Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Fogle, Evelyn Wight

Committee Member

Pizer, Ginger B.

Committee Member

Raymond, Richard

Date of Degree

5-11-2013

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of English

Abstract

Given recent calls for university composition policies that are informed by the actual practices and populations of students at a given institution (Tardy, 2011), this study investigated student and instructor perceptions and attitudes toward using online translators (e.g., Google Translate or Babelfish) for composition assignments. The study analyzed interview data from four international students and three English composition instructors to understand how the use of online translators was explained, justified, and contextualized by these two groups. This study revealed that although both students and instructors believed that online translators afforded an opportunity for language learning, the participants still aligned with dominant ideologies of plagiarism and were wary of the use of these services. In conclusion to the study, recommendations were made for instructors to moderate more in-class discussions about the use of technology during the writing process and to define the appropriate and inappropriate uses of such technology more clearly.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17792

Comments

English Composition||online translators||second language writing

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