The Effect of Using Machine Translation on Linguistic Features of L2 Writing by College Students

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Abstract

This paper aimed to systematically investigate the effect of using machine translation (MT) on the linguistic features of college students’ second language (L2) writing. The study recruited 30 Chinese undergraduate participants and explored the effect of using MT on the linguistic features in their English compositions through textual analysis and semi-structured interviews under the guidance of the Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF) language assessment framework. It was found that MT use considerably improved the linguistic complexity in students’ compositions, but also led to some undesirable problems in writing. The study contributes systemic empirical evidence that verifies the effect of MT on L2 writing language performance, providing pedagogical references for the cultivation of digital literacies in L2 classrooms.

Author

• Shujun YUAN, University of Sydney