reverse link information.