Exploring Machine Translation Literacy in Academic Research
Explore the evolution of Google Translate in academic writing, the impact of machine translation literacy in the short and long term, and the questions raised regarding the role of EAP and digital literacy. Understand the importance of integrating technology as a facilitator, not a replacement, in communication skills development.
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Moving the Discussions on Google Translate Forward: Machine Translation Literacy and EAP Mike Groves Klaus Mundt
Outline Machine Translation Literacy Short term impacts Long term impacts
Review of where we are In 2014, GT was a clumsy tool, but there were questions over absolute vs relative quality (Groves and Mundt, 2015) In 2018, the same data showed marked improvement in lexico- grammatical quality
Comparison - errors highlighted, student writing 2014 2018 In my opinion , the examination is very important to evaluate the individual but its relevance to today's society, there are limitations. Early age , the students were taught to learn in order to achieve excellent results by their parents , but in reality, not so easy to accept. Intelligence or excellence of a person can not be assessed through exams. Activities such as off-site is very dominant and practical lessons for the students to learn something . Such evaluation also plays an important role in testing and evaluation of students' skills . Activities that stimulate the minds of students can teach them to be critical and creative thinking . The only school -based learning in the classroom and on exams memory , will only make the learning process is not very efficient and effective In my opinion, the exam is very important to assess a person but its relevance to society now has its limit. Since childhood, students have been taught to learn to achieve brilliant decisions by their parents, but the reality is not so easy to accept. The skill or excellence of a person can not be evaluated by examination only. Activities such as out-of-school and practical sites are very dominant for students to learn something. Such assessments also play an important role in testing and assessing the skills of students. Activities that stimulate the minds of the students can teach them to be critical and creative. Schools that are based only on classroom learning and memory-based examinations will only make the learning process less efficient and effective.
This raises questions over The need for/role of EAP The place of language competence Literacy (academic & digital)
Digital Literacies in HE (JISC, 2015) Recognised, but incomplete? JISC, 2015 https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-students-digital-literacy
Enter Machine Translation Literacy (Bowker & Ciro, 2019) Awareness, awareness, awareness What MT does What it can do What it can t do What it should/should not be used for The machine as facilitator Accepting the incursion of the technology, but working with it, not against it Working with it, not using it as a replacement for communication skills, but as facilitator for communication
10 Guidelines for MT-friendly writing Bowker & Ciro, 2019 1. Use short sentences 2. Use the active voice rather than the passive voice 3. Avoid long noun strings & modifier stacks 4. Use relative pronouns such as that & which 5. Avoid wordiness 6. Use nouns instead of personal pronouns 7. Use terminology consistently 8. Choose unambiguous words 9. Avoid abbreviated forms 10. Avoid idiomatic expressions, humour & cultural references
Can this be put into practise? Argumentation is a key requirement of the essay, which is the most common genre that students have to write. However, how argumentation is realised in disciplinary writing is often poorly understood by academic tutors, and therefore not adequately taught to students. This paper presents research into undergraduate students concepts of argument when they arrive at university, difficulties they experience with developing arguments in their essays, and the type and quality of instruction they receive. (Wingate, 2012)
Analysis Argumentation is a key requirement of the essay, which is the most common genre that students have to write. However, how argumentation is realised in disciplinary writing is often poorly understood by academic tutors, and therefore not adequately taught to students. This paper presents research into undergraduate students concepts of argument when they arrive at university, difficulties they experience with developing arguments in their essays, and the type and quality of instruction they receive.
Which leaves us with Argumentation is a .., which is the .. However, how argumentation in writing .by academic .., and therefore . This .., ., and the .. In other words, a complete rewrite ?
A more granular look: MT literacy suggestions applied
Complexity & density Permanente Armut bezieht sich auf das Einkommen, gemessen an der Lebenszeit. Reicht das Einkommen permanent nicht aus, ist folglich auch die Armut permanent. Tempor re Armut bezieht die Dynamik der Armut mit ein, betrachtet also auch vor bergehende Risiken wie Krankheit, zeitweilige Arbeitslosigkeit von Saisonarbeitern etc. Persistent poverty refers to income, measured in terms of lifetime. If income is not always enough, poverty is therefore also permanent. Temporary poverty includes the dynamics of poverty, including transitory risks such as illness, temporary unemployment of seasonal workers, etc.
Simplified (pre-edited) Permanente Armut bezieht sich auf das Einkommen, gemessen an der Lebenszeit. Wenn das Einkommen permanent nicht ausreicht, ist folglich auch die Armut permanent. Das Konzept der tempor ren Armut ber cksichtigt die Dynamik der Armut. Es betrachtet also auch vor bergehende Risiken wie Krankheit, zeitweilige Arbeitslosigkeit von Saisonarbeitern etc. Persistent poverty refers to income, measured in terms of lifetime. If income is permanently insufficient, poverty is therefore permanent. The concept of temporary poverty takes into account the dynamics of poverty. It also considers temporary risks such as illness, temporary unemployment of seasonal workers etc.
Abbreviations, idiomacity & polysemy Banyak orang mengatakan bahwa tidak ada pekerjaan yang lebih sulit dibandingkan dengan pekerjaan menerjemahan. Penerjemah tidak hanya harus menguasai bahasa sumber (BS) nya dengan baik; tetapi mereka juga harus memiliki kemampuan pemahaman menyeluruh tentang bidang pengetahuan yang dicakupi teks BS tersebut. Artinya, setiap konotasi sosial, kultural, dan emosional yang perlu dicantumkan dalam bahasa target (BT) harus dipahami benar. Kesadaran tertentu yang sama perlu dihadirkan untuk BT, sehingga hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan penyusunan kata-kata dan frasa tertentu, ungkapan-ungkapan tabu, ekspektasi lokal, dan sebagainya dapat diperhitungkan dengan matang karena menerjemahkan tidak hanya sekadar mentransfer atau merubah BS ke BT, akan tetapi lebih dari itu. (Setia, 2007) Many people say that there is no more difficult job than translating work. Not only do translators have to master the source language (BS) well; but they must also have the ability to comprehend comprehensively about the field of knowledge covered by the BS text. That is, every social, cultural, and emotional connotation that needs to be included in the target language (BT) must be understood correctly. Certain same awareness needs to be presented for BT, so that matters relating to the preparation of certain words and phrases, taboo expressions, local expectations, etc. can be calculated carefully because translating is not just transferring or changing BS to BT, but more than that.
A few changes (pre-edited) Kesadaran tertentu yang sama perlu dihadirkan untuk BT, sehingga hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan penyusunan kata-kata dan frasa tertentu, ungkapan-ungkapan tabu, ekspektasi lokal, dan sebagainya dapat diperhitungkan dengan matang karena menerjemahkan tidak hanya sekadar mentransfer atau merubah BS ke BT, akan tetapi lebih dari itu. Certain same awareness needs to be presented for BT, so that matters relating to the preparation of certain words and phrases, taboo expressions, local expectations, etc. can be calculated carefully because translating is not just transferring or changing BS to BT, but more than that. Pengetauan yang sama diperlukan untuk BT, sehingga hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan penyusunan kata-kata dan frasa tertentu, ungkapan-ungkapan tabu, ekspektasi lokal, dan sebagainya dapat dipertimbangkan dengan matang karena menerjemahkan tidak hanya sekadar mentransfer atau merubah BS ke BT, akan tetapi lebih dari itu. The same knowledge is needed for BT, so that matters relating to the preparation of certain words and phrases, taboo expressions, local expectations, etc. can be considered carefully because translating is not just transferring or changing BS to BT, but more than that.
So... Potentially strong resistance from academic writers Bowker & Ciro s MT literacy totally ignores the EAP community (Mundt & Groves, 2019) Their focus is on writing for publication In this model, writer has a high level of competence, in EAP not necessarily Creation of a new register?
A more EAP-focussed model of MT Literacy Students need to understand how their L1 and Academic English relate through GT mediation The students experiment, the EAP professional feeds back The subtler the understanding, the better the writing Focus on some key aspects - e.g. avoiding overly complex sentences, avoiding ambiguity in their own language Through higher degree of literacy, control moves more to the student
So - what happens to language competence in EAP? We have argued that GT does not replace the need for EAP We have also argued that English Language level should still be assessed This is due to the importance of incidental learning and also controlled assessment in the academy MT literacy improves the ability to function with limited language ability - but only with texts
In the longer term Black box interpreters Instant subtitling Google Translate develops some pragmatic and genre specific competence
A quick experiment Read a transcript of a TED talk into a free transcription app Translate into German 80% accuracy- problems in transcription not translation Absolute vs relative quality This was done by FREE apps today With investment in quality and time, this will improve The computer aided interaction becomes higher quality than the real life one Argument then becomes Why English at all ?
Question that need to underpin future discussions If you want to be, e.g., an Academic Engineer what skills do you need? Is the dominance of English in academia just? Does English have any intrinsic value that makes it the ALF? In times of 'global English', by whose standard do we measure 'English proficiency'? (cf Widodo & Fang, 2019) How sure are we that AI can never adapt metadiscoursal functions? Is there more to EAP than the language? Does EAP become CoMLAP?- Computer Mediated Language for Academic Purposes?
References Bowker, L. and Ciro, J.B. (2019) Machine Translation and Global Research. Emerald Publishing: Bingley Setia, E. (2007). Terjemahan, Permasalahan, Dan Beberapa Pendekatan. Available from: <https://www.academia.edu/33356760/Terjemahan_Permasalahan_Dan_Beberapa_Pendekatan> [24 March 2016] Groves, M., Mundt, K. (2015) Friend or Foe? Google Translate in Language for Academic Purposes , English for Specific Purposes. 112-121 JISC (2015) 'Developing students' digital literacy' available from: <https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing- students-digital-literacy>, [15 October 2019] Mundt, K. , Groves, M. (2019) 'Book Review: Machine Translation and Global Research: Towards Improved Machine Translation Literacy in the Scholarly Community' Journal of Second Language Writing, available from: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2019.100669> Widodo, P.W. and Fang, F. (2019) 'Global Englishes-oriented English Language Education' in Critical Perspectives on Global Englishes in Asia. ed by Fang, F. and Widodo, P.W. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 194-200 Wingate, U. (2012) Argument! helping students understand what essay writing is about Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2) pp145-154, available from: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001>
