Student use and instructor beliefs: Machine translation in language education

The use of machine translation (MT) tools remains controversial among language instructors, with limited integration into classroom practices. While much of the existing research into MT and language education has explored instructor perceptions, less is known about how students actually use MT or how student use compares to instructor beliefs and expectations. In response to this gap, the current article explores how students use MT while writing and how this use compares to instructor perceptions via two studies: a computer-tracking study of how 49 second semester-level language learners (French, Spanish) use MT and a qualitative survey of 165 US-based second language educators’ beliefs about MT. Findings highlight important areas of alignment (e.g., MT input at word level) and divergence (e.g., MT output analysis strategies) between student use and instructor perceptions as well as layered tensions in what mediates student use of MT tools. The article concludes with calls for more research on student use and an outline for how to approach MT tools in language education in ways that support existing student practices

A Critical Look at the Bigger Picture: Macro-Level Discourses of Language and Technology in the United States

Despite its numerous benefits and potentialities for language learning and teaching, digital technology can also play a role in creating and and maintaining inequality. While critical critical CALL often focuses on micro-level issues and contexts, macro-level perspectives, including discourses, are also essential to consider: From ecological and language-as-discourse perspectives, macro-level discourses have the potential to impact and shape CALL practices and contexts. Using critical discourse analysis methods, this article takes the 2017 American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) report, America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century, as a window into macro-level discourses of language and technology in American society today. Findings reveal a series of interrelated frames and scales that, taken together, suggest a neoliberal discourse that positioned language, technology, and ultimately CALL as tools to enhance national competitiveness on a global marketplace. The article concludes with implications of these findings for the CALL field.24 month embargo; issued date: 14 Jan 2019This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Language in a global world: A case study of foreign languages in U.S. K-8 education

Over the past decade, there have been numerous calls to update U.S. education to reflect an increasingly global world (Hull & Hellmich, 2018). Foreign languages (FLs) are often perceived as central to these efforts (American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2017). Despite this centrality, less is known about how FLs are understood in U.S. K-12 education today, particularly at the individual and school levels. Using an ecological theoretical frame and a case study research design, this article focused on one K-8 immersion school and examined (1) the discourses that teachers, administrators, parents, and students used to understand FLs in education; (2) how their understandings impacted the learning environment; and (3) how local beliefs and behaviors aligned with larger societal philosophies and practices. Findings revealed areas of both alignment and divergence from previous literature and highlight the complex understandings that are used to position and guide FL education.24 month embargo; published online: 12 April 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Machine Translation in Foreign Language Writing: Student Use to Guide Pedagogical Practice

The recent advent of more powerful machine translation (MT) tools has significant implications for foreign language teaching and learning. While current research and pedagogical guidelines on MT in the foreign and second language classroom have focused primarily on survey data, less is known about how students actually use MT tools. The current article chronicles a computer tracking study of novice learners of French as a Foreign Language (n=26) as a way to inform this field of research. Drawing on diverse data sources (screen-recorded observations, retrospective recalls, post-interviews) and a Critical Incident Technique analytical approach, the article showcases the actions and cognitive processes related to MT that both supported and hindered student participants in their foreign language writing. Supportive behaviors and mindsets centered on a specific awareness of MT tool limitations paired with appropriate action while detrimental behaviors and mindsets centered on inappropriate input, lack of output analysis, and time. Suggestions for how these use-based findings might inform how MT is discussed in the language classroom conclude the article.Le traducteur en ligne (par exemple, GoogleTranslate, Yandex, DeepL Translate), un outil de plus en plus accessible, efficace, et précis, a d'importantes conséquences pour l'apprentissage des langues étrangères. La recherche et la pédagogie axées sur les traducteurs en ligne se basent souvent sur les sondages menés auprès des enseignants et des étudiants ainsi que les pratiques et les usages déclarés de ces derniers. Nous en savons moins sur les comportements et usages réels des étudiants qui se servent des traducteurs en ligne pour les tâches de production écrite. Le but de cette étude est de peaufiner les recommandations pour l'intégration des traducteurs en ligne au sein de l'enseignement des langues étrangères. L'étude s'appuie sur l'analyse des comportements à l'ordinateur de 26 apprenants universitaires de français langue étrangère (FLE). La tâche que nous leur avons donnée était une courte composition écrite (150 mots) adaptée au niveau débutant. Diverses données ont été collectées : capture vidéo d'écran, entretiens rétrospectifs et entretiens généraux. Ces données ont été soumises à une analyse d'"incidents critiques" : un incident qui influence le déroulement de l'apprentissage et de l'enseignement. Dans le contexte de cette étude, une telle analyse permet l'identification des actions et connaissances qui soutiennent et entravent l'écriture à l'aide du traducteur en ligne. Des 26 participants, 23 se sont servis des traducteurs en ligne en écrivant. L'analyse a souligné plusieurs actions, connaissances et motivations qui ont soutenu et entravé l'écriture à l'aide du traducteur en ligne, dont les principales sont discutées dans l'article. Les actions et les connaissances favorables ont compris une fine connaissance des limites du traducteur en ligne et des pratiques qui ont cherché à combler ces limites (par exemple, une entrée appropriée et/ou l'analyse rigoureuse de la sortie). D'un autre côté, les entrées inappropriées (trop courtes, trop longues), l'utilisation acritique des résultats, et la perception d'un manque de temps ont entravé l'écriture en langue étrangère. Ces actions et connaissances sont illustrées à l'aide de quatre "incidents" tirés des données. Il ressort de cette étude plusieurs recommandations pour l'intégration des traducteurs en ligne au sein des cours de langue. Par exemple, tandis qu'une discussion des avantages et limites des traducteurs en ligne fait déjà partie des recommandations pédagogiques à ce sujet, cette étude souligne le besoin d'aller plus loin, notamment un entrainement rigoureux aux traducteurs en ligne, qui mette en pratique ces avantages et limites. Par exemple, cet entrainement devrait prendre en compte l'entrée et la sortie de l'outil — comment rechercher à l'aide d'un traducteur en ligne et comment analyser les résultats. Ces recommandations permettront aussi de faire travailler la littératie numérique critique chez les apprenants. Il ressort également de cette étude plusieurs recommandations pour de nouvelles pistes de réflexion et de recherche, y compris comment l'usage des traducteurs en ligne diffère selon le niveau de l'apprenant et par langue

CALL Beliefs in Context: a Study of US High School Foreign Language Learners

Recent calls from applied linguistics and from CALL have emphasized the importance of situating the understanding and use of digital tools for language learning within layered contexts. An important component of these layered contexts is societal discourses of technology, which are multiple and far from neutral. In response to these calls, this study examines how students at one San Francisco Bay Area high school understand technology in foreign language learning and how these beliefs relate to regional discourses of technology. The study assumed an ecological theoretical frame and deployed a multi-pronged research design: a survey study (n = 283), a case study (n = 3), and a discourse analysis of a regional newspaper corpus (n = 372). Findings indicate that students held largely utilitarian beliefs about CALL that both aligned with and diverged from regional discourses. Instances of alignment suggest the potential influence of larger societal discourses on student beliefs about CALL while instances of divergence underscore the need to address the larger role of technology in society when considering CALL beliefs and practices.University of Arizona College of Humanities Faculty Research Grant18 month embargo; published online: 26 July 2019This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Down the rabbit hole: Machine translation, metaphor, and instructor identity and agency

While machine translation (MT) technologies have improved in profile and performance in recent years, there is still much to learn about the broad impact of these technologies on language educators. In this article, we investigate interactions between instructors’ beliefs about MT and their identity and agency in the language classroom through the lens of metaphor. Anchored in an ecological theoretical frame, the study examines in-depth interviews with 11 participants using open and inductive qualitative coding. Findings reveal that, to varying degrees and with differing outcomes, all the participants reported that MT had altered their roles and practices in the classroom. These were expressed through a range of metaphors (e.g., MT as a “crutch,” MT as a “bridge,” MT as a “prosthetic hand”). The cross-case analysis of these metaphors revealed three primary relationships between instructors, MT, and FL teaching/learning across participants: a) MT as destructive, b) MT as supportive, and c) MT as transformative. After chronicling these metaphors and relationships in detail, the article concludes with a discussion of major tensions evoked by the findings and their implications for language education at the postsecondary level