It doesn’t seem that long ago that using Google Translate to do your language homework would bring only laughs (and sometimes an F). It was a popular classroom game to translate something from L1 into English and then back into L1 to prove just how bad a tool this was.
But the tools got better—a lot better. Sometimes it can be difficult for a teacher to tell if a student has used DeepL or Google Translate or a similar program. What are the implications now for the foreign language classroom? Is using machine translation cheating? Or is it a strategy we should be explicitly teaching students? I’ll discuss a range of viewpoints, from “If using a dictionary to check a word isn’t cheating, then neither is checking a sentence” to “If they’re just going to translate everything, what’s the point of a language class?”
Obviously the answer to “Is using machine translation cheating?” is “It depends,” so let’s dig into that and see what exactly it depends on, and more importantly, what to do in various scenarios so that we’re still genuinely helping students become more successful with English.
DOROTHY ZEMACH taught ESL and other foreign languages (including one she’s not fluent in) for over 20 years, in Asia, Africa, and the US. She holds an MA in TESL from the School for International Training in Vermont, USA. Now she concentrates on writing, editing, and publishing ELT materials and textbooks and conducting teacher training workshops. Her areas of specialty and interest are teaching writing, teaching reading, academic English, testing, and humor. She is a frequent plenary speaker at international conferences and is active on social media.
This event will be held on Zoom. Access information for JALT members and non-members is under the "Cost" categories below.
