Japanese University Students' and Teachers' Perceptions and Attitudes toward Machine Translation Use for English Language Learning

Abstract

This study aimed to understand whether and how students use machine translation (MT) for language learning and to examine students' and teachers' perceptions and attitudes toward MT usage. First, a preliminary semi-structured interview was conducted, and based on the results and previous literature, an online survey was administered to 241 science majors and their teachers in July 2021. The results showed that 84.6% of respondents used MT for English learning, mainly to look up words. More than 70% of MT users checked and compared the machine- translated Japanese/English to the original English/Japanese and made corrections and changes as necessary. Little difference was found in how they used MT when outputting and inputting English. Perceptions of MT use varied greatly among the teachers, indicating considerable differences between teachers and students.