A ghostwriter in the machine? Attitudes of academic staff towards machine translation use in internationalised Higher Education

Abstract

Online translation has been freely available since the 1990s. In recent years its quality has been significantly improving, leading to instant translation which can easily be used as a reading or writing tool by students whose first language is not that of the institution where they study. For instance, students might use it to facilitate the composition of their essays in the language of instruction. However, such student use of online translation tools raises a number of important questions about their acceptability in Higher Education. As these questions remain unaddressed in the current literature, this paper presents novel findings from interviews with academic staff at two UK universities and examines the emerging themes. These include academic integrity, the meaning of the university brand and the need for language development. It then suggests that Higher Education Institutions need to engage in an informed and robust discussion of these issues to provide a consistent position on the place of Machine Translation in Higher Education.