Setting Expectations for Translation, Grammar Tools, and AI

What students experience

Students use translation apps, autocorrect, grammar checkers, and AI chat tools every day, and most do not think of the first three as AI. The tools also blur the line themselves. Word’s Editor, grammar checkers, and translation sites now offer full rewrites next to simple corrections, often in the same panel.

So a syllabus line such as “AI is not permitted” leaves most of the question open. Is spell check allowed? A dictionary? Translating a reading? Two problems follow. Careful students stop using legitimate supports to stay safe, and multilingual learners are often in this group. Other students cross a line they did not know was there.

Variation adds to the problem. The MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force notes that differing policies across instructors make it hard for students to predict what is acceptable in their next class (2023, p. 8). The task force also cautions against restrictions that make writing for class very different from writing at work and in daily life (Recommendation 7).

Seven practices

1. Put an AI use label on every assignment

   Use No AI, AI-supported, or AI-integrated, and name the allowed uses. The AI Label Maker (opens in a new tab) formats the label for Blackboard. Stating the task and criteria openly is central to transparent assignment design (Winkelmes et al., 2016).

2. Ask about language tools separately from the label

   The label answers the AI question. It does not tell students whether a dictionary, spell check, or a translation tool is allowed. Add a Tools line that names each one. The task force lists dictionaries and grammar checkers among the existing tools English language learners rely on (2023, p. 10).

3. Draw the line at who leads

   AI-supported means the student leads and the tool supports. A tool that gives information (a definition, a flagged error) supports. A tool that writes or rewrites the student’s sentences leads, whatever it calls itself, so it falls under the label. Say this directly. The task force warns that AI tools push writing toward a standardized English (2023, p. 7). A student’s own sentences, with their errors, are what you can teach from.

4. Separate reading support from writing support

   Translating a reading to understand it is a different question from translating a draft into English. Many instructors would allow the first and not the second, but few say so. This is practitioner advice. We did not find a study that tests it directly.

5. Name Copilot and say what to do when unsure

   Students and faculty have Microsoft Copilot through OCTC’s Microsoft 365. Naming the tool removes a guess, and an “ask me first” line makes the question safe to ask.

6. Ask every student for a short use note

   A two-sentence note (what the student used, and what they did themselves) builds the habit of transparency the task force recommends (Recommendation 5). The MLA Student Guide to AI Literacy lists discussing one’s process openly as part of AI literacy. Ask all students, so that no group carries a special burden of proof.

7. Do not treat detection scores or language differences as evidence

   The task force calls AI detection unreliable and biased, with false positives that can lead to wrongful accusations (2023, p. 7), and it urges caution about detection tools (Recommendation 4). Features of second-language writing are not signs of AI use, and neither is unusually polished writing from a student who used a permitted tool. If you have a concern, talk with the student about how the work developed.

Before and after

Both versions cover the same essay. The second matches the example on the paired student page.

What changed

• A ban became a label with named uses.
• “Grammarly and translators” became a Tools line that separates the uses you allow from the ones you do not.
• The rewrite line is stated. Students no longer have to guess where a grammar tool stops being a grammar tool.
• “Academic dishonesty” became a use note and an invitation to ask. Your misconduct policy still applies. The assignment now answers the questions that lead to unintended violations.

Wording you can copy

Replace the text in brackets. Put the Tools line directly under the AI use label.

Tools line

Use note

For the syllabus

Links for students

Three student pages pair with this one. The first teaches students to check the label and the Tools line, and to ask “who leads?” The second gives two Copilot prompts that explain without doing the work. The third shows how to keep a writing record. You can add these lines to an assignment in Blackboard:

For the college’s approach to AI in courses, see the AI Literacy Faculty Playbook (opens in a new tab). To draft a full prompt with a label and a Tools line, use the Assignment prompt builder.

Sources

• MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI. (2023, July). MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI working paper: Overview of the issues, statement of principles, and recommendations (opens in a new tab). Modern Language Association of America and Conference on College Composition and Communication. See “Risks to Students,” “Risks to Programs and the Profession,” “Benefits for Writing Instruction,” and Recommendations 4, 5, and 7.
• Modern Language Association of America. (2024). Student guide to AI literacy. Written by participants of the Critical AI Literacy for Reading, Writing, and Languages Workshop, an initiative of the MLA-CCCC Task Force on Writing and AI. The guide reflects its authors’ views, not official MLA, CCCC, or NCTE policy.
• Winkelmes, M., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K. H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students’ success. Peer Review, 18(1/2), 31–36.