Presentation Understanding Japanese Language Learners’ Adoption of Machine Translation: A Quantitative Investigation more

The present study aims at identifying the factors that influence learner’s adoption of machine translation (MT) for learning Japanese as a foreign language (FL). Previous studies have found various perceived factors influence language learners’ adoption of MT for FL learning (e.g., Clifford, Merschel, & Munne, 2013). However, few studies have investigated this quantitatively and considered the importance of instructing the use of MT, which may influence its adoption. The present study focused on four factors influencing the adoption of MT, 1) ethical beliefs on the use of MT, 2) perceived translation accuracy, 3) perceived usefulness, and 4) perceived ease of use, and investigated its association with learners’ behavioural intention to use MT. The questionnaire was administered to beginner learners of Japanese at an Australian university (n=50) after they received hands-on training in class on how to use MT. The analysis using partial least square path modelling revealed that the ethical beliefs and perceived ease of use had significant effects on learners’ behavioural intention to use MT while the perceived translation accuracy and perceived usefulness had little effects. The implications of the findings will also be discussed in relation to how MT can be integrated into FL teaching.