L2 Journal: An electronic refereed journal for foreign and second language educators

While the use of machine translation (MT) in the classroom has been explored from various perspectives, the relationship between language proficiency and MT use regarding learners’ behaviors and beliefs remains unclear in the research literature. This study focused on four Japanese learners with various language proficiencies from a fourth-year Japanese language class (two advanced-level, one intermediate-high, and one novice-high level) and investigated how they edited self-written text with MT by examining the scope and types of revisions they made as well as their perceptions about using MT for editing. The data included four types of drafts of a writing assignment: (1) D1 (self-written drafts in Japanese without the help of MT); (2) D2 (revised corresponding drafts in L1 provided by MT); (3) D3 (drafts in Japanese provided by MT based on D2); (4) D4 (revised drafts based on comparison of D1 and D3) and their reflection papers. The results show that the four participants adopted various ways of editing self-written text. While all the participants’ revisions are at local levels, the two advanced level learners primarily focused on vocabulary revision while the other two learners’ revisions extended to the sentence level. The findings also show that the advanced-level and intermediate-high-level learners have various degrees of positive attitudes toward using MT. In contrast, while the positive effects of MT use are acknowledged, the novice-high level learner also feels ashamed and dishonest when using MT. This article concludes with insights that can assist instructors in facilitating MT as a pedagogical tool for language learning and teaching with diverse students.