Affiliation:
1. ONDOKUZ MAYIS UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Online machine translation has become one of the most commonly used applications among university students, and google translate (GT) is the most popular among them due to the availability of mobile devices with the internet. This mixed-method study investigated university prep school instructors' attitudes and perceptions of GT use regarding its effectiveness, ethicality, frequency, and students' purposes of using it. An online questionnaire was administered to 46 instructors, and semi-structured interview sessions were held with 11 instructors. Results indicated that nearly all of the participant instructors' students frequently use GT. Another important finding was that many students use GT in reading and writing classes. Results also revealed that students tend to use GT far more beyond a dictionary function, and this overuse dramatically decreases instructors' perception of the effectiveness and ethicality of GT. Although instructors are worried about its usage for longer segments and adverse effects on student learning, they do not prefer banning or limiting its usage in language classes due to its simplicity and practicality. Therefore, there is a need to have a working policy to avoid the harmful effects of GT and use them effectively in language classes.