Because of recent shifts in understanding the nature of knowledge and the process of learning, there may be major and long-lasting changes in the nature of educational research and its role for educators. Since most people understand through the use of metaphor, a metaphor that previously fostered the understanding of research is the assembly line of the industrial machine, which manufactures new knowledge in increasing quantities at more efficient rates. However, this comparison is no longer as appropriate as it once was. Some of the major problems that have characterized research include the following questions: (1) Who's the teacher and who's the researcher? (2) What is personal and what is professional? and (3) What are the differences between researching, learning, and teaching? Many of the dichotomies are being resolved by recognizing the duality of everything, such as (in language arts) learning to read by writing and teaching effectively by learning. A review of recent language arts research shows the same dichotomous nature for teacher-researchers, and perhaps for researcher-teachers. Powerful forces are at work to transform language arts research--and learning in general. (DF)