Machine translation in higher education: Perceptions, policy, and pedagogy

Abstract

Multiple studies have shown that language learners and other students undertaking postsecondary studies in an additional language (L2) consult digital translation tools to complete course‐related work despite general disapproval of their use by instructors. Significant improvements in the accuracy of machine translation (MT) along with their widespread use among students present ethical and pedagogical implications that have yet to be coherently addressed by instructors and institutions at the tertiary level. Recognizing MT as inextricable from L2 users' academic realities, this article reviews the current research on perceptions and purposes of its use in higher education institutions, discusses MT at the policy level (e.g., gaps in legislation related to academic integrity and, more broadly, inconsistencies between the aims of internationalization and the continued delegitimization of marginalized varieties of English), outlines various ways that MT can be harnessed to support learning (e.g., for vocabulary acquisition, writing, metalinguistic awareness, learner autonomy), and suggests ways forward in education, research, and theory on the intersection of MT and learning.