presentation for EDT 6080 at Concordia University, impact of Google Translate on students' self-efficacy

1. Students tend to use Google Translate as
an “easy way out” of doing their written
Spanish work.
These same students often feel as
though they “just can’t do it” if asked to
do the work on their own.
THE PROBLEM:

2. How does the use or misuse of Google
Translate affect student work and their
feeling of self-efficacy in the Spanish
classroom?
In other words…
If students use Google Translate to
complete their work in Spanish class,
do they feel more successful?
RESEARCH QUESTION:

3. Participants
•10 eighth-grade students
•3 years of Spanish class experience
•7 female; 3 male
•8 white, 2 Indian
•No native Spanish speakers
•14-years old
•Volunteered for the study

4. Literature Review
• Machine Translation and the Foreign Language Learner
ICT for Language Learning, Garcia, 2010
• Quantitatively measured students’ writing for fluency, clarity, and error count
• Asked the question “Can machine translation help the foreign language
learner?”
• Concluded that machine translation may help the skilled student, but may
hinder the early learner.
• Machine Translation in the Classroom
Machine Translation in the Classroom, Ichimura, 2013
• Found that documents translated with the help of machine
translation needed up to 65% more editing than those translated
without.

5. Literature Review, cont’d.
• Influence of Machine Translation in the Classroom
The Elephant in the Room, Clifford et. al., 2013
• Discussed the influence machine translation has had on the Duke
University foreign language classes
• 40% of Duke professors equate machine translation with cheating.
Integration of Technology in the Classroom
No Access, No Use, No Impact; Norris, et. al., n.d.
• Emphasis on the importance of effective technology integration in
the classroom
• Students without regular technology access may not succeed at the
same levels as those with regular technology access.

6. Google Translate was selected as
an equitable-access tool for this
study
TECHNOLOGY TOOL

7. Research-methods
•Mixed-method research design
•Repeated measures, comparative study
•Same students performed different tasks and
work was compared against each students’
own work.

8. Procedure
Step 1: Students wrote 5 sentences in English about their typical
school day. They then completed a survey about how they felt this
part of the task went.
Step 2: Students used only their classroom notes and vocabulary list
to translate their sentences into Spanish. They then completed a
survey about how they felt this part of the task went.
Step 3: Students used only Google Translate to translate their
sentences into Spanish. They then completed a survey about how
they felt this part of the task went.

9. Student Error Tally • Student errors, per student, class notes
vs. Google Translate

10. Total student error count

11. Student opinions: Notes/Dictionary
Did using the dictionary and your notes today
help you learn anything?
Do you feel as though you are now "better" at
Spanish in some way because you used your
notes or dictionary in some way?
Do you think you would be better off if you
were allowed to use the computer/Google
Translate?
Yes I did.
Yes because we know why words are used in
certain ways and the rules.
Only for certain things if we haven't been taught
them already.
Yes. It help me increase my vocabulary and
helped me know what endings to use. Yes No
Yes I did learn some new things. Yes No
Using my notes didn't really help me learn too
much. I already know all of the concepts I used in
my paragraph.
I definitely feel a little more comfortable with my
Spanish skills.
No, because with my notes I know for sure I'm
correct.
Yes because I understood what I was typing and
could learn from it.
I feel I'm better at Spanish because I could
understand what I'm writing and can easily
memorize knew words.
No because google translate translates sentences
I can't understand.
No. No.
Only in certain situations, for some vocabulary I
don't know, but not for translating whole
sentences.
Yes, because looking the words up in my notes
helps me remember it for later on. Yes, now I remember all of the verb endings. No, I probably wouldn't remember it as well.
Yes! I believe that by using the dictionary and my
notes, I was able to memorize and gain more
Spanish knowledge quicker. Yes No
sure sure no
No, I used my memory from what I was taught.
Yes because I challenged myself to remember
what I learned.
It could correct me if I made a small mistake so I
guess so.

12. Student opinions: Google Translate
Did using Google Translate today help you
learn anything?
Do you feel as though you are now "better" at
Spanish in some way because you used
Google Translate?
Do you think you would be better off if you
weren't using Google Translate?
It helped me learn how to say at in spanish
because we haven't been taught that yet.
No, because I don't know why some words are
used that way. It depends on what I'm using it for. So yes and no.
No it did not help me. no
Yes because you dont understand what you did
wrong.
No not at all no Yes
I learned that Google Translate isn't always the
best option.
I feel a little uncertain, because my notes
paragraph is a lot different than the one using
Google Translate.
Yes, because I wouldn't have to blame my wrong
answers on a website, it would be purely my fault.
No because I didn't know some of the words.
No because I haven't learned some of the things
google translate said. Yes, so I understand what I am writing.
No, I did not learn anything from Google
Translate. No. No.
Google Translate writes things differently than I
learned in class. No it was confusing. Yes, I would remember the words I learned better.
No, I felt like I learned nothing new, unlike the
Dictionary/Notes survey. No Yes
no no yes
It corrected what little mistakes i made from
memory translating. Yes because it showed me the correct way.
No, because than I might make small mistakes
that could be confusing

13. Overall Result & Participant quotes
“This was way easier with my notes.”
“Google Translate doesn’t know what it’s doing”
“Maybe I should just use Google Translate when I don’t know a word
here or there.”
“Oh, so that’s how you do that! Would that concept work here?”
“Ok, I should use my notes more often.”
Google Translate only decreased errors by 20%

14. Impact on Learning
• Google Translate will be addressed as a tool that may be
helpful, but not an alternative to students’ own work.
• Students seemed to embrace the use of notes when Google
Translate was not allowed.

15. What’s next?
• Such easily accessible tools such as Google Translate
cannot be prohibited.
• Strict limitations
• Expectations if used
• Emphasis on students’ own work

16. Appeal to students in their own language