Irina Koksharova | csworkshop

Title: Enhancement of digital tools application for mediation in ESP

Name of presenter: Irina Koksharova, MA

Affiliation and academic title: Language Centre, Estonian University of Life Sciences, ESP-lecturer

Keywords: AI, mediation, ChatGPT, Google Translate, speciality-related text

Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to investigate the application of machine translation (Google Translate) and AI (ChatGPT) tools for English/Estonian mediation of speciality-related texts and compare their efficiency. Sixteen groups of students participated in the study. The groups consisted of 1-3 students enrolled for English/Estonian Mediation Course for Academic and Professional Purposes at the Language Centre of Estonian University of Life Sciences. The students were required to choose a speciality-related text of approximately 150-200 words in English, translate and mediate it into Estonian and edit it using Google Translate and ChatGPT, as well as termbases such as IATE, Glosbe, etc. Furthermore, the students were demanded to register the process with screenshots of all the conversations with AI. Finally, the students were supposed to comment on their experience, compare the results received using both tools, Google Translate and ChatGPT, evaluate their efficiency, and post their comments in the appropriate document. Later the comments were analysed by the lecturer. According to the analysis, 38% of the students evaluated ChatGPT as a more efficient tool, 31% preferred Google Translate and 31% of the students failed to rate the efficiency of any of the tools. In conclusion, the study provided an informative overview of the issues related to the application both tools for mediation in ESP.