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Conference contributions 1
SPONTANEOUS TRANSLATION AND GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE IN THE AGE OF AI:
Evidence from Algerian EMI biology classrooms
The rapid expansion of machine translation tools is reshaping linguistic practices in higher education. While research has examined translanguaging and first-language use in multilingual classrooms, spontaneous translation as an autonomous cognitive strategy in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) contexts remains underexplored, particularly in Global South settings such as Algeria, where Arabic, French, and English coexist. This paper investigates how Algerian university students enrolled in EMI biology programmes spontaneously employ machine translation to facilitate comprehension and language learning, with particular attention to its perceived contribution to grammatical competence. Adopting an exploratory descriptive case study design, the research was conducted at the University of El Oued (Algeria) and involved 100 EMI biology students. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore students' machine translation practices, perceptions of their grammatical development, and views on the growing use of GenAI tools. The study addresses the following research question: How do EMI biology students perceive the role of spontaneous translation in supporting their grammatical competence within a trilingual context (Arabic–French–English)?The analysis is informed by translation studies and translanguaging perspectives. Findings suggest that students perceive spontaneous translation as facilitating grammatical awareness through structural comparisons between Arabic, French, and English, enabling them to notice linguistic patterns, clarify grammatical relationships, and support comprehension. Participants also expressed concerns that excessive reliance on AI translation tools may reduce opportunities for active linguistic processing and reflective language learning. The study highlights the continued pedagogical relevance of learner-generated translation strategies and the responsible integration of AI technologies in linguistically diverse higher education contexts.