Supporting data for “Exploring Students’ Use of AI-Powered Machine Translation in L2 Writing”

Machine translation (MT) has emerged as a multilingual artificial intelligence (AI) technology in second language (L2) writing. Despite its recognition as a valuable L2 writing tool, MT has been framed as a hindrance to L2 development and as providing illegitimate assistance under the dominant deficit-based perspective. Such framing has constrained the potential of MT for enhancing L2 writing. Maximizing its value and supporting the development of a sustained, mutually beneficial relationship between students and MT requires understanding MT from a more affirmative perspective. Research to date has predominantly examined students’ MT use in L2 writing in quasi-experimental settings, with limited focus on its use in naturalistic contexts. This qualitative study, informed by agential realism, investigated whether students used MT, why students used MT, how students used MT, and what factors shaped students’ use of MT in authentic L2 writing contexts. The study was conducted at Chinese universities with undergraduate participants from both English and non-English majors. Data were collected in two stages. In Stage 1, the participants completed a narrative frame, with interviews conducted for a portion of them. Stage 2 focused on observing actual MT practices, where the students shared screen recordings of their MT use, kept reflective journals, and engaged in individual interviews. <br>