Issue 4 of 2015 is a special issue dedicated to providing definition and ways forward for the field of applied linguistics. The special issue features five shorter articles solicited from noted scholars in the field. Along with these invited papers are a book review of one recent history of the field (de Bot 2015) and a tribute to the late Christopher Candlin by Mike Breen. Dr Candlin had kindly accepted our invitation to contribute a programmatic statement for this special issue but was unable to complete the work due to illness. However, I think that in Breen’s overview of Dr Candlin’s career, one will find an indirect statement of what many would say it means to do applied linguistics.