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Volume 47, Issue 3
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Abstract

This paper explores the use of Google Translate (GT) by displaced people (DPs) from Ukraine in Australia and English language educators supporting learners from refugee backgrounds in the context of decolonizing language learning. The survey and interviews with DP participants revealed that GT provides them with a sense of confidence and freedom, inclusion and value following their emergency evacuation from the war. Significantly, the learners’ use of GT suggests high levels of metalinguistic awareness and digital literacy, and they contested the dominance of ‘privileged’ language varieties in machine translation applications. Their use of GT also promoted wider understanding of multilingual learners in educational settings. The educator interviews provided insights into their goals for supporting learners in (re)settlement and their contrasting views regarding the potential for GT to play a role in language learning. A critical discussion of different ways that learners and educators perceive tools such as GT provides insights into the complexities of the use of machine translation in language teaching and learning.

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2025-01-06
2026-05-11

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The use of Google Translate for language learning in emergency forced displacement contexts
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 47, 309 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24098.bog
/content/journals/10.1075/aral.24098.bog
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): artificial intelligence (AI); decolonizing language learning and teaching; emergency forced displacement; Google Translate

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