scholarly journals Does educational integrity mean teaching students NOT to 'use their own words'?

Author(s):  
Ursula McGowan

In the face of increasing evidence of plagiarism in higher education the maintenance of educational integrity relies on the capacity of universities to strengthen their systems for consistent detection of and penalties for deliberate plagiarism, cheating and other fraudulent practices. However, there is a danger that the resolve to do so may be weakened if these systems become overloaded by the detection of a high incidence of unintentional plagiarism. The focus of this paper is on international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) and whose plagiarism is most easily recognised, as many set out on their degree courses with no experience in a Western academic environment, an unsteady command of English grammar and a relatively limited range of vocabulary. The advice to 'use their own words' in order to avoid accidental plagiarism may be more confusing than helpful for them. This paper proposes that far from trapping students in their existing repertoire of words, the teaching, assessment and feedback advice provided within university courses should explicitly support their students' development of the formal language that is valued in academic writing. It is suggested that the basis for doing so is an understanding of the essential differences between informal, spoken language and the more formal style required in written assignments. An educational approach that successfully removes innocent plagiarists from the disciplinary system could become a means for assuring a university's educational integrity. Keywords: plagiarism, 'own words', spoken and written language, re-usable language, international students, English as an Additional Language (EAL).

Author(s):  
Neill Wylie

Maastricht University (UM) has a distinct global perspective and a strong focus on innovation. UM offers an array of PhD courses to distance and campus based students who have access to elective, credit bearing modules and the language needs of these students are catered for by the Language Centre. Many PhD candidates choose to take an academic writing course in their first or second year of their degree. In recent years, demand for a more student focused, flexible academic writing course has grown. In line with UM’s policy of supporting innovative teaching practices, the Language Centre’s face-to-face PhD academic writing course, PhD Writing 1, has been transformed into a fully online course containing eight interactive webinar sessions named Online PhD Writing, which runs in addition to the face-to-face rendition. On the back of the success of this course, coupled with increased demand for a follow up course, this author was tasked with creating an advanced online PhD academic writing course to cater for global students with diverse time zones and schedules. This paper evaluates the challenges posed and the advances made in constructing both online courses and explores the technologies used in implementing them.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abir Aly Eldaba ◽  
Janet Kesterson Isbell

In a critical study, researchers explored academic writing experiences of three international female graduate students at a southern U.S. university in order to understand their perspectives of themselves as writers across cultures, their experiences with academic writing, and their coping strategies for academic writing assignments. Findings revealed participants’ challenges and self-doubts about second-language writing abilities. Participants both challenged disconfirmation of their writing and at times were submissive as they negotiated a graduate degree program. The study demonstrates need for universities to recognize marginalized groups’ knowledge and ways of knowing and to create spaces to discuss new possibilities for academic writing experiences among international students.


Author(s):  
Mir Obaidur Rahman

Financing educational programmes in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) is at the cross-roads. The clamour for socialization of higher education in the face of large number of uncmployeci university graduates vis-a-vis dearth of adequate manpower to feed the development aciivities deserves consideration in a clearer perspectivc. The relatively high incidence of unemployment points out thc econotnic waste involved in using scarce resource. Moreover, for each occupation there is an optimum amount of formal schooling. Thus in some cases, labour productivity declines as schooling increases.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nami

In line with calls for a more comprehensive understanding of the potentials of virtual environments for language learning/teaching, the chapter reports a study on the application of a synchronous learning management system (SLMS). The development of academic writing knowledge of a group of MA students attending an online academic writing course in a state university in Tehran was compared with that of a similar group in a face-to-face course in the same university. The analysis of participants' classroom discussions and their writing assignments indicated that although the writing knowledge of both groups improved by the end of the course, the nature of changes differed from the online group to the face-to-face one. It is suggested that while SLMSs have opened up new horizons for the instruction/practice of language skills, their uses are largely context- and user-specific. The finding of this study feeds into research on SLMS-based foreign language instruction.


Author(s):  
Glory Ovie ◽  
Lena Barrantes

This chapter looks at how two international PhD students (re)constructed and (re)negotiated their identities, and intercultural socialization through the sharing their personal stories and experiences. This chapter employed a duoethnography research methodology. Duoethnography is a collaborative research methodology in which two or more researchers engage in a dialogue on their disparate histories in a given phenomenon. The use of duoethnography allowed the researchers to revisit their lives as sites of research to determine how their different experiences and backgrounds informed the (re)construction and (re)negotiation of their identities in the face of multiple and competing identities and their subsequent participation in the new culture. Through this process, the researchers acted as the foil for the Other, challenging the Other to reflect in a deeper, more relational and authentic manner as they sought to achieve a balance between participating in a new way of life and maintaining their cultural and personal identities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-153
Author(s):  
Dmitri Stanchevici ◽  
Megan Siczek

Before arriving in a host country, international students may be motivated to complete some institutional requirements online. Many studies address computer-assisted instruction for second-language students, but few focus on fully online English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing courses. This comparative case study, grounded in action research, examined the extent to which a fully online version of a graduate-level EAP course offered to international students at a North American university achieved comparable outcomes to a face-to-face version. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of study participants’ performance and course evaluations indicated that the outcomes and student satisfaction of both cohorts were comparable. However, an examination of the participants’ final research papers and online interactions revealed differences and challenges. Based on these findings, it is recommended that future online courses provide more instruction on source integration, library research, and building an interactive learning community. Overall, the findings suggest that when carefully designed, assessed, and refined, fully online courses hold strong promise in EAP academic writing contexts. Les étudiantes et étudiants internationaux tiennent parfois à remplir certaines exigences institutionnelles en ligne avant de se rendre dans leur pays d’accueil. L’enseignement assisté par ordinateur pour les apprenantes et apprenants d’anglais langue seconde fait l’objet de nombreuses études, mais peu d’entre elles portent sur des cours d’écriture d’anglais académique (EAP) complètement dispensés en ligne. Entièrement basée sur la recherche-action, la présente étude de cas comparative fait état du degré de comparabilité des résultats d’un cours d’anglais académique de deuxième cycle complètement présenté en ligne à des étudiantes et étudiants internationaux inscrits à une université nord-américaine et des résultats obtenus lorsque le même cours était dispensé en personne. Une analyse quantitative et qualitative des rendements des participantes et participants et du cours lui-même a indiqué que les résultats et le degré de satisfaction des étudiantes et étudiants des deux cohortes se valaient. L’examen des rapports de recherche finaux des participantes et participants et celui des interactions en ligne ont toutefois révélé des écarts et des défis. Sur la base de ces constatations, il est recommandé que les futurs cours en ligne fournissent davantage d’instructions sur l’intégration des sources, sur les recherches en bibliothèque et sur la construction d’une communauté d’apprentissage interactif. Dans l’ensemble, les constatations de l’étude suggèrent que, s’ils sont soigneusement conçus, évalués et peaufinés, les cours complètement dispensés en ligne sont très prometteurs dans des contextes d’écriture en anglais académique.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 1762
Author(s):  
Khayala Shahverdi Aliyeva

The article investigates a sentence. It states that a sentence is a unit of speech whose grammatical structure conforms to the laws of the language; it serves as a chief means of conveying the thought. The works regarding English grammar by foreign and Azerbaijani linguists such as O. I. Musayev, V. L. Kaushanskaya, R. L. Kovner, J. Lyons, F. R. Palmer, S.Potter and others have been studied by the author and theories suggested by them have been thoroughly considered. The author also writes about the importance of the the sentence not only the means of communicating something about reality but also a means of showing the speaker’s attitude to it. The author explains the differences between declarative, interrogative, negative sentences using various linguistic sources as well. She comes to the conclusion that the kinds of sentences are very important to be used either in speech or in written language.


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