The impact of MT as a writing tool on EFL academic writing: A qualitative linguistic analysis

The widespread use of English in academic publishing compels many researchers to write their work in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to ensure global dissemination. To improve their written proficiency, they frequently rely on resources such as online dictionaries, grammar checkers, and Machine Translation (MT) systems. This paper explores whether the use of MT can effectively support EFL Spanish researchers in writing academic papers in English. To this aim, we recruited 16 Spanish researchers who wrote an abstract in English and another one in Spanish. The Spanish abstract was translated using MT and then post-edited by the researchers themselves. Both the EFL abstract and the MT-translated/post-edited abstract were subsequently edited by a professional editor to ensure they met publication standards. A comparative analysis of the edited versions revealed that the combination of MT and self-post-editing resulted in fewer edits related to language mechanics. However, adjustments were still needed to fully align with English academic writing conventions. Overall, the findings suggest that MT, when combined with self-post-editing, can be a useful tool in enhancing the quality of academic texts produced by EFL Spanish researchers. This study offers valuable insights into the potential of MT as a resource that can assist EFL academic writing.