Thirty Years of Machine Translation in Language Teaching and Learning: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Although use of machine translation (MT) technologies by learners may seem like a relatively new issue in foreign language (FL) education, researchers have been investigating connections between MT tools and FL teaching and learning for more than three decades, years before learners had access to free online services such as Google Translate. This literature review summarizes this rapidly expanding research domain both chronologically and thematically, identifying key concepts, insights, and findings and mapping them onto a framework inspired by questions commonly asked by both researchers and practitioners: How do learners use MT tools? What do instructors and learners think about MT? How might MT use affect language learning? How should instructors respond to MT use by learners? By summarizing and drawing connections between the assumptions, methods, and findings of key studies in these categories, this review provides a historical perspective and suggests new directions for future research.

AI in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Pedagogical Overview of Automated Writing Assistance Tools

“…Ranalli [1] Nova [35]; Conijn et al [36]; O'Neill and Russell [37]; Ghufron [38]; Huang et al [39]; John and Woll [40]; O'Neill and Russell [41]; Dale and Viethen [4] Dodigovic and Tovmasyan [42]; Zomer and Frankenberg-Garcia [43]; Dizon and Gayed [44]; Ranalli and Yamashita [3] AI-enabled machine translation O'Neill [45]; Lewis-Kraus [46]; Ellis [31]; Godwin-Jones [47]; Crossley [48]; O'Neill [45]; Fredholm [49] Godwin-Jones [50]; Hussein et al [20]; Enriquez Raiído and Saínchez-Torrón [51]; Lee [52]; Vinall and Hellmich [53]; Hellmich and Vinall [7]; Dale and Viethen [4] Urlaub and Dessein [54]; Zhang and Torres-Hostench [55]; Klekovkina and Denié-Higney [56]; Jolley and Maimone [57]; Ryu et al [58]; Vinall and Hellmich [10]; Pellet and Myers [9] Automatic text generation Ruder [59]; Dale [60]; Floridi and Chiriatti [61]; Ferrone and Zanzotto [62]; Dale [63] Dale and Viethen [4]; Dizon and Gayed [44]; Eaton et al [5]; Godwin-Jones [47]; Zhang and Li...…”

“…Crossley [48] argued the reasons why many language teachers discourage the use of MT in their classrooms are either they consider using it as cheating, or they fear it could lead to an end to the demand for FL instructors. The widespread notion that the way students use Google Translate for completing their assignments is just by copying and pasting without engaging with the target language is not accurate and is an overly simplistic point of view [10,56,57]. Secondlanguage learners tend to use MT to look up individual words or phrases rather than translating whole texts from their first language to the target language.…”

“…Several studies in the literature have explored the use of MT in second language acquisition, with special attention to using it in writing tasks [4,57]. Many studies entail allowing students to use MT for completing their first drafts or comparing their first drafts with machine-translated versions.…”

Machine translation and foreign language education

“…Due to the limited scope of this essay, we will not be able to provide an exhaustive review of existing educational research on machine translation technologies in foreign language education. For a broad panorama of the existing research, we recommend Jolley and Maimone (2022) state-of-the-art article that meticulously reviews the existing research literature in the fields of educational linguistics, second language studies, and foreign language education. Their analysis of existing empirical research, systematic case studies, argumentative essays, and action research reports on MT in educational settings identifies five interconnected research clusters.…”

Lost in machine translation: The promises and pitfalls of machine translation for multilingual group work in global health education

“…Tutors attended group meetings to support with translation, clarify misunderstandings, and explain course concepts. While previous research has explored the use of machine translation to support language learning [ 15 , 16 ], and teaching in a primary-school setting [ 17 ], limited research explores the implementation of machine translation in post-secondary education.…”