English Language Education Coexisting with Machine Translation: An analysis of Resistance and Changes in the Significance of Learning

Abstract

This study examines the coexistence of machine translation and English education. With the increasing informatization of school education, the introduction of machine translation has a significant impact on English language learning. A questionnaire survey focused on “resistance to machine translation” and “the perceived necessity and significance of English learning” was administered to 166 students divided into three groups according to their English academic achievement, as well as 123 full-time elementary, junior-high, and high school teachers. The results were analyzed with a focus on the low proficiency group. The results showed that teachers were significantly more resistant to machine translation than students, with students in the lower proficiency group being the least resistant. Regarding the necessity of learning English as machine translation was becoming more widely used, the highest ability group tended to believe it was important as a foundation for using machine translation, the middle group less important, whereas the low ability group perceived it to be “vaguely necessary”. The results suggested that machine translation could serve as an escape route through which members of the low proficiency group—whose resistance to machine translation was lower—avoid learning English. Examining the educational effects of machine translation and identifying an ideal approach to low proficiency students is an urgent challenge in remedial education.