The Effects of Google-Assisted Translation on Students’ Writing Performance

Abstract

This research evaluated the impact of Google-Assisted Translation (GAT) on the writing performance of Grade 11 Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) students at the University of Cebu at Pardo and Talisay (UCPT) during the 2024–2025 academic year. The study aimed to lay the foundation for a proposed translation manual and to assess whether GAT is a useful mediating instrument for improving student writing. A pre-experimental quantitative research methodology was used with a one-group pre-test/post-test design involving 30 students. A standardized rubric that emphasized organization, vocabulary, coherence, and grammar was used to evaluate writing proficiency. To identify significant differences across variables, weighted means and t-tests were used to analyze the data. The findings demonstrated that students' writing skills were at the starting level before the intervention. After using Google Translate, the post-test score increased, which aligns with the approaching proficiency level. When the computed t-value exceeded the critical value, the increase in performance was statistically significant; thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. Furthermore, neither the pre-test nor the post-test data showed a significant difference between male and female students, suggesting that gender did not affect writing performance. The study found that applying GAT greatly improves academic writing, particularly in grammar and vocabulary. Nevertheless, it is recommended that GAT complement, rather than replace, traditional instruction. The study suggested creating a translation handbook and implementing training courses that emphasize the responsible and critical evaluation of translation technology outputs to ensure ethical and efficient use. It is recommended that future studies focus on the most effective methods for leveraging the advantages of machine translation in language acquisition, on ensuring that educational institutions appropriately include translation technologies in the curriculum, and on having teachers assist students in critically assessing translation outputs.