The THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

A Quasi-Experimental Study at Ninth Grade of Junior High School Students

Abstract

Writing is one of the most challenging skills for junior high school students in learning English. Many students face difficulties in expressing ideas, organizing sentences, and choosing appropriate vocabulary, which often leads them to rely on word-for-word translation. To address these issues, this research investigates the use of Google Translate as a tool to improve students’ writing skills, particularly in writing recount texts. The aim of this study is to examine whether the use of Google Translate significantly improves students’ writing skills compared to conventional methods, and to explore students’ perceptions toward learning writing with this tool. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a two-group pretest and posttest format. The participants were 60 ninth-grade students of SMP Tunas Baru Ciparay in the academic year 2024/2025, divided into an experimental group (30 students) and a control group (30 students). Data were collected through writing tests (pretest and posttest) and a questionnaire. The findings revealed a t-value of 6.25 is significantly greater than the t-table value of 2.000 (df = 58, ? = 0.05), indicating that Google Translate effectively enhanced students’ writing skills. Furthermore, the questionnaire results indicated that most students liked being taught using Google Translate. In conclusion, the use of Google Translate is effective in improving students’ writing skills and can serve as a supportive tool in teaching recount texts.

Keywords: Google translate, Writing skills, Recount text, Quasi-experimental study