This article argues that consumer-oriented machine translation software applications are disrupting foreign language education. In order to mitigate this impact, the article provides guidance on how to transform teachers' perceptions of online translators. This process is a critical precondition for the gradual and thoughtful implementation of online translators in the foreign language classroom. The first part of the articles will define the concept of disruption and use the pocket calculator as an historical example to illustrate challenges and solutions for an educational setting that was fundamentally impacted by a new technology. The second part will turn to the present and focus on the impact of online translators not only on ways humans communicate across languages in authentic real-world settings, but also on the foreign langauge classroom. In the third part, we will argue that a careful recalibration of educational objectives that will have to include the students' ability to engage effectively in tasks that rely on human-machine collaboration will provide an opportunity to integrate online translators and related technologies into foreign language curricula. To this end, we propose that future generations of language learners need to develop specific competencies that will qualify them to effectively collaborate with online translators and related technologies. The conclusion will outline future leadership priorities for professional organizations and teacher training programs while acknowledging the limitations associated with the integration of the machine translation technologies into language learning environments.
Online machine translation tools have great potential to transform foreign language education. This essay will synthesize systematic research on the role of machine translation conducted in the field of educational linguistics. After describing approaches developed that promote the integration of machine translation into language learning environments, the essay will briefly outline lingering concerns associated with the integration of MT tools into educational settings. We will propose future R&D priorities that can generate products based on existing technologies that have the potential to support language learners more optimally compared to existing machine translation tools. We conclude that an acknowledgment of the difficulties of MT tools to handle socio-culturally complex source text would pave the way for the development of MT-based pedagogical tools.
This article analyzes the perceptions of two undergraduate learners’ regarding the educational impact of a collaborative map making project in the context of a summer study abroad program in France, focused on language learning. Over the eight-week long program, students created a digital map with textual and visual annotations that helped them to reflect on their prior associations with a location or landmark in the host country, the associations that members of the host country had with this location, and finally their own experience after visiting the location. The objective of this project was to help students to experience a more nuanced sense of place, to articulate imaginative mobility, and, as a result, to develop an increased level of intercultural awareness. The participants’ reflections after the end of the program suggest that through the engagement with the tasks associated with the project students engaged in imaginative mobility and developed a more nuanced sense of place. In particular, the experience of eliciting perspectives from local informants had a positive impact on their development of intercultural awareness.
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