The use of machine translation in L2 education: Japanese university teachers’ views and practices

Abstract

Machine Translation (MT) is receiving increasing attention within language education due to both its affordances and the potential it offers for academic misconduct. To understand more about teachers’ views and practices, a survey was conducted with 153 foreign language (L2) educators who teach at Japanese universities. The survey examined their; (1) use of MT to assist with L2 reading, writing, speaking, and listening, both personally and in their courses; (2) views on MT in language education; and (3) knowledge of how to help students use MT effectively and their willingness to learn about this. The results indicated that most teachers supported the use of MT as a learning tool, but many had concerns over its misuse. Few felt they had enough knowledge to guide students toward effective use and the vast majority wanted to learn more about how to do so. These findings highlight a need for teacher support and underscore the necessity of more research and workplace discussions on the integration and regulation of MT within L2 education.

A worldwide study on language educators’ initial response to ChatGPT

“…Teachers who had used ChatGPT before had significantly higher positive impact scores (M = 0.26) compared to non-users (M = -0.26; t = 5.53, p < 0.001). This aligns with findings from research on machine translation conducted with language teachers (Ohashi, 2022) and a study with teachers of various subjects that found using ChatGPT more frequently led to more positive perspectives (Kaplan-Rakowski et al, 2023). However, there was no significant difference in negative impact scores between these groups.…”

“…Teachers expressed a mix of optimism about the benefits of efficiency and self-directed learning, and caution about enabling academic misconduct and over-reliance. Direct experience with ChatGPT was associated with more positive perspectives, consistent with patterns from research on machine translation tools (Ohashi, 2022). Adoption is clearly at an early stage of development.…”

“…Empirical research has identified benefits such as improved vocabulary knowledge, drafting skills and metalinguistic awareness (Klimova et al, 2023). However, risks such as accepting incorrect output as correct have also been documented (Loock et al, 2022) and many educators fear misuse (Ohashi, 2022). Despite this, some studies have shown students tend to use machine translation tools, such as Google Translate, constructively in writing rather than avoiding writing itself (Alm & Watanabe, 2022).…”

“…For example, a recent study has uncovered problems with plagiarism in ChatGPT writing activities (Yan, 2023), echoing concerns raised in response to machine translation tools. Many language teachers in a Japan-based study by Ohashi (2022) agreed that machine translation could be used for language skill development, but also voiced concerns over its misuse. Few of Ohashi's participants felt they had the required knowledge to help students use machine translation effectively and the vast majority wanted to extend their knowledge.…”