EFL Students' Attitudes towards the Impact of Google Translate on their Writing Quantity and Quality

Abstract

The popularity of Google Translate is increasing and users are implementing this giant search engine for different purposes. This paper addresses EFL students’ attitudes towards the use of Google Translate in writing. Therefore, the aims are to investigate further the practice of Google Translate in EFL writing and its role in language learning, as well as students’ familiarity with it. The study was conducted at the University of Muhammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Department of English. The investigation involved a total of 35 university English major students. This study was completed relying on a mixed-approach design, for the data were collected and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Two instruments were used; a writing test was given for each respondent and then followed with a questionnaire adapted form Cohen and Brooks-Carson (2001) with some modifications. The data collected from the writing task were assessed and analyzed by identifying and classifying the errors, while the responses on the questionnaire were calculated based on statistical measures. The findings showed that Google translate did not help student beyond the spelling errors, as its use depends greatly on the students’ language proficiency. In addition, the findings revealed that students’ had negative attitudes towards using GT as a complementary tool