PARAGRAPHPlay as learning implications for educators and parents from findings of a national evaluation of school readiness in Ireland. International Journal of Play Vol. An amalgamated research field called the science of learning has identified four key ingredients of successful learning learning occurs best when children are mentally active not passive , engaged not distracted , socially interactive with peers or adults , and building meaningful connections to their lives Hirsh-Pasek et al. Language teaching and learning remains central to Applied Linguistics as an academic journal and as a field of enquiry. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the journal, we have put together an extensive reading list of the latest articles in language teaching and learning published in Applied Linguistics since to showcase new research in this core area.