ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the roles and motivations of language teachers in engaging in corpus-based research independently. It explores why teacher research is a key component of bridging corpus studies and second language learning and pedagogy, particularly in terms of engaging and directing a future research agenda. It broaches issues to consider in using corpus methods in researching professional contexts, from valorising all areas of language use in professional practice equally, to ethical concerns in researching professional contexts where participants are likely to colleagues and/or students. In addition, it argues that insights from corpus linguistics research can inform practices and be applied across classroom contexts, but advocates for research that looks at professional discourse outside the classroom as well, in education and training contexts, and, crucially, the workplace. This is a relatively neglected site of research where corpus research is concerned; a case study of how using a corpus of language teacher discourse in routine workplace meetings can reveal how professional knowledge is negotiated, constructed and displayed in context.
