2022 Volume 44 Issue 2 Pages 95-105
The first language (L1) use is imperative for developing the quality of second-language (L2) writings. L2 learners with relatively lower L2 ability tend to use the direct translation from their L1 to L2. During the process of producing their L2 writings, the cognitive process of L1 paraphrasing is necessary for better L2 sentences. Studentsʼ learning on L1 paraphrasing could be facilitated by the usage of machine translation (MT). Due to the recent development of neural MT, L2 sentences can be produced with high readability if L1 sentences are effectively pre-edited.
This study investigates what L2 learners can learn by using MT and examines how studentsʼ L1 (Japanese) sentences are rephrased. The participating students are 24 Japanese L2 learners. The targeted task of this study are 800-word reports which were done for their liberal arts classes written in Japanese. The participants firstly translated these into L2 before using MT. Secondly, they used neural MT to compare the MT translations with the original L1 sentences. Focusing on the MT L2 sentences which inaccurately reflected the original information, they pinned down the problematic points in MT sentences and pre-edited the corresponding L1 sentences. Lastly, they translated into L2 on their own and then used MT once again. They repeated the above procedure until MT produced the L2 sentences consistent with the content of the L1 reports.
The results showed that the MT use did enhance studentsʼ learning. During this process, participants realized important points in terms of syntactic and semantic/content development. The qualitative analysis illustrated that the usage of MT renews studentsʼ focus on the fundamentals of L1 paraphrasing. To be more specific, the participants learned how to effectively generate L1 sentences by analyzing MT translations. Therefore, it can be concluded that neural MT can be an educational supporting tool for L2 learners to acquire the ability to create L1 sentences for effectively translating them into L2. It is suggested that a MT-used writing instruction should be utilized more for developing the quality of studentsʼ L2 writings.
