1 Factors Affecting CMU Students’ Use of Translation Applications to Facilitate Their Studies Punyawee Suwannarat Department of English, Chiang Mai University English 001489: Independent Study Ms. Surachada Teerarasd Feb. 9, 2022
2 Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting Chiang Mai University (CMU) students' use of translation applications to facilitate their studies. In this study, the mixed methods, consisting of the questionnaire surveys and the in-depth interviews, were used to collect quantitative data from 30 questionnaire respondents who were CMU students as well as qualitative data from five interviewees who gave interesting answers concerning factors influencing their use of translation apps in the questionnaire surveys. The research findings revealed that species-specific behavior, maturation, motivation, transfers of learning, styles of learning, physical environment, virtual environment, social environment, ergonomic factors, and unique features of each translation app were the factors affecting CMU students’ use of translation applications to facilitate their studies. In addition, the research results showed that although the respondents had positive attitudes toward the use of translation applications, they expected the application developers to develop the new better versions of each app since they faced some problems when using the apps, such as translation inaccuracy, outdated vocabulary database, inappropriate design, unclear pronunciation and inadequate translated results. It can be concluded that, apart from fixing the flaws occurring in the current versions of their applications, the developers should emphasize the factors affecting the users’ use of translation applications so that they can develop their apps to meet the users’ requirements. Keyword: translation applications
3 Factors Affecting CMU Students’ Use of Translation Applications to Facilitate Their Studies Nowadays, the increase in advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) results in the development of various translation applications. The most popular translation apps in the 21st century include Google Translate, iTranslate, Speak & Translate, Microsoft Translator, TextGrabber, and TripLingo (Timekettle, 2020). Translation applications have become the substitution of paper dictionaries due to the alteration of people’s lifestyle. That is, most modern people prefer working outside their house or office (Neykova, 2018). Furthermore, the previous statistics reveal that the number of the users of Google Translate, one of the most renowned translation applications, is more than 200 million per day (Shankland, 2013) while iTranslate, another ubiquitous translation app, has recently been downloaded over 200 million times (iTranslate, 2021). The popularity of translation application usage reflects the apps’ vital role in eliminating language barriers (Ulatus, 2020). The use of translation applications explicitly results in several positive consequences. However, the factors affecting people’s use of translation apps should not be disregarded as they can help application developers improve their apps to meet the users’ requirements. According to Lyons (2016), students seem to be the group using translation applications most often. His research entitled “A Survey of the Use of Mobile Technology, and Translation Tools by Students at Secondary Schools in Thailand” reveals that the majority of secondary school students in Chiang Mai, Thailand, often use mobile phones for translation purposes. Senior (2019) also claims that most of his students in the United Arab Emirates have a positive attitude towards translation applications as the apps become their new effective learning strategies elevating their foreign language study. Apart from knowing the definition of each vocabulary, students can learn the correct pronunciation from certain apps such as Youdao and Google Translate.
4 Although translation applications provide great benefits for users, especially students, they still have flaws that need to be developed. For instance, Google Translate can support over 100 languages and translate multiple forms of text and media, but it is not suitable for translating technical terms or complicated texts as it often causes grammatical errors and misinterpretation (Latief, Saleh & Pammu, 2020). Additionally, general translation applications are insecure since they usually save the search history automatically, and they are inconvenient as they cannot translate a long text at a time (Neykova, 2018). In order to evaluate the usefulness of translation applications and develop a better version of them, the factors affecting people’s use of translation apps are necessary to be explored. According to Balkul (2017), not only internal factors, including species-specific behavior, maturation, motivation, transfer of learning, and style of learning, but also external factors, consisting of physical environment, virtual environment and social environment, have great effects on the use of translation technologies in translation education. Apart from the studies of Balkul, Cadwell et al. (2016) state that ergonomic factors related to humans’ needs, abilities and limitations have impacts on people’s use of machine translations. Additionally, the strengths of machine translations, such as speed and consistency, can be considered the factors affecting the use of machine translations among people (United Language Group, 2021). Thus, this study was conducted to examine the factors affecting the use of translation applications. The main focus group of this study was 30 Chiang Mai University students. The theories concerning factors affecting people’s use of translation technologies and/or machine translations were applied to form a questionnaire and interview questions to collect the quantitative and qualitative data on the factors having effects on CMU students' use of translation apps. It was then expected that the results of this study would be a useful source for translation application developers.
5 The research questions are as follows: Main research question: What are the factors affecting CMU students’ use of translation applications to facilitate their studies? Sub-research questions: 1. What are the popular translation applications among CMU students? 2. How do CMU students make use of translation applications to facilitate their studies? 3. What are the attitudes of CMU students towards the use of translation applications? 4. What are the expectations of CMU students toward their ideal translation applications? The key word in this study “translation application” is defined as follows: A translation application refers to any application supporting human translators throughout the process of transferring text from one language to another (Memsource, 2021). Literature Review Factors Affecting People’s Use of Translation Applications Species-specific Behavior. Every human has their own natural capacities to learn, speak, translate and interpret any foreign languages. As a result, they can use translation technologies, which are the equipment innovated to support their capacities naturally though they are not forced to use the technologies by the pedagogical aspects, such as being translator students or being assigned to translate the texts by their teachers. Maturation. Bugelski (1956) argues that humans’ learning will occur at the proper stage of maturation. For people who were born in the digital age, when they reach their appropriate level of maturation, they will start using translation technologies naturally as they are used to them. However, to use each translation technology effectively is based on each individual.
6 Motivation. Motivation can be divided into two types: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to the internal forces driving people to behave. This motivation is extremely essential for students, especially translator students, as it helps force them to learn how to use translation technologies effectively by themselves. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to the external forces setting behavior into motion. People will obtain this motivation from various sources, such as news, interviews, websites, etc. Transfers of Learning. Transfers of learning consist of two aspects: positive transfer and negative transfer. The positive transfer occurs when learning in one context improves performance in another context. The learners will find that a foreign language is easy to learn as it shares some characteristics with their native language. In contrast, the negative transfer occurs when learning in one context negatively affects another one. For example, learners find that learning English is not as easy as in the beginning since they cannot translate any terms they are familiar with correctly when they occur in new more complicated contexts. Therefore, they naturally use translation technologies to help them translate those words. Styles of Learning. Ozden (2011) claims that there are seven groups of learners who have their own unique styles of learning. Visual learners are a group of learners who learn well by looking at the pictures or graphs while physical learners learn by using their body movement. Aural learners tend to learn by listening to sound or music. Verbal learners learn by reading and speaking. Logical learners tend to learn by using logic and reasoning. Social learners tend to learn by associating with one another while solitary learners tend to learn by studying alone. Knowing their own styles of learning helps the learners use translation technologies more practically. Physical Environment. Suitable physical environment allows people to use translation technologies. For instance, in the class where the teacher allows students to use
7 online dictionaries and provide them free Wi-Fi, the students tend to feel more comfortable to use translation technologies than those who are in the class without the permission and the Wi-Fi. Virtual Environment. Regarding the growth of the virtual translation market, people getting involved in translation education, such as trainee translators, are driven to use translation technologies to fit in the market’s advancement. Social Environment. Learners who are surrounded by a group of other learners, teachers and professional translators who are interested in using translation technologies tend to show positive attitudes toward the use of the technologies. According to the research entitled “Human Factors in Machine Translation and PostEditing among Institutional Translators,” ergonomic factors related to human translators’ needs, abilities and limitations extremely impact the decision to use machine translations (MTs) among 70 translators at the European Commission’s Directorate-General. The ergonomics or human factors in this research refer to the scientific discipline emphasizing the understanding of interactions among humans, translation systems and particular machine translation usages, together with the professions employing theories, principles, data and methods to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. From the study with the focus group, the results suggest that the reasons why the participants use or do not use machine translations involve the ergonistics: needs, abilities and limitations of humans. For instance, most participants decide to use MTs for speed or productivity gains, perceiving high-quality outputs, and getting gist understandings. In contrast, some of them do not use MTs as they used to perceive terrible experiences from them, such as obtaining grammatical errors, receiving negative influences on their translation abilities and facing the complexities in the technology usages (Cadwell et al., 2016).
8 The findings in the article entitled “5 Compelling Reasons to Use Machine Translation” suggest that the advantages of machine translations affect people’s decision to use machine translations instead of human translators. That is, machine translations are faster than human translators. Furthermore, although the users might come up with poor-quality translated texts after using machine translations, they must admit that such the machine translations are less expensive than hiring professional translators. Additionally, machine translations are great for translating a large amount of data, for example, research instructions, websites and portals and social media posts. Also, using machine translations is secure. OctaveMT is one of the translation platforms with its security certificated by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST). Lastly, machine translations improve consistency. This pro is beneficial for the business section since the MTs can be trained to use the same term for the same concept to save time (United Language Group, 2021). As the first translation application, Google Translate was developed in 2010 by the Google team (Wikipedia, 2021), and there are only a few numbers of the research studies focusing on the factors affecting Thai people’s use of translation applications, including this popular one, Google Translate. Most research is purposed to explore the outputs after using the apps or the attitudes toward the use of them. Therefore, this research was conducted with 30 Chiang Mai University (CMU) student participants to accumulate the data regarding the factors affecting their use of translation applications. Since translation apps that have been widely used now are also considered to be a form of machine translations and/or translation technologies, the aforementioned factors affecting people’s use of translation applications were applied as the theoretical framework in this present study to obtain the quantitative and qualitative data on the factors having effects on CMU students’ use of translation applications to facilitate their studies.
9 Related Studies In 2019, Zulkifli conducted a research project related to the factors affecting the use of translation applications entitled “A Qualitative Study: The Use of Google Translate among English Education Department Students.” The research aimed to discover the students’ problems in using Google Translate and to investigate the students’ strategies in solving those problems when using Google Translate in the English language learning process. The data was collected through an in-depth interview with four students in the Department of English Education at an Isalamic private university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, about their problems in using Google Translate and strategies to solve the translation problems. The findings revealed that the interviewees faced problems related to language competence consisting of difficulty in following the speakers, difficulty in appropriation of the translation skills and difficulty in the use of their first language. Additionally, they faced the problems caused by Google Translate itself. They claimed that GT did not allow users to set the application’s speaker, and it has limitations in translating over-5,000-word texts or over-1-MB files. Furthermore, its ability to translate English slang and idioms was poor. Therefore, the translated texts usually resulted in low grammar accuracy. The methods, such as repeating the speaker's pronunciation, reviewing the source of language before doing the translation, reading phonetic transcripts in the dictionaries, etc. were mentioned by the interviewees. As for the problems caused by Google Translate, the interviewees suggested several solutions, such as using a headset to get clearer listening, setting the web address for the accent speaker, and checking the words on the Internet. Another related research is “Google Translate as a Supplementary Tool for Learning Malay: A Case Study at Universiti Sains Malaysia.” The purpose of this qualitative research was to investigate the use of Google Translate as a supplementary tool in helping international students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to learn and develop their language
10 learning capabilities. The main focus group of this research was 16 international students at the School of Languages, Literacies, and Translation, USM, who had registered for the LKM 100 Bahasa Malaysia (I) course. The data were collected by using questionnaires. The results showed that most of the participants used Google Translate for improving their vocabulary learning, writing, and reading skills. Nevertheless, they avoided using the app for learning listening, speaking and grammar. Although there were some limitations, the respondents still had positive attitudes toward the use of Google Translate, especially when they did classroom activities as Google Translate could encourage them to study independently and help them elevate their self-designed strategies to solve language learning problems (Bahri, 2016). The research entitled “Translation Apps: Increasing Communication with Dual Language Learners” was also one of the research studies investigating the crucial roles of translation applications in facilitating students’ language studies. The research aimed to explore the effectiveness of three well-known translation apps in the United States including Speak and Translate, Microsoft Translator and Google Translate. The qualitative data in this research were collected by the participant observation and ethnography method. The participants of the study were the teachers of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) and the DLLs in the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, USA. The findings revealed that the anti-bias curriculum allowing the DLLs to use translation applications both in class and at their home helped them have a positive attitude towards the English language studies. As a result, both teachers and DLLs could communicate together successfully. The DLLs could elevate their understanding of the instructions, lessons, assignments, homework, etc. more. Moreover, teachers allowing the DLLs to use translation apps in class were successful in creating harmony and supporting bilingualism among the students with diverse backgrounds. According to the in-depth interviews with the participants, although the aforementioned translation apps had some similar features suiting the students’ use, they had their own
11 limitations. As for Speak and Translate, its cost was around $19.99 and available only on Apple. With regard to Microsoft Translator, the speaker must hold the mic button the entire time. With Google Translate, the first-ranked translation app in the world, there were a limited number of downloaded languages that could be used offline (Lake & Beisly, 2019). The last related research was entitled “Translation Technology for Student Translators: A Study on Perceptions.” The objective of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of student translators on translation technology. The data was collected from three students who had studied in the English Language and Culture Department for eight semesters. The findings showed that the focus group understood the meaning and the function of translation technology. Moreover, they knew other translation technologies apart from Google Translate. According to the focus group’s answers, their main purpose of using translation technology was to translate the texts based on teachers’ assignments. The group’s attitude towards translation technology was positive as the translation technology provided them various benefits. However, translation technology’s weaknesses such as limited performance in certain areas and complexity of the programs still needed to be developed (Halim, 2019). It can be seen that translation apps are widely used for the educational purposes. Although each app has its own weaknesses and limitations that need to be further developed, the majority of the students in the reviewed studies still have positive attitudes toward the use of those translation applications. This present research is similar to the aforementioned related studies in terms of the focus on students’ attitudes and use of translation applications to facilitate their studies and improve their learning skills. However, this research has some aspects that differ from those studies in terms of the geographical aspects as it focuses on 30 students studying at Chiang Mai University, located in the North of Thailand. Moreover, in terms of the research methodology, the factors affecting people’s use of translation
12 technologies or machine translations will be applied as the theoretical framework in this study to design effective research tools, including questionnaires and interviews to gather information that is beneficial for both the researcher and the translation application developers. Research Methods Research Subjects The subjects of the study were 30 Chiang Mai University students in a variety of faculties. They were informed about the purposes of the study and asked about their willingness to be part of this study before completing the questionnaires. Five respondents were then selected to join the in-depth interviews via Zoom. Research Instruments A questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the data through Google Form. As CMU students were Thai, the questionnaire was designed in the Thai language to make it easily understandable. Each questionnaire consists of four parts. The first part was designed to obtain general information of the respondents. The second part was to gain the information about their experiences of using translation apps and their attitudes toward the use of these apps. The third part was created based on the reviewed theories and previous studies on the factors affecting people’s use of translation technologies and/or machine translations. The data in the second and the third parts were obtained through a 5-point rating scale (Likert scale) ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The last part of the questionnaire included the open-ended questions about additional factors affecting the respondents’ use of translation apps and their expectations toward translation application development. The online in-depth interviews via ZOOM were conducted to obtain the additional information from the five selected questionnaire respondents.
13 Data Collection The questionnaire was posted in the Facebook group named ‘ลูกช้างมช’ to collect the quantitative data. In order to persuade the respondents who were pleased to take part in this research to honestly fill in the questionnaire, the directions of it will clearly include the research title and the objective to use their responses for only educational purposes. After receiving 30 completed questionnaires from the respondents, the Google Form was closed automatically. Five respondents providing the interesting answers; for example, they used various translation apps, usually employed the apps to facilitate their studies or had surprising factors affecting their use of the apps, were contacted back to make an appointment for the in-depth interviews via ZOOM. After receiving the quantitative and qualitative data from the questionnaires and the interviews, they were analyzed and presented in the form of pie charts, bar charts, tables and reports. Data Analysis The data collected from the questionnaires were considered quantitative data. Descriptive statistics were used as the method to analyze these data and to present them in the form of percentage frequency distributions of the respondents’ general information, attitudes towards translation apps, and factors affecting their use of the apps to facilitate their studies. The qualitative data collected from the in-depth interviews were then analyzed and presented in the report format. These findings included the interviewees’ purposes of using translation apps, the most influential factors affecting their use of the apps, the strengths and the weaknesses of each app, their strategies to make use of translation applications, and their expectations toward the ideal translation applications.
14 Research Results Data Collected from the Questionnaires The Questionnaire Respondents’ Demographic Information According to the questionnaire results, there were 66.67% of the respondents who were female, 9% who were male and 1% who preferred not to specify their gender. The majority of the respondents (63.33%) were 21-23 years old. The respondents who were 18-20 years old and over 23 years old accounted for 33.33% and 3.33%, respectively. Over half of the respondents (53.33%) were the fourth-year university students. There were 20% of the respondents who were the first-year students while 16.67% of them were the third-year students. A minority of the respondents (10%) were the second-year students. 36.37% of the respondents were studying in the Faculty of Humanities. The number of the respondents studying in the Faculty of Science was 10%, which was similar to the number of the respondents who were studying in the Faculty of Engineering. A minority of the respondents were studying in other different faculties at Chiang Mai University. The Questionnaire Respondents’ Translation Application Usage Experiences All the respondents knew Google Translate while 36.67% of them knew iTranslate. 20% of the respondents knew Microsoft Translator whereas a minority of them knew other different apps. Every respondent used Google Translate followed by 23.33% of the respondents who used iTranslate. However, there were other translation applications used by a small number of the respondents such as Line Dictionary, Dict Box and Thai Fast Dict. The majority of the respondents (86.67%) preferred Google Translate whereas 10% of them preferred Longdo Dictionary. Only a few respondents preferred other apps. It can be seen that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (63.33%) liked Google Translate. The number of the respondents who liked Longdo Dictionary was exactly the same
15 as the number of the respondents who liked Line Dictionary (6.67%). In contrast, other apps seemed to be favored by a small number of the respondents. Nearly all of the respondents (93.33%) favored each app due to their simplicity. 80% of the respondents and 66.67% of the respondents preferred them because they were free and could translate many languages. Other reasons were that they could translate long texts at a time, helped improve pronunciation skills, took less space in the electronic devices, etc. 93.33% of the respondents used translation apps for translating terms or texts. Over half of the respondents (56.67%) employed the apps to find synonyms while 43.33% and 36.67% of the respondents used the apps to learn the pronunciation and to find the examples of the vocabulary used in various contexts, respectively. The majority of the respondents (73.33%) used to face the problems when using translation apps. The most common problem they faced was out-of-context translation (31.82%) followed by mistranslation (27.27%) and word-for-word translation (22.73%). Almost half of the respondents (46.67%) used translation apps less than twice a day while only one respondent used the apps every time he/she wondered about a word meaning. The Questionnaire Respondents’ Attitudes towards the Use of Translation Applications Table 1 The Questionnaire Respondents’ Attitudes toward the Use of Translation Applications Attitudes toward the use of translation applications Levels of agreement Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree 5 4 3 2 1 1. Translation applications help facilitate your studies; that is, they can be used in class and help 18 (60%) 9 (30%) 3 (10%) 0 0
16 complete your work faster. 2. Translation applications help save your expenses from purchasing paper dictionaries and hiring translators. 15 (50%) 6 (20%) 6 (20%) 3 (10%) 0 3. Translation applications help optimize your studies; that is, they help you understand the contents of your studies more and help elevate your grades. 11 (36.67%) 14 (46.67%) 5 (16.67%) 0 0 4. Translation applications are necessary tools for in-class study. 11 (36.67%) 14 (46.67%) 3 (10%) 2 (6.67%) 0 5. Using translation applications provide more advantages than disadvantages. 12 (40%) 11 (36.67%) 7 (23.33%) 0 0 6. Translation applications can be endlessly developed. 12 (40%) 12 (40%) 5 (16.67%) 1 (3.33%) 0 As shown in Table 1, 60% of the respondents strongly agreed that translation apps helped facilitate their studies. Besides, 50% of the respondents strongly agreed that the apps helped save their expenses from purchasing paper dictionaries and hiring translators. On the other hand, nearly half of the respondents (46.67%) agreed with the idea that translation applications helped optimize their studies. 46.67% of the respondents agreed that translation applications were necessary tools for their in-class studies. 40% of them strongly agreed with the endless development of translation applications.
17 Factors Affecting the Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications to Facilitate Their Studies Table 2 Factors Affecting the Questionnaire Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications Factors affecting the use of translation applications to facilitate the respondents’ studies Levels of agreement Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree 5 4 3 2 1 1. If I cannot translate words, I will use translation applications first. 17 (56.67%) 9 (30%) 4 (13.33%) 0 0 2. When I grew up and started studying at a higher level, my demand for using translation applications increased. 12 (40%) 14 (46.67%) 3 (10%) 0 1 (3.33%) 3. I can use the translation applications even if no one teaches me. 18 (60%) 10 (33.33%) 2 (6.67%) 0 0 4. The advancement of technology has aroused me to learn how to use translation applications by myself. 16 (53.33%) 9 (30%) 3 (10%) 2 (6.67%) 0 5. I use translation applications to translate difficult-to-understand words or texts, such as technical terms. 14 (46.67%) 10 (33.33%) 5 (16.67%) 0 1 (3.33%) 6. I use translation applications that show more than one translation result. 15 (50%) 8 (26.67%) 6 (20%) 1 (3.33%) 0 7. I use translation applications to improve my listening, speaking, 8 (26.67%) 9 (30%) 10 (33.33%) 2 (6.67%) 1 (3.33%)
18 reading and writing skills. 8. If there is Wi-Fi in the classroom, I will always use translation applications to facilitate my studies. 11 (36.67%) 12 (40%) 3 (10%) 4 (13.33%) 0 9. I use translation applications because my friends use them too. 4 (13.33%) 5 (16.67%) 10 (33.33%) 5 (16.67%) 6 (20%) 10. Practicing to professionally use translation applications has positive effects on my future career. 8 (26.67%) 10 (33.33%) 11 (36.67%) 1 (3.33%) 0 11. I use translation applications because my translation skills are limited. 15 (50%) 8 (26.67%) 4 (13.33%) 3 (10%) 0 12. If the translation application I use semantically or grammatically mistranslates the information I want, I will immediately switch to use another one. 13 (43.33%) 12 (40%) 2 (6.67%) 2 (6.67%) 1 (3.33%) 13. I use translation applications which have simple steps to use. 15 (50%) 11 (36.67%) 1 (3.33%) 3 (10%) 0 14. I use translation applications because I am confident that they cannot access my personal data. 7 (23.33%) 14 (46.67%) 6 (20%) 1 (3.33%) 2 (6.67%) 15. I prefer using translation applications rather than paper dictionaries because they can translate the 17 (56.67%) 9 (30%) 3 (10%) 1 (3.33%) 0
19 information I need more conveniently and faster. 16. I prefer using translation applications rather than hiring translators. 10 (33.33%) 9 (30%) 7 (23.33%) 3 (10%) 1 (3.33%) Table 2 indicates that over half of the respondents (56.67%) strongly agreed that they used translation apps first when they could not translate terms. Almost half of the respondents (46.67%) agreed that their demand for the use of the apps increased when they grew up and studied at a higher level. 60% of the respondents could use the translation applications even if no one taught them, and 55.33% of them were aroused to learn how to use the apps by the technological advancement. 46.67% of the respondents strongly agreed that they used the apps to translate difficult-to-understand terms or texts. Half of the respondents (50%) strongly agreed that they used translation applications showing more than one translation result. Only a third of the respondents (33.33%) neither agreed nor disagreed with the use of the apps to improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. 40% of the respondents agreed that they always used translation applications to facilitate their studies if there was Wi-Fi in the classroom. 33.33% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that they used translation applications because of their friends. In addition, it was found that 36.67% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that practicing using translation apps provided positive impacts on their future careers. 50% of the respondents strongly agreed that the limitation of their translation skills was the factor affecting their use of the apps. 43.33% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would suddenly switch to use another application if the one they used semantically or grammatically mistranslated the information they wanted. 50% of them strongly agreed with the simplicity
20 of the steps to use the apps. Almost half of the respondents (46.67%) agreed that they preferred using translation apps because the apps could not access their personal information. Over half of the respondents (56.67%) strongly agreed that they preferred using translation apps rather than paper dictionaries because of the convenience and speed in using the apps. 33.33% of the respondents strongly agreed that they preferred using translation apps rather than hiring translators since this might require a high budget. Additional Factors Affecting the Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications to Facilitate Their Studies 16.67% of the respondents claimed that limitation of time affected their use of translation apps. 10% of the respondents considered their desire to hear the correct pronunciation as another factor. Other factors mentioned by a minority of the respondents were the cost of the apps, types of assignments, demand to communicate with foreigners, etc. 16.67% of the respondents wanted the apps to translate words accurately while 14.33% of them hoped that the apps could show more than one translation result. 14.33% of the respondents expected the apps to provide grammatically correct translations. Other expectations of the questionnaire respondents included the apps’ abilities to translate words in several contexts, to translate spoken language, to spell terms, etc. (See also Appendix C.) The Data Collected from the In-depth Interviews The Data Collected from the First Interviewee The first interviewee was a fourth-year student, studying in the Faculty of Business Administration. He used translation applications to translate technical terms found in his lessons. The most influential factor affecting his use of translation apps was easy accessibility. When asked about the strengths and weaknesses of Google Translate, his favorite app, he stated that the app was more up-to-date and more accurate than other apps.
21 He suggested that using translation applications helped save his money from hiring translators and helped improve his learning skills even though it might not be as effective as learning by using paper dictionaries. In order to receive the best translation results, he usually translated word by word and used more than one application. If an app could not translate some technical terms, he would use another app or search their definitions on the Internet. In his opinion, translation apps were essential for university students as the educational media were normally presented in English. He emphasized that the most important quality of translation apps should be accuracy. The Data Collected from the Second Interviewee The second interviewee was a fourth-year Engineering student. She preferred using translation apps rather than using paper dictionaries because the apps helped her translate her work faster. Moreover, she chose to use the apps as she did not know any translators and thought that hiring professional translators might be expensive. Her most preferable translation app was Google Translate since it was easy to use. When comparing Google Translate to Thai Dict and Microsoft Translate, she thought Thai Dict was suitable only for word-for-word translation while Microsoft Translate’s translation was not quite natural. She added that, in fact, Google Translate still did not meet her expectations. The app was popular as it was under the name of “Google.” When translating any texts, she would use more than one app and search for more information on the Internet. The problem in using translation applications she often faced was out-of-context translation. In order to solve the problem, she asked her classmates for help. According to the interviewee, translation apps were important for her as she could immediately translate any unknown vocabulary via her mobile phone. She expected the apps to display only necessary translation results, have an image translation function, show parts of speech, and have appropriate pronunciation.
22 The Data Collected from the Third Interviewee The third interviewee was a first-year student studying in the Faculty of Fine Arts. In general, she used translation applications to translate English articles, essays or research papers into Thai. She also translated a third language into English and translated it into Thai later. According to her answers, translation apps were not necessary items for her as in her studies, she did not employ the English language that often. If she had enough time, she preferred using a paper dictionary, for she could find more embedded meanings. Her favorite app was Google Translate since it had an image translation function and could translate a long paragraph a time. Another app that she used was Thai Dict; nevertheless, she claimed that the app suited only vocabulary translation. It was not suitable for long-text translation. Besides, she stated that her purpose of translation was to understand the gist of a text. Therefore, it was quite unnecessary for her to hire translators. In order to obtain the best results, she usually used both translation apps and paper dictionaries together to translate words. In case that the translation apps translated long texts too directly or provided the meanings that sounded weird, she would chunk the texts into sentences and translate them. She hoped the translation apps displayed more translation results and more synonyms/antonyms. The Data Collected from the Forth Interviewee The fourth interviewee, studying in the first year in the Faculty of Associated Medical Science, said that she preferred using translation apps to translate English general terms rather than technical terms as the apps usually transliterate the terms without explaining the meanings. The most influential factor affecting her use of translation apps was their qualities which could not be found in other translation tools such as having slang words.
23 Based on her experiences of using translation applications, although Google Translate could translate more languages while Longdo Dict presented more translation results, she considered Line Dict as her favorite app because it had a simple-but-attractive design, displayed the synonyms and showed adequate examples of vocabulary use. In her opinion, translation apps helped her finish her work and understand her English teachers faster than using paper dictionaries. She added that if people knew grammar, they could use several translation apps instead of hiring translators. As she always used translation apps, her strategy to obtain the best translation results was translating only the list of vocabulary she wanted to know and arranging them into a sentence by herself to avoid wordfor-word translation. If she could not find the meanings of some words, she would search their definitions on a search engine. In case that she could not translate any words, she would ask her seniors or her lecturers. She emphasized that translation apps were the most important tools in her studies as nowadays knowledge was not recorded or written only in English. Thus, effective translation applications should provide correct translations in different languages, show more than one synonym, not rely too much on the Internet, always present updated vocabulary data, can appropriately translate proverbs and have a proper design. The Data Collected from the Fifth Interviewee The fifth interviewee was a third-year student studying in the Faculty of Business Administration. She usually used translation apps to translate official words, technical terms and long texts found in her studies. The most important factor forcing her to use the apps was the limitation of time set by her teachers. She also claimed that using translation apps was faster than using paper dictionaries and cheaper than hiring translators. ฉันรักแปล was her most favorable translation app. While both ฉันรักแปล and Google Translate could translate texts, ฉันรัก แปล displayed more translation results. However, both apps sometimes translated too directly.
24 Therefore, she usually arranged the translated words into sentences based on her familiarity with the Thai language. She, for instance, changed the register of some words to make the sentences sound more natural. As she was studying in the Faculty of Business Administration, she found that translation apps were not that essential for her studies. She employed the apps only in a few English classes. Nevertheless, she expected the apps could provide understandable translation results once she translated any texts. Conclusion Discussion of the Main Findings The Experiences and the Attitudes of the Respondents toward the Use of Translation Applications Based on the research findings, most respondents are familiar with using translation applications. Among the variety of translation apps they have used, Google Translate is found to be the most popular one as 100% of the respondents have known and used it to facilitate their studies. Regarding the reasons why the respondents like each translation application, the app’s simplicity (93.33%), free download (80%), and ability to translate various languages (66.67%) can be counted as top-three factors affecting their use. As for the purposes of using the apps, the majority of the respondents (93.33%) claimed that they used the apps to translate terms or texts. Based on the five interviewees’ explanations, most of them used translation apps to translate technical terms related to their studies. This indicates that most students utilize translation applications to translate words or texts they are not familiar with to facilitate their studies. In terms of problems the respondents faced when using translation applications, the common problem the majority of them have found is out-of-context translation. Even though
25 Google translate is the most preferable app among the respondents, it has sometimes caused this problem. All the interviewees in this study suggested that in order to obtain the best translation results, application users should use more than one translation app since each app had their own strengths and weaknesses. Interestingly, the majority of the respondents explicitly show their positive attitudes toward the use of translation apps. To illustrate, most respondents strongly agreed that using translation apps provide more pros than cons. In addition, the apps help facilitate and optimize their studies as well as help save their expenses from purchasing paper dictionaries and hiring translators. Thus, it can be concluded that the respondents have positive attitudes toward the use of translation apps even if they have experienced several negative results from the apps. Although the apps are widely used by students in this era, they still have various flaws that need to be developed, such as translation inaccuracy, outdated vocabulary database, inappropriate design, unclear pronunciation and inadequate translated results. Factors Affecting the Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications According to the data collected from the questionnaires and the interviews, it can be summarized that the factors affecting people’s use of translation applications mentioned in the reviewed theories and previous studies also have significant impacts on the sample group of CMU students’ use of the apps. The first factor is species-specific behavior which could be seen from over half of the questionnaire respondents (56.67%) who instinctively used translation applications when they experienced the unknown vocabulary. Another factor is maturation. In this study, this factor was related to the increase in the requirement for translation application usage when the majority of the respondents grew up or studied in the higher educational levels. The next factor is motivation consisting of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. It was found
26 that without being taught, intrinsic motivation forced nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) to be able to employ each app by themselves. As for extrinsic motivation, 53.33% of the respondents were stimulated by technological advancement. Transfer of learning is another important factor having effects on the respondents' use of translation apps. It could be seen from the data presenting that almost half of the respondents (46.67%) used translation apps to translate hard-to-understand terms or texts such as technical terms whereas 50% of them used the apps showing more than one translation result. Styles of learning also impacted the respondents’ use of the apps. However, this factor is less influential compared to the previous factors as the majority of the respondents (33.33%) neither agreed nor disagreed with the use of the apps to elevate their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. In addition, the majority of the respondents in this study who were comfortable to use translation apps in the classroom having Wi-Fi proved that physical environment had effects on their use of the apps. Social environment, particularly the respondents’ colleagues, also affected their use of the apps. The stability of future careers, which was considered a virtual environment factor, was found to affect the majority of the respondents’ use of translation applications as well. Apart from the aforementioned factors, the factors called ergonomic factors have great impacts on the translation application usage of the respondents. To explain, half of the respondents (50%) used the apps because their translation skills were limited, and 43.33% of them switched to another app when facing the mistranslation problem. Besides, 50% of them preferred the apps that had simple steps to use. Additionally, there are other factors related to the uniqueness of translation apps compared to other translation tools: paper dictionaries and human translators. For example,
27 translation apps are safe, able to translate words faster than paper dictionaries, and cheaper than hiring a translator. Based on the questionnaire results, there are other interesting factors influencing the respondents’ use of translation apps including limitation of time, demand to hear correct pronunciation, cost of translation apps, types of assignments and demand to communicate with foreigners. Nevertheless, these suggested factors could be considered parts of environmental factors together with ergonomic factors. Therefore, it can be concluded that there are several factors affecting the respondents' use of translation applications including species-specific behavior, maturation, motivation, transfer of learning, styles of learning, physical environment, virtual environment, social environment, ergonomic factors and unique features of each app. Recommendations In this research study, it can be seen that even if translation applications have been accepted as the necessary tools for the respondents’ education, they have faced the problems when using the apps from time to time. As a result, they have to adjust their strategies to gain the best translation results from the apps, such as using more than one app to translate the terms they want or searching for more definition explanations on the Internet. It is then recommended that translation application developers should improve their apps to have adequate translated results and have proper explanations for technical terms. In addition, it has been found that the respondents' expectations toward their ideal translation apps go in the same direction. That is, they want the apps to provide semantically and grammatically correct translation, be easier to use, and show a considerable number of translation results. Therefore, the application developers should develop their apps to be able to translate words more precisely, have new more useful functions such as an image
28 translation function, show adequate translation outcomes, display synonyms and antonyms, and have simple as well as attractive designs. References Albarracin, D. & Wyer, R. (2016). The cognitive impact of past behavior: Influences on beliefs, attitudes, and future behavioral decisions. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4807731/ Bahri, H. (2016). Google Translate as a supplementary tool for learning Malay: A case study at University Sains Malaysia. https://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/alls/article/view/2305 Balkul, H. I. (2017). The factor affecting the use of translation technologies in translator education: A pedagogical perspective. Current Debates in Linguistics & Literature, 8(6), 41-51.https://www.academia.edu/35994724/ Cadwell, P. et al. (2016). Human factors in machine translation and post-editing among institutional translators. Translation Spaces, 5(2), 222–243. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311087520_Human_factors_in_machine_tra nslation_and_post-editing_among_institutional_translators Dietrich, C. (2010). Decision making: Factorsthat influence decision making, heuristics used, and decision outcomes. Inquiries Journal/StudentPulse, 2(2). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=180 Halim, S. W. (2019). Translation technology for student translators: A study on perceptions. https://ejournal.uhn.ac.id/index.php/jetafl/article/view/112 iTranslate. (2021). https://itranslate.com/
29 Lake, V. E. & Beisly A. H., (2019). Translation apps: Increasing communication with dual language learners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(1). 489-494. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10643-019-00935-7.pdf Latief, R. A., Saleh, N. J., & Pammu, A. (2020). The effectiveness of machine translation to improve the system of translating language on cultural context. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/575/1/012178/pdf Lyons, S. (2016). A survey of the use of mobile technology and translation tools by students atsecondary schools in Thailand. Payap University Journal, 26(1), 35-53. https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pyu/article/view/128522 Neykova, M. (2018, November - December). Mobile translation appsin a translation class: The future in our hands. BETA E-Newsletter, 7(38), 12-17. http://www.beta-iatefl.org/cogitoergosum/wp- content/uploads/2019/05/ Senior, J. (2019). Mobile translation apps and second language teaching; What do student's think? https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9105728/ Shankland, S. (2013). Google translate now serves 200 million people daily. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ Timekettle (2020). Top 10 free translator apps 2020. https://www.timekettle.co/blogs/tips-and-tricks/top-10-free-translator-apps-2020 Ulatus. (2020). Translations made simple: The usefulness of translation apps. https://www.ulatus.com/translation-blog/most-globally-used-translated-apps/ United Language Group. (2021). 5 Compelling reasons to use machine translation. https://www.unitedlanguagegroup.com/blog/compelling-reasons-to-use-machinetranslation
30 Wikipedia. (2021). Google Translate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Translate Zulkifli, S. R. M. (2019). A qualitative study: The use of Google Translate among English education department students. http://repository.umy.ac.id/bitstream/handle/PUBLIKASI.pdf Appendix A Questionnaire แบบสอบถาม เรื่อง ปัจจัยที่ส่งผลต่อการใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพื่ออ านวยความสะดวกด้านการเรียน ของนักศึกษามหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ แบบสอบถามน้ีเป็นส่วนหน่ึงของวชิา 001489 การศึกษาวิชาค้นคว้าอิสระ (Independent Study) ของนักศึกษาปริญญาตรี หลักสูตรศิลปศาสตร์บัณฑิตศึกษา ภาควิชาภาษาอังกฤษ คณะมนุษยศาสตร์ มหาวทิยาลยัเชียงใหม่มีวตัถุประสงคเ์พื่อศึกษาปัจจยัที่ส่งผลต่อการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเพื่ออา นวย ความสะดวกดา้นการเรียนของนกัศึกษามหาวทิยาลยัเชียงใหม่ท้งัน้ีขอ้มูลที่ไดจ้ากแบบสอบถามชุดน้ีจะถูก นา ไปใชเ้พื่อประโยชน์ทางการศึกษาเท่าน้นั โดยจะไม่มีผลกระทบในเชิงลบแก่ผตู้อบแบบสอบถามแต่ ประการใด จึงขอความอนุเคราะห์ในการตอบแบบสอบถามตามความเป็ นจริงมากที่สุด แบบสอบถามแบ่งออกเป็ น 4 ส่วน ดังนี้ ส่วนที่1 ข้อมูลตามประชากรศาสตร์ ส่วนที่2 ขอ้มูลเกี่ยวกบั ประสบการณ์การใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาและความคิดเห็นต่อการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนั แปลภาษา ส่วนที่3 ขอ้มูลเกี่ยวกบั ปัจจยัที่ส่งผลต่อการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเพื่ออา นวยความสะดวกดา้นการเรียน ส่วนที่4 ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกบั ปัจจยัที่ส่งผลต่อการใชแ้อปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพื่ออ านวยความสะดวกด้าน การเรียน
31 ผู้วิจัยขอขอบคุณทุกท่านที่ให้ความอนุเคราะห์ในการตอบแบบสอบถามมา ณ ที่น้ี นางสาวปุณยวีร์ สุวรรณรัตน์ นกัศึกษาช้นั ปีที่4 คณะมนุษยศาสตร์ มหาวทิยาลยัเชียงใหม่ ส่วนที่ 1 ข้อมูลตามประชากรศาสตร์ คา ช้ีแจงโปรดเลือกคา ตอบที่ตรงกบัความเป็นจริงเกี่ยวกบัตวัท่าน 1. เพศ ❏ชาย ❏หญิง ❏ไม่ตอ้งการระบุ 2. อายุ ❏ต่า กวา่ 18 ปี ❏18 -20 ปี ❏21 -23 ปี ❏มากกวา่ 23 ปี 3. ระดบัช้นั ปีการศึกษา ❏ปี ที่ 1 ❏ปี ที่ 2 ❏ปี ที่ 3 ❏ปี ที่ 4 ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ…..................) 4. คณะ ❏คณะมนุษยศาสตร์ ❏คณะศึกษาศาสตร์ ❏คณะวิจิตรศิลป์ ❏คณะสังคมศาสตร์ ❏คณะวิทยาศาสตร์ ❏คณะวิศวกรรมศาสตร์ ❏คณะแพทยศาสตร์ ❏คณะเกษตรศาสตร์
32 ❏คณะทันตแพทยศาสตร์ ❏คณะเภสัชศาสตร์ ❏คณะเทคนิคการแพทย์ ❏คณะพยาบาลศาสตร์ ❏คณะอุตสาหกรรมเกษตร ❏คณะสัตวแพทยศาสตร์ ❏คณะบริหารธุรกิจ ❏คณะเศรษฐศาสตร์ ❏คณะสถาปัตยกรรมศาสตร์ ❏คณะการสื่อสารมวลชน ❏คณะรัฐศาสตร์และรัฐประศาสนศาสตร์ ❏คณะนิติศาสตร์ ❏วิทยาลัยศิลปะสื่อและเทคโนโลยี ❏วิทยาลัยนานาชาตินวัตกรรมดิจิทัล 5. Facebook ที่ท่านสะดวกใหต้ิดต่อกลบั ในกรณีที่ท่านไดร้ับคดัเลือกเป็นหน่ึงในผใู้ห้สัมภาษณ์ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ส่วนที่ 2 ข้อมูลเกยี่วกบัประสบการณ์การใช้แอปพลเิคชันแปลภาษาและความคิดเห็นต่อการใช้แอปพลเิคชัน แปลภาษา 2.1 คา ช้ีแจงโปรดท าเครื่องหมาย✓ลงในช่อง☐ หนา้คา ตอบที่ตรงกบัความเป็นจริงเกี่ยวกบัตวัท่าน 1. ท่านรู้จกัแอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาใดต่อไปน้ี(ตอบไดม้ากกวา่ 1 ค าตอบ) ❏Google Translate ❏ iTranslate ❏Speak & Translate 3 (10%) ❏Microsoft Translator ❏TextGrabber ❏TripLingo ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ) __________ 2. ท่านเคยใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาใดต่อไปน้ี(ตอบไดม้ากกวา่ 1 ค าตอบ) ❏Google Translate ❏iTranslate
33 ❏Speak & Translate ❏Microsoft Translator ❏TextGrabber ❏TripLingo ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ) __________ 3. ท่านชื่นชอบแอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาใดต่อไปน้ี(ตอบไดม้ากกวา่ 1 ค าตอบ) ❏Google Translate ❏iTranslate ❏Speak & Translate ❏Microsoft Translator ❏TextGrabber ❏TripLingo ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ) __________ 4. ท่านชื่นชอบแอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาใดมากที่สุด (โปรดระบุ) ____________________________________________________________________________________ 5. ท่านชื่นชอบแอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาดงักล่าวเพราะเหตุใด (ตอบไดม้ากกวา่ 1 ค าตอบ) ❏ดาวน์โหลดฟรี ❏ใชพ้ ้ืนที่ในอุปกรณ์อิเล็กทรอนิกส์นอ้ย ❏ใชง้านง่ายไม่ซบัซอ้น ❏แปลได้หลายภาษา ❏แปลไดอ้ยา่งถูกตอ้งแม่นยา ❏แปลขอ้ความจา นวนมากไดใ้นคร้ังเดียว ❏ช่วยพฒันาทกัษะดา้นการออกเสียง ❏ช่วยพฒันาทกัษะดา้นการสะกดคา ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ) __________ 6. ท่านใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเพื่อวตัถุประสงคใ์ดต่อไปน้ี(ตอบไดม้ากกวา่ 1 ค าตอบ) ____________________________________________________________________________________
34 7. ท่านเคยประสบปัญหาจากการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาหรือไม่ ❏เคย ❏ไม่เคย ❏ไม่แน่ใจ ถ้าเคย กรุณาระบุปัญหา __________________________________________________________ 8. ความถี่ในการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาของท่าน ❏นอ้ยกวา่ 2 คร้ังต่อวนั 2-3 คร้ังต่อวนั ❏4-5 คร้ังต่อวนัมากกวา่ 5 คร้ังต่อวนั ❏อื่นๆ (โปรดระบุ)__________ 2.2 คา ช้ีแจงโปรดพิจารณาขอ้ความในตารางและเลือกคา ตอบที่ตรงกบัความคิดเห็นของท่านมากที่สุด
35 ความคิดเห็นต่อการใช้ แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา ระดับความคิดเห็น เห็นด้วย มากที่สุด เห็นด้วย มาก เห็นด้วย ปานกลาง เห็นด้วย น้อย ไม่เห็น ด้วย 5 4 3 2 1 1. แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาช่วย อ านวยความสะดวกด้านการ เรียน เช่น สามารถใชง้านใน ช้นัเรียนไดส้ะดวก ช่วยให้ ทา งานเสร็จเร็วข้ึน 2. แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาช่วย ลดค่าใชจ้่ายจากการซ้ือ พจนานุกรมแบบเล่มและการ จ้างนักแปล 3. แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาช่วย เพิ่มประสิทธิภาพดา้นการ เรียน เช่น ช่วยใหเ้ขา้ใจเน้ือหา ที่เรียนมากข้ึนและช่วยใหผ้ล การเรียนดีข้ึน 4. แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเป็ น เครื่องมือที่จา เป็นต่อการเรียน ในช้นัเรียน 5. การใช้แอปพลิเคชัน แปลภาษามีขอ้ดีมากกวา่ ข้อเสีย
36 6. แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา สามารถพฒันาไดอ้ยา่งไม่มีที่ สิ้นสุด ส่วนที่ 3 ข้อมูลเกยี่วกบัปัจจัยที่ส่งผลต่อการใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพื่ออ านวยความสะดวกด้านการเรียน ของผู้ตอบแบบสอบถาม คา ช้ีแจงโปรดพิจารณาขอ้ความในตารางและเลือกคา ตอบที่ตรงกบัความคิดเห็นของท่านมากที่สุด
37 ปัจจัยที่ส่งผลต่อการใช้ แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพื่อ อ านวยความสะดวกด้านการเรียน ระดับความคิดเห็น เห็นด้วย มากที่สุด เห็นด้วย มาก เห็นด้วย ปานกลาง เห็นด้วย น้อย ไม่เห็นดว้ย 5 4 3 2 1 1. หากแปลคา ศพัทไ์ม่ไดฉ้นัจะ เลือกใช้แอปพลิเคชัน แปลภาษาเป็ นอันดับแรก 2. เมื่อฉนัเติบโตและเริ่มเรียนใน ระดบัที่สูงข้ึน ฉนัมีความ ต้องการในการใช้แอปพลิเค ชนัแปลภาษามากข้ึน 3. ฉันสามารถใช้แอปพลิเคชัน แปลภาษาไดแ้มไ้ม่เคยมีใคร สอน 4. ความกา้วหนา้ทางดา้น เทคโนโลยีกระตุ้นให้ฉัน อยากเรียนรู้วิธีใช้แอปพลิเค ชันแปลภาษาด้วยตนเอง 5. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา เพื่อแปลค าหรือข้อความที่ ยากต่อการทา ความเขา้ใจเช่น ค าศัพท์เฉพาะทาง (Technical terms)
38 6. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา ที่แสดงผลลัพธ์การแปลมากกวา่ 1 ผลลัพธ์ 7. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา เพื่อพัฒนาทักษะด้านการฟัง พูด อ่านและเขียน 8. หากในห้องเรียนมี Wi -Fi ฉัน จะใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา เพื่ออ านวยความสะดวกใน การเรียนเสมอ 9. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพราะเห็นวา่เพื่อนของฉนัต่างก็ใชเ้ช่นกนั 10. การฝึ กใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาใหช้า นาญส่ง ผ ล ดี ต่อ ก า ร ป ร ะ ก อ บ อ า ชี พ ใ น อนาคตของฉัน 11. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา เพราะความรู้ความสามารถดา้นการแปลของฉนัมีจา กดั
39 12. หากแอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาที่ ฉันใช้แปลผิดความหมายหรือ แปลผิดไวยากรณ์ ฉันจะ เปลี่ยนไปใช้แอปพลิเคชันอื่น ทันที 13. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา ที่มีข้นัตอน/วธิีการใชท้ ี่ไม่ ซับซ้อน 14. ฉันใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษา เพราะมนั่ใจวา่แอปพลิเคชนั น้นัๆไม่สามารถเขา้ถึงขอ้มูล ส่วนตวัของฉนั ได้ 15. ฉันชอบใช้แอปพลิเคชัน แปลภาษามากกวา่ พจนานุกรมแบบเล่มเพราะ สามารถแปลข้อมูลที่ต้องการ ไดส้ะดวกและรวดเร็วกวา่ 16. ฉันชอบใช้แอปพลิเคชัน แปลภาษามากกวา่เสียเงินจา้ง นักแปล ส่วนที่ 4 ข้อมูลเพมิ่เติมเกยี่วกบัปัจจัยทสี่่งผลต่อการใช้แอปพลเิคชันแปลภาษาเพื่ออา นวยความสะดวกด้าน การเรียน 1. นอกเหนือจากปัจจยัขา้งตน้มีปัจจยัอื่นใดอีกบา้งที่ส่งผลต่อการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเพื่ออา นวย ความสะดวกดา้นการเรียนของท่าน (ถ้ามี กรุณาระบุในรายละเอียด)
40 ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ท่านคาดหวงัอยากใหแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาที่มีใหเ้ลือกใชใ้นปัจจุบนัมีการปรับปรุงพฒันาในดา้นไหน บ้าง เพื่อให้มีประสิทธิภาพสูงสุด (กรุณาระบุในรายละเอียด) ____________________________________________________________________________________
41 Appendix B Interview Questions แบบสัมภาษณ์ เรื่อง ปัจจัยที่ส่งผลต่อการใช้แอปพลิเคชันแปลภาษาเพื่ออ านวยความสะดวกด้านการเรียน ของนักศึกษามหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ 1. ท่านนิยมใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาแปลคา ศพัท/์ขอ้ความลกัษณะใด หรือเพื่อวตัถุประสงคใ์ดเป็น หลัก 2. ปัจจยัใดที่ส่งผลต่อการเลือกใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาของท่านมากที่สุด เพราะเหตุใด 3. แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาที่ท่านชอบมากที่สุดมีขอ้ดี/ขอ้เสียต่างจากแอปพลิเคชนัอื่นที่ท่านเคยใช้ อยา่งไร 4. ท่านคิดวา่แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาช่วยอา นวยความสะดวกดา้นการเรียนของท่านมากกวา่เครื่องมือ แปลภาษาชนิดอื่นหรือไม่อยา่งไร 5. ท่านมีกลยทุธ์หรือวธิีการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเพื่อให้ไดผ้ลลพัธ์ที่ดีที่สุด หรือไม่อยา่งไร 6. หากท่านเคยประสบปัญหาจากการใชแ้อปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษา ท่านมีวธิีการแกไ้ขปัญหาดงักล่าว อยา่งไร 7. ท่านคิดวา่แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาเป็นสิ่งจา เป็นต่อการเรียนของท่านหรือไม่อยา่งไร 8. แอปพลิเคชนัแปลภาษาในอุดมคติของท่านเป็นอยา่งไร
42 Appendix C Questionnaire Data Analysis Demographic Information Figure 1 Genders of the Respondents Figure 2 Ages of the Respondents
43 Figure 3 University Years of the Respondents Figure 4 Faculties of the Respondents
44 Translation Application Usage Experiences and Attitudes toward the Use of Translation Applications Table 3 The Number of the Respondents Knowing Each Translation Application Translation applications Number Percentage Translation applications Number Percentage Google Translate 30 100% Thai Fast Dict 1 3.33% iTranslate 11 36.67% Dict Box 1 3.33% Speak & Translate 3 10% Merriam-Webster Dictionary 1 3.33% Microsoft Translator 6 20% Thai Dict 1 3.33% TextGrabber 0 0 NAVER Dictionary 1 3.33% TripLingo 1 3.33% Cambridge Dictionary 1 3.33% Longdo Dictionary 3 10% Collins Dictionary 1 3.33% Line Dictionary 2 6.67% Wiktionary Reader 1 3.33% Oxford Dictionary 2 6.67% Table 4 The Number of the Respondents Using Each Translation Application Translation applications Number Percentage Translation applications Number Percentage Google Translate 30 100% Thai Fast Dict 1 3.33% iTranslate 7 23.33% Dict Box 1 3.33% Speak & Translate 1 3.33% Merriam-Webster Dictionary 1 3.33% Microsoft Translator 2 6.67% Thai Dict 1 3.33% TextGrabber 0 0 NAVER Dictionary 1 3.33% TripLingo 0 0 Cambridge Dictionary 1 3.33% Longdo Dictionary 3 10% Collins Dictionary 1 3.33% Line Dictionary 2 6.67% Wiktionary Reader 1 3.33% Oxford Dictionary 2 6.67% ฉันรักแปล 1 3.33%
45 Table 5 Translation Applications Preferred by the Respondents Translation applications Number Percentage Translation applications Number Percentage Google Translate 26 86.67% Dict Box 1 3.33% iTranslate 2 6.67% Merriam-Webster Dictionary 1 3.33% Speak & Translate 0 0 Dict Box 1 3.33% Microsoft Translator 0 0 NAVER Dictionary 1 3.33% TextGrabber 0 0 Cambridge Dictionary 1 3.33% TripLingo 0 0 Collins Dictionary 1 3.33% Longdo Dictionary 3 10% Wiktionary Reader 1 3.33% Line Dictionary 2 6.67% Thai Free Dict 1 3.33% Oxford Dictionary 2 6.67% ฉันรักแปล 1 3.33% Table 6 The Respondents’ Favorite Translation Applications Translation applications Number Percentage Translation applications Number Percentage Google Translate 19 63.33% Cambridge Dictionary 1 3.33% Longdo Dictionary 2 6.67% Wiktionary Reader 1 3.33% Line Dictionary 2 6.67% ฉันรักแปล 1 3.33% Oxford Dictionary 1 3.33% Thai Free Dict 1 3.33% Dict Box 1 3.33% Do not specially like any apps 1 3.33%
46 Table 7 The Reasons Why the Respondents Preferred Certain Translation Applications Reasons Number Percentage Reasons Number Percentage Free download 24 80% Can translate long text a time 15 50% Take less space in electronic devices 9 30% Can improve pronunciation skills 11 36.67% Easy and uncomplicated to use 28 93.33% Can improve spelling skills 6 20% Can translate many languages 20 66.67% Have the image translation function 1 3.33% Can provide semantically and grammatically correct translations 7 23.33% Show many translation results 1 3.33% Table 8 The Respondents’ Purposes to Use Translation Applications Purposes Number Percentage To translate terms or texts 28 93.33% To learn how to pronounce words 13 43.33% To search for synonyms 17 56.67% To find the examples of vocabulary used in different contexts 11 36.67%
47 Figure 5 The Respondents’ Experiences of Facing Translation Problems Table 9 The Respondents’ Problems in Using Translation Applications Problems Number Percentage Provide out-of-context meanings 7 31.82% Mistranslate words 6 27.27% Translate words too directly 5 22.73% Cannot translate proverbs 1 4.55% Cannot translate technical terms 1 4.55% Display too many translation results causing confusion 1 4.55% Have advertisements interrupting the users 1 4.55%
48 Figure 6 The Respondents’ Frequency of Using Translation Applications Additional Factors Affecting the Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications to Facilitate Their Studies Table 10 The Additional Factors Affecting the Respondents’ Use of Translation Applications Factors Number Percentage Limitation of time 5 16.67% Demand to hear correct pronunciation 3 10% Cost of translation apps 1 3.33% More accessibility compared to paper dictionaries 1 3.33% Types of tasks assigned by the department 1 3.33% Demand to communicate with foreigners 1 3.33% Popularity of applications and application developer companies 1 3.33% Desire to know more new meanings 1 3.33% Translation applications’ accuracy 1 3.33% Translation applications’ ability to help users understand the meanings of words better than their self-translation 1 3.33%
49 Table 11 The Respondents’ Expectations toward Translation Application Development Expectations Number Percentage Provide more semantically and grammatically correct translations 5 16.67% Display more than one translated text 4 14.33% Always update vocabulary 4 14.33% Develop grammatically correct translations to suit target languages 3 10% Can translate any languages in a variety of contexts 2 6.67% Have the spelling function 2 6.67% Can translate spoken language 1 3.33% Pronounce vocabulary correctly 1 3.33% Can be used offline 1 3.33% Can translate proverbs 1 3.33% Have appropriate designs that simplify the use 1 3.33% Display other synonyms that can be used in the same context 1 3.33% Can translate dialects 1 3.33%