Google Translate: The Impact of its Usefulness on English-Majored Students’ Acceptance in Essay Writing in the Vietnamese Context

This study investigates how students use Google Translate (GT) and the impact of its perceived usefulness on English-majored students’ acceptance of GT in essay writing from linguistic aspects. A questionnaire was used to collect the data from 97 participants who were English-majored students from a private university in Vietnam. The findings reveal that GT was widely used in essay-writing classes despite the discouragement and necessary guidelines from the teachers. GT was used far more often in the pre-writing stage than in the drafting or editing stage. Translating words and checking pronunciation were the most used of GT. Besides, many students admitted that they usually checked the outputs translated from GT before using them in their writing. Content and vocabulary were perceived to be the most improved thanks to employing GT. Results also report that students’ acceptance of GT could be explained by the perceived usefulness of using GT in content and vocabulary. Due to GT’s practical benefits, educators are suggested to consider encouraging students to use GT in essay writing classes under specific rules and clear instructions. In addition, program developers need to perfect contextual translation features to optimize the accuracy of the outputs translated from GT.