Machine translation literacy instruction for international business students and business English instructors

Abstract

As the number of non-Anglophone students studying business through the medium of English continues to increase, there is a growing interest in the potential of machine translation for helping these students with English-language writing. Language instructors recognize the futility of trying to ban the use of such tools, but they are apprehensive about their use. Academic librarians already deliver various forms of digital literacy instruction, and this article describes the design and delivery of a machine translation literacy workshop for international business students and their language instructors. Feedback was largely positive, but it may be helpful to customize future workshops for specific language groups. The target audience could also be expanded to include non-Anglophone faculty as well as students since the former are under increasing pressure to publish in English. The overall experience points to the benefit of collaboration between librarians and other experts in order to adapt to the changing needs of the campus community and to offer meaningful services and support in this period of rapid change.