Applying pedagogical translanguaging via Google Translate to facilitate non-English major juniors in writing scripts for English presentations

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of applying pedagogical translanguaging by utilizing Google Translate to facilitate college juniors in writing presentation scripts. Participants included 109 non-English major juniors divided into high- and low-proficiency groups, with 56 and 53 students, respectively. Each participant first drafted their scripts in Chinese, then translated them on their own and through Google Translate. Teacher and TA consultations were offered during the revision period. Three versions (self-written, Google-translated, and post-edited) of scripts from each participant were collected for analysis. Two online writing assessment software (VocabProfiler and Scribens) were used for quantitative analysis to compare the differences in writing quality and lexical features among the three-version texts. Three trained raters employed text analysis by examining improved grammar and word use changes from each participant’s self-written to post-edited versions of scripts. The findings indicated that incorporating GT improved the students’ content, word choice, vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns. The pedagogical gains were particularly notable in the low-proficient students’ scripts. Despite the advantages of GT, the results also showed that GT was insufficient in scaffolding the script-writing process. Based on the interviews and survey results, consulting with the TA and the instructor was indispensable, especially for sentence-level revisions or beyond. In addition to the improved changes in students’ PE scripts, we found that pedagogical translanguaging enhanced the students’ metalinguistic awareness and helped students develop a multimodal learning ability by engaging them in experimenting with various learning resources, including digital materials, textbooks, GT applications, and human assistance.

Keywords

• pedagogical translanguaging
• google translate
• efl writing
• teacher consultation
• multimodal learning