Innovation in Language Learning

The process of digitalisation of Swedish schools is rapid and a topic of much debate. A majority of Swedish pupils now have access to a personal school laptop. Studies of how this affects teaching and learning in Swedish classrooms are still relatively few, especially concerning foreign language education. Studies on longitudinal effects of computer use on language learning outcomes are relatively scarce also internationally.

In an earlier study (Fredholm 2015) of laptop use among Swedish upper secondary school pupils studying Spanish as a foreign language, a widespread use of Google Translate was observed when the pupils wrote essays. This use led above all to fewer errors in spelling and article/noun/adjective agreement, when compared to student essays written without online translation. At the same time, however, the use of Google Translate increased the number of syntactic errors in the pupils’ essays. These effects were the opposite of what the pupils themselves believed would be the outcome.

In a follow-up study now being conducted, longitudinal effects of Google Translate use on learning outcomes among upper secondary school pupils studying Spanish as a foreign language are being observed. The study follows two groups of Swedish upper secondary school pupils during one academic year. Half of the pupils use Google Translate as a translation tool when writing. Their writing strategies are observed with screen recordings. Learning outcomes on vocabulary, syntactic accuracy and text cohesion are measured using pre- and post-tests at the beginning and at the end of the school-year.

The presentation focuses on differences in vocabulary acquisition between pupils using Google Translate and pupils not using the online translation site. Comparisons are made with the pupils’ proficiency levels in Spanish.

Implications for the teaching of foreign languages in a digitalised school environment will also be discussed.