HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION BEFORE CHATGPT: BEGINNER CFL LEARNERS’ USE OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE IN ROLE-PLAY WRITING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMOE.831123Keywords:
Chinese As a Foreign Language, Google Translate, Learner-AI Interaction, Machine Translation, Role-Play WritingAbstract
Recent research on AI-assisted language learning has largely centred on generative AI. Yet language learners were already working with AI-based tools such as machine translation before ChatGPT became widely available. This study explored the use of Google Translate by beginner Malay learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) when preparing role-play scripts. It focused on learners’ perceptions of the tool, the ways they worked with its translations, and the role it played in their writing process and experience. The study used a qualitatively driven mixed-methods case study involving 55 learners in a beginner Mandarin course at a Malaysian university. Data came from questionnaires, a focus group interview with five learners, role-play scripts, and teacher observation notes. Questionnaire responses were analysed descriptively, while the qualitative data were examined thematically. Learners turned to Google Translate mainly when they needed help with vocabulary, Chinese characters, pinyin, and pronunciation. They were less certain about sentence-level translations and did not always use the first output they received. Instead, they switched between source languages, translated expressions back into another language for checking, compared translations with textbook expressions, and consulted teachers and peers when necessary. Google Translate therefore became one resource within a writing process that involved discussion, checking, selection, and revision, particularly when learners had to prepare scripts that were both communicatively appropriate and manageable for oral performance. The study shows that, for these beginner CFL learners, working with machine translation involved more than obtaining ready-made translations. Their decisions about whether and how to use the output were an important part of the writing process. In beginner CFL classrooms, Google Translate can therefore be treated as a linguistic resource whose output needs to be checked, discussed, and adapted by learners rather than simply accepted.
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