Using the Technology Acceptance Model to Understand Attitudes about Smartphone Translators for EFL Writing

Abstract

This quantitative case study used the technology acceptance model (TAM), which was developed by Venkatesh and Davis (2000), to comprehend student attitudes related to the use of smartphone translators in the English as a foreign language (EFL) writing classroom. The study surveyed 194 undergraduate students enrolled in a required EFL writing course. The study utilized a factor reduction to group the variables into the TAM model. Standard multiple regressions were then performed on each of the three stages of the TAM. First, it was found that subjective norm (SN), voluntariness (V) and output quality (OQ) had a positive statistically significant effect on the students’ perceived usefulness (PU). Two factors did not display a statistical effect on the model: results demonstrability (RD) and the students’ perceived ease of use (EoU). In the second phase of the model, EoU and PU both had a positive statistically significant effect on the students’ intention to use (IU). However, SN did not have a statistical effect on IU as predicted in the model. The final standardized regression found that IU had a positive statistically significant effect on the students’ usage behavior (UB). The overall results indicated that the more positive a student’s SN, V, OQ, PU, and IU, the more likely the student will be to apply smartphone translators to their arsenal of mechanisms to study English. Teachers should consider including the smartphone translator in their technology toolbox in the EFL writing classroom.