Supervisors and Supervisees` Attitudes toward the Use of Google Translate in Thesis Writing by EFL Graduate Students

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Zina Tahir Ghazi ^{1 *} , Javad Gholami ²

1 - Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 - Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

Received: 2024-01-31 Accepted : 2024-05-10 Published : 2024-08-13

Keywords: EFL undergraduate students, Google Translate, Supervisor, Thesis writing,

Abstract :

Writing a thesis in English is a challenging requirement for most graduate students. Many non-native students may get assistance in crafting their theses. One of the most commonly used tools for this purpose is Google Translate (GT). To our knowledge, graduate students and their supervisors’ perceptions of using GT have not been investigated in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This study aims to investigate the attitudes of supervisors and supervisees toward the use of GT in thesis writing. It also considers the possible reasons and purposes for the use of GT by students. In addition, it seeks to understand participants' perceptions toward the benefits, drawbacks, and ethicality of utilizing GT in writing theses. Using questionnaires and interviews, the researcher investigated the perceptions of 49 PhD and master students from different disciplines and 18 supervisors across universities of Iraqi Kurdistan. The results revealed that students employed GT for tasks such as translating sentences and text to aid in reading comprehension, integrating it into their assignments, and even incorporating it within their theses. Moreover, although both students and teachers perceived GT as an effective tool, they were concerned about its inaccuracy and unethicality. This research provides recommendations for the optimal utilization of machine translation tools such as GT in academic writing in general and thesis writing in particular.

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