The Impact of Google Translate on Creativity in Writing Activities

Abstract

The fact that machine translators are accessible and free has brought them in the spotlight as educational tools in the field of language education. However, little amount of research has focused on its effect on creativity. This quasi-experimental study searched for the impact of using Google Translate (GT) on creativity as a pre-editing tool in writing activities with low proficient EFL learners. The four components of divergent thinking - fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality - were investigated in pre and post tests and a statistically significant difference was found out for each item with a Wilcoxon test for fluency, originality and elaboration and with a paired sample T-test for the flexibility scores. It is concluded that implementing machine translation in writing activities as a pre-editing tool increases the creativity in the writen products of low proficient EFL learners.