Abstract
Three online tools that students often use to assist them with their language needs are online translators, online dictionaries, and search engines. An experimental study was conducted with 310 participants taking Spanish or French to investigate both the amount of usage of these three resources among third- and fourth-semester university students, and student attitudes related to online dictionaries and translators. The results show that nearly nine out of ten students (87.7%) say they use online dictionaries for graded work at least sometimes. Surprisingly, the exact same percentage (87.7%) report online translator use despite the fact that online translators are prohibited at the institution where the study was conducted. Search engine use was lower, but still represents just over three out of four students. Similar but smaller percentages were found for all three tools on non-graded language practice. Participants held almost exclusively positive views of online dictionaries (93.9%), whereas opinions on online translators were mixed, but still mostly positive (75.6%). This study highlights the prevalence with which these online tools are used as well as a variety of student opinions. The results are discussed, suggestions for further research are given, and implications for teaching are provided.
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