Various researchers have argued that teacher research contributes to narrowing the gap between educational research and its practice in school settings. However, only few studies have examined its reality, effects, and implications on teachers\' practice and their professional development in Korea. Thus, the present study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the reality of teacher research. This study was conducted through a narrative inquiry to analyze and interpret teachers\' research experiences. Three research questions were posed to investigate their research experiences: First, how do teacher researchers define teacher research?; Second, what are the distinctive features of teachers\' research experiences?; and Third, what are the critical issues which were derived from the teachers\' research experiences? The findings of this study are as follows: First, teacher researchers perceived teacher research as teachers\' spontaneous inquiry and actions for solving the various problems which they encountered in their everyday practice; Second, their research experiences indicate that teacher research is personal, professional, and practical; and Third, teacher researchers found it difficult to justify and legitimatize their research as “research” due to their preconceptions of research which were based on traditional concepts of its academic nature, a lack of knowledge of traditional research methodologies, and different ways of sharing and disseminating research findings than academic publications. The findings of this study suggest that traditional perspectives on research is dominant in the field of education, and they need to be transformed to fully understand the value and possibilities of teacher research.