Language Instructors’ Beliefs and Coping Mechanisms on the Use of Machine Translation: Cautions and Concerns
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1502.05Keywords:
instructor beliefs, machine translation, machine translation literacy, plagiarism, institutions of higher learningAbstract
Machine translation (MT) is widely used in second or foreign language learning and is one of the most used language learning applications among tertiary learners. However, problems arise when learners are unable to utilise machine translation effectively, necessitating important instructor guidance. The present study aimed to explore university instructors’ beliefs about learners' use of machine translation in second or foreign language writing tasks and assessments and to investigate the extent to which teaching strategies and assessments are adapted in view of its widespread use. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 127 instructors at an institution of higher learning via questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Findings revealed that instructors concur with the use of machine translation as a useful auxiliary learning tool, as long as it is used with care and caution within clear guidelines and framework. Although the instructors have also made some adjustments to their teaching, their coping mechanisms are not sustainable owing to lack of clear guidelines on the use of machine translation in language learning. It is suggested that learner guidance and clear institutional guidelines be provided for optimal use of machine translation in language learning.
References
Ahmad, T. (2019). Scenario based approach to re-imagining future of higher education which prepares students for the future of work. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 10(1), 217-238. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-12-2018-0136
Akbari Motlaq, M. D., & Tengku Mahadi, T. S. (2020). Advantages and disadvantages of using machine translation in translation pedagogy from the perspective of instructors and learners. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews, 8(4), 121-137. https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8414
Ali, W. Z. W., Ismail, H., & Cheat, T. T. (2012). Plagiarism: to what extent it is understood? Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 59, 604-611.
Ata, M., & Debreli, E. (2021). Machine translation in the language classroom: Turkish EFL learners’ and instructors’ perceptions and use. IAFOR Journal of Education, 9(4), 103-122. https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.9.4.06
Baker, C. L. (2020). Student and instructor perceptions of the use of online translators in English Composition. Retrieved January 31, 2024, from https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5102&context=td.
Blee, K. M., & Taylor, V. (2002). Semi-structured interviewing in social movement research. In B. Klandermans & S.Staggenborg (Ed.), Methods of social movement research (pp. 92-117). University of Minnesota Press.
Bowker, L. (2019). Machine translation literacy as a social responsibility. Proceedings of the Language Technologies for All (LT4All), 2019, 104-107. Retrieved January 27, 2024, from https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/42862/1/Bowker - 2019 - Proceedings of LT4All conference - MT Literacy as a Social Responsibility.pdf
Bowker, L. (2020). Machine translation literacy instruction for international business students and business English instructors. Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship, 25(1-2), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2020.1794739
Bowker, L., & Ciro, J. B. (2019). Machine translation and global research: Towards improved machine translation literacy in the scholarly community. Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781787567214
Campbell, S. (2002). Translation in the context of EFL-The fifth macroshill? TEFLIN Journal, 13(1), 58-72. http://teflin.org/journal/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/139/124
Cancino, M., & Panes, J. (2021). The impact of Google Translate on L2 writing quality measures: Evidence from Chilean EFL high school learners. System, 98, 102464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102464
Case, M. (2015). Machine translation and the disruption of foreign language learning activities. ELearning Papers, 45, 4-16. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from http://du.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A874792&dswid=8504
Chan, N. N., & Ang, C. S. (2017). Investigating the use of mobile applications in everyday language learning. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 11(4), 378-394. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMLO.2017.087088
Chun, D., Smith, B., & Kern, R. (2016). Technology in language use, language teaching, and language learning. Modern Language Journal, 100, 64-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12302
Clifford, J., Merschel, L., & Munné, J. (2013). Surveying the Landscape: What is the role of machine translation in language learning? @Tic. Revista D’Innovació Educativa, 10, 1. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from http://ojs/index.php/attic/article/view/2228
Correa, M. (2011). Academic dishonesty in the second language classroom: Instructors’ perspectives. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 1(1), 65-79. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/7863470/correa2011-MJLTM-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1639817703&Signature=eBxU8CTkzHNctqmiv2oAphcOekqAcMr7-a56IiedQMWm0H1N~wC1svOVaEDkdSWQtpYDZzKICtP~c5O9j5bZELx9b7~adk8uueHFF4N0ynHkWoSikOnL5sX-P2be6qK1KWkRrfnKL5ls
Correa, M. (2014). Leaving the “peer” out of peer-editing: Online translators as a pedagogical tool in the Spanish as a second language classroom. Latin American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 7(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5294/3568
Delorme Benites, A., Cotelli Kureth, S., Lehr, C., & Steele, E. (2021). Machine translation literacy: A panorama of practices at Swiss universities and implications for language teaching. CALL and Professionalisation: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2021, 2021(2021), 80-87. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2021.54.1313
Dorst, A. G., Valdez, S., & Bouman, H. (2022). Machine translation in the multilingual classroom: How, when and why do humanities students at a Dutch university use machine translation? Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 8(1), 49-66. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00080.dor
Ducar, C., & Schocket, D. H. (2018). Machine translation and the L2 classroom: Pedagogical solutions for making peace with Google Translate. Foreign Language Annals, 51(4), 779-795. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12366
Fibriana, I., Ardini, S. N., & Affini, L. N. (2021). Google Translate and its role in academic writing for university students. Journal of Advanced English Studies, 4(1), 26–33. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from https://jaes.journal.unifa.ac.id/index.php/jes/article/view/96
Gullifer, J., & Tyson, G. A. (2010). Exploring university students’ perceptions of plagiarism: A focus group study. Studies in Higher Education, 35(4), 463-481. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070903096508
Hanson, W. E., Creswell, J. W., Clark, V. L. P., Petska, K. S., & Creswell, J. D. (2005). Mixed methods research designs in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 224. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=psychfacpub
Henshaw, F., & O’Neill, E. M. (2021). Is there a place for online translators in language courses. Panel Discussion with Dr. Florencia Henshaw. IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology), Virtual Conference.
Jolley, J. R., & Maimone, L. (2015). Free online machine translation: Use and perceptions by Spanish students and instructors. In A. J. Moeller (Ed.), Learn languages, explore cultures, transform lives (pp. 181–200). Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Egg Harbor, WI. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1298&context=teachlearnfacpub#page=202
Kasemzadeh, A., & Kashani, A. (2014). The effect of computer-assisted translation on L2 learners’ mastery of writing. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 3(3), 29-44.
Kenny, D. (2022). Machine translation for everyone: Empowering users in the age of artificial intelligence (Vol. 18). Language Science Press.
Kim, E. Y. J., & LaBianca, A. S. (2018). Ethics in academic writing help for international students in higher education: Perceptions of faculty and students. Journal of Academic Ethics, 16(1), 39-59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-017-9299-5
Lam, K. W. (2021). The use of Google Translate in English language learning: How students view it. International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society, 3(1), 47-53. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijares%0AThe
Lee, S. M. (2020). The impact of using machine translation on EFL students’ writing. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 33(3), 157-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1553186
Lee, S. M., & Briggs, N. (2021). Effects of using machine translation to mediate the revision process of Korean university students’ academic writing. ReCALL, 33(1), 18-33. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344020000191
Loock, R., Léchauguette, S., & Holt, B. (2022). Dealing with the “elephant in the classroom”: Developing language students’ machine translation literacy. Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 118-134.
Loock, R., & Léchauguette, S. (2021). Machine translation literacy and undergraduate students in applied languages: Report on an exploratory study. Revista Tradumatica, 19, 204-225. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/tradumatica.281
McDougall, J., Readman, M., & Wilkinson, P. (2018). The uses of (digital) literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(3), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1462206
Mundt, K., & Groves, M. (2016). A double-edged sword: The merits and the policy implications of Google Translate in higher education. European Journal of Higher Education, 6(4), 387-401. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2016.1172248
Nguyen, T. Q., & Chiang, D. (2018). Improving lexical choice in neural machine translation. North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1710.01329
Niño, A. (2009). Machine translation in foreign language learning: Language learners’ and tutors’ perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages. ReCALL, 21(2), 241-258. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344009000172
O’Brien, S., & Ehrensberger-Dow, M. (2020). MT Literacy—A cognitive view. Translation, Cognition & Behavior, 3(2), 145-164. Retrieved August 24, 2023, from https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/bitstream/11475/20864/3/2020_OBrien-Ehrensberger-Dow_MT-Literacy_JBE.pdf
O’Neill, E. M. (2019a). Online translator, dictionary, and search engine use among L2 students. Call-Ej, 20(1), 154-177. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from 55http://callej.org/journal/20-1/O’Neill2019.pdf
O’Neill, E. M. (2019b). Training students to use online translators and dictionaries: The impact on second language writing scores. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrsll.2019.4002
Pecorari, D. (2015). Plagiarism in second language writing: Is it time to close the case? Journal of Second Language Writing, 30, 94-99. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2015.08.003
Pecorari, D., & Shaw, P. (2012). Types of student intertextuality and faculty attitudes. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(2), 149-164.
Peng, K., Ding, L., Zhong, Q., Shen, L., Liu, X., Zhang, M., Ouyang, Y., & Tao, D. (2023). Towards making the most of ChatGPT for machine translation. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.13780
Resende, N., & Way, A. (2021). Can Google Translate rewire your L2 English processing? Digital, 1(1), 66-85. https://doi.org/10.3390/digital1010006
Rico, C., & Pastor, D. G. (2022). The role of machine translation in translation education: A thematic analysis of translator educators’ beliefs. Translation and Interpreting, 14(1), 177-197. https://doi.org/10.12807/TI.114201.2022.A010
Stapleton, P., & Leung, K. K. B. (2019). Assessing the accuracy and teachers’ impressions of Google Translate: A study of primary L2 writers in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 56(July), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2019.07.001
Strauss A., & Corbin J. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage.
Yamada, M. (2019). Language learners and non-professional translators as users. In The Routledge handbook of translation and technology (pp. 183-199). Routledge.
Yoon, C. (2016). Concordancers and dictionaries as problem-solving tools for ESL academic writing. Language Learning & Technology, 20(1), 209-229. Retrieved September 16, 2023, from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2016/yoon.pdf
Yi, Y., & Choi, J. (2015). Teachers’ views of multimodal practices in K-12 classrooms: Voices from teachers in the United States. Tesol Quarterly, 49(4), 838-847. Retrieved September 30, 2023, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43893789
Zhang, A. D. (2020). Qiantan rengong zhineng fanyi xinxingshixia de waiyu jiaoxue gaige [Foreign language teaching reform under the new situation of artificial intelligence translation]. Yangtze River Series, 9, 71-72. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFDLASN2020&filename=CJCK202009044&uniplatform=NZKPT&v=RLbx6bACVlPBS4F01yyqQp1TtoeFEDOeiPCP4zIdlm3XsRDfWP9xZ_qiufxyts03
