Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

2624

Date

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Instructional Design and Tech

Committee Chair

Deborah Lowther

Committee Member

Carmen Weaver

Committee Member

Lee Allen

Committee Member

Errol O'Neill

Abstract

As the cost of mobile devices and computers has decreased and access to the Internet has increased, student access to online machine translators, such as Google Translate, has also increased. Many institutions of higher education have reacted to the increasing prevalence of online machine translators by creating prohibitive policies that ban student use of these tools. Consequently, many second language (L2) instructors are uncertain about how to treat student use of online machine translation (OMT). The previous literature regarding OMT use in the L2 classroom is limited to the examination of instructor and student perceptions and attitudes, the comparison of L2 writing with and without the aid of OMT, and instruction for detecting and preventing student use of OMT. The purpose of the current research was to investigate whether attending an intervention changed participants’ perceptions, attitudes, confidence, and inclination to integrate OMT. An intervention was developed as part of an instructional design project to teach instructors about Google Translate and to offer resources to effectively integrate this tool. This mixed-methods study examined quantitative data collected through pre- and post-survey instruments and qualitative data through a semi-structured interview protocol. Paired sample t-tests results showed significant positive change in perceptions and understanding regarding how OMT works, confidence explaining and integrating OMT, and inclination to integrate and assess student use of OMT. Interviews with participants also revealed divergent perceptions of the limitations and benefits of OMT, as well as differing opinions on how to treat and integrate this tool. The findings of this study support literature on the need for language programs to rethink students’ use of OMT, allow language instructors to make their own choices in regards to OMT integration, and to provide language instructors access to OMT training to enable them to move from a prevent-and-detect approach to an integrate-and-instruct approach to OMT use in the L2 classroom. The implications of this research are important to L2 department administrators, supervisors, instructors, and students as well as instructional designers.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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