Untitled VIETNAM GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOUR TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES THE PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG TDTU STUDENTS Hồ Chí Minh, month year No F[.]
VIETNAM GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOUR TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - THE PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG TDTU STUDENTS No Fullname Student’s code Hồ Chí Minh, month year 0 Tieu luan TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem .1 1.2 Purposes of the study 1.3 Research questions .2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of Key Terms .3 2.1.1 Academic dishonesty 2.1.2 Types of academic dishonesty 2.1.2.1 Cheating 2.1.2.2 Plagiarism 2.1.3 Academic self-confidence 2.2 Subtitles 10 2.2.1 Previous Studies on Students’ Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty .10 2.2.2 The Correlation between Academic Dishonesty and Academic Selfconfidence 13 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .15 3.1 Participants 15 3.2 Instruments 15 REFERENCES 17 APPENDICES 22 0 Tieu luan CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem Academic dishonesty has been widely seen as a threat to the quality of education in many countries Usually, the quality of education is determined by academic achievement - scores, grades, and marks However, with the existence of academic dishonesty, the value of academic achievement is significantly lowered Thus, the quality of education will be questioned Even though many students are well-aware that academic dishonesty is unacceptable behavior, they still commit dishonesty in exams In the United States, a survey of 70,000 high school students from McCabe in 2019 illustrated that the percentage of students admitted to cheating on a test is 64% and 95 percent of students said they participated in some form of academic dishonesty, whether it was on a test, plagiarism or copying homework In Africa, a study conducted by Martin Saana et al (2016) demonstrated that approximately 92 percent of students at an African institution were aware of the institution's rules concerning academic dishonesty; despite this, roughly 40 percent of students had witnessed their peers cheating and almost 94% had never reported these incidents, inferring that they were tolerating the act of academic dishonesty In Vietnam, a well-known case of academic dishonesty in 2018 in which almost 347 students from Ha Giang, Son La, 0 Tieu luan and Hoa Binh got their National high school exam scores dramatically increased due to academic dishonesty raises a question on a solution for academic dishonesty in the nation Based on the above-mentioned examples, it is fair to say that eliminating dishonest behavior in school is a difficult task However, researchers have shown that the key to controlling the frequency of academic dishonesty is knowing how students perceive academic dishonesty Therefore, it is ideal to inspect students' perceptions of academic dishonesty 1.2 Purposes of the study In this study, three main goals need to be fulfilled The first purpose is to identify what is considered academic dishonesty from students’ perspectives The next one is to examine the correlation between academic self-confidence and academic dishonesty and finally, to inspect what are the major factors that contribute to academic dishonesty 1.3 Research questions What are the main factors that contribute to academic dishonesty? What is considered academic dishonesty in the eyes of students? How students perceive academic self-confidence as an influence on academic dishonesty? 0 Tieu luan CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of Key Terms 2.1.1 Academic dishonesty There are a lot of opinions about what constitutes academic dishonesty and how it is defined William L.Kibler (1993) defined academic dishonesty in his view as “forms of cheating and plagiarism that involve students giving or receiving unauthorized assistance in an academic exercise or receiving credit for work that is not their own.” In another research conducted in 2014 by Hosny and Fatima, the definition of academic dishonesty is explained as follows: “Academic dishonesty can be defined as the students’ use of illegal activities, techniques and forms of fraud during their examination or evaluation processes, usually for the purpose of achieving better grades.” Moreover, the University of Edinburgh (2016) gives the definition of academic dishonesty as “any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal exercise” Thus, acts of paraphrasing, a lack of or no citation of submitted academic work, deception in or falsification of data collecting, test cheating, and deception by conspiring with financially rewarding a third party to assemble a written piece of work are examples of this More specific examples of academic dishonesty will be profoundly covered in the next section 0 Tieu luan In addition, the ambiguity of the concept has confused some students concerning the acceptability of certain types of academic activities and actions that are vaguely classified as cheating while giving other students justifications for engaging in undefined activity (Uhlig & Howes, 1967) Bowers (1964) discovered that students did not grasp that paraphrasing the text without citing the source was deemed cheating For example, many students participate in academic dishonesty, according to Montor, K (1971), since they have never understood why their activity is improper In conclusion, inferring from these above definitions, the overall definition of academic dishonesty can be characterized as students participating in unlawful actions, tactics, and types of fraud during the test or assessment process, generally in order to improve their marks 2.1.2 Types of academic dishonesty Academic dishonesty may manifest itself in a variety of ways According to Whitley and Keith-Spiegel (2002); Pavela (1978); Stern and Havelick (1986), academic dishonesty is classified as follows: first cheating by utilizing any examrelated resources; second plagiarism from other students' work Third fabrication or falsification of information, references, or results; and fourth sabotage the works of other participants Out of the four types of academic dishonesty, fabrication and falsification are not that prevalent because they require more effort to change any 0 Tieu luan of the data, information, or results A similar situation could be applied to sabotaging, the most uncommon methodology of academic dishonesty as it is ethically wrong Unlike the previously mentioned two types of academic dishonesty, cheating and plagiarism are more common in educational environments since these two forms of academic dishonesty are more accessible to students According to Bachore (2016), though there are differences in the prevalence of the two as they are observed in the academic field Experiences have shown that cheating is more prevalent at all academic levels, with the latter, plagiarism, being more prevalent in higher education, such as universities and colleges In this research, we will concentrate on the two popular forms of academic dishonesty, which are cheating and plagiarism 2.1.2.1 Cheating Cheating is the most widespread kind of academic dishonesty since it is the simplest to A clear definition of cheating according to Definition of Academic Dishonesty (2017) is “Cheating involves the possession, communication, or use of information, materials, notes, study aids or other devices not authorized by the instructor in an academic exercise, or communication with another person during such an exercise.” 0 Tieu luan To elaborate, a list of cheating activities taken from Etter et al (2006) includes copying from someone else, possessing and using notes, formulas, or other information in a configurable calculator or other electronic devices without clear and specific teacher acknowledgment and permission, having or using a communication device such as a cell phone, pager, or electronic translator to send or obtain unauthorized information, taking an exam for another pupil, or allowing someone else to take an exam for you or another pupil, and asking another to provide you with inappropriate aid, in exchange for money or other benefits and etc A similar study from Charlesworth et al in 2006 hinted that students categorized academic cheating as three basic types: Firstly, copying or taking answers, in which the assessment submitter initiates cheating without the knowledge of the original content generator This includes peering over your nextdoor neighbor’s shoulder during an exam or the most typical instances of plagiarism Secondly, the submitter of the assessment and the creator of the contents cooperate to increase their marks in an unethical manner given the nature of the work while getting or delivering replies This sort of cheating might include students getting together to fill out multiple-choice examinations Finally, breaking the rules, which includes behaviors such as taking one’s notes to a test or exam or forging reference lists 0 Tieu luan 2.1.2.2 Plagiarism Plagiarism is a challenge that every college student faces when they have to write an essay or research; whether by accident or intended, the outcomes are always recognized as plagiarism Following Maurer et al (2006), the major causes of plagiarism are listed: accidental, Students' knowledge of plagiarism, referencing, quote, and citation are lacking Unintentionally, students are unaware that their own words or ideas are identical to previously published research; intentionally, students deliberately steal other people's work without providing credit Another important term related to plagiarism is self-plagiarism, which is an act of students reusing self-published content in a different form without referencing the original Maurer’s research also notes some common methodologies that students use to plagiarise A few notable examples are: Copy-paste, copying from the original source identical words by words Idea plagiarism, having similar ideas or opinions on concepts that are unusual knowledge Paraphrasing, changing word order, using synonyms, changing the grammar of the original works Artistic plagiarism, displaying someone else's work using various mediums such as text, photos, speech, or video 0 Tieu luan Forgotten or expired links, the inclusion of quotes or reference marks but lack of information or up-to-date links to original sources No proper use of quotation marks Misinformation or references, adding references to original sources that are wrong or not exist Translated plagiarism, translating the contents of other’s works without giving references to the original sources 2.1.3 Academic self-confidence To fully understand the meaning of academic self-confidence, the definition of the term “Self-confidence” must be explained clearly Multiple studies have not only explained the definition of self-confidence but also provide in-depth information about the connection between self-confidence and other terms For example, Stankov et al (2012) described self-confidence as individuals’ beliefs that they can accomplish a given task or achieve a desired objective In other words, individuals with high self-confidence fully believe that they are capable of accomplishing their goals, which greatly contributes to persistence in their endeavors The relationship between self-confidence and other terms is established by Sander et al (2006), self-confidence is closely linked to the term self-concept which the author claimed to be made up of beliefs and attitudes of a person to 0 Tieu luan extra proctors during tests was one of the most effective approaches to reduce instances of academic dishonesty Sajid Nazir et al (2010) did an investigation about students’ perspectives on academic dishonesty, the study was conducted on graduate and undergraduate students in Pakistani 958 students at graduate and undergraduate levels participated in this research, the instrument was a well-constructed questionnaire It has been revealed that students engage in academic dishonesty more frequently when they perceive the consequences that are less severe Furthermore, they proposed lesser or no punishment for the same misconduct that is seen as less serious The findings have significant implications for academics in developing morals and ethics in students so that institutions may deliver ethically nurtured professionals to the corporate sector 2.2.2 The Correlation between Academic Dishonesty and Academic Selfconfidence There has been much research about the relationship between academic dishonesty and academic self-confidence Among those studies, the general discussion is that low academic self-confidence is one of the major factors which contributes to academic dishonesty According to a recent study from Khodabakhshzadehs and Shoahosseini (2021), “attitudes towards cheating 0 Tieu luan negatively correlate with academic self-confidence and ability as measured by students’ GPA” (p.1), indicating that low self-confidence is the source of the increasing frequency and tolerance of academic dishonesty in some students Similarly, Enweh et al (2021) also claimed that “Considering the extent of students' belief, trust and expectation that they can execute their academic tasks by themselves could be an important target in enhancing ethical behaviors among students.” Referring that enhancing students’ self-confidence might be the key to controlling or reducing academic dishonesty Another example, a survey from Rinn and Boazman (2014) conducted on honors and non-honors students demonstrated that there is a relationship between self-confidence and academic dishonesty The survey also hinted that “Future research should examine other factors that influence academic self-concept among high ability college students in order to more clearly recognize trends regarding precursors to academic dishonesty” (p.102) This further cemented the idea that the self-confidence of students is a major variable in the study about academic dishonesty Additionally, studies also pointed out that high self-confidence can enhance students’ academic performance; thus lowering the chance of academic dishonesty occurring Marsh and Craven (1997) and Emmanuel et al (2014) are some proponents of the belief that there is a long-term and significant connection 0 Tieu luan between self-concept and academic achievement As aforementioned, self-concept is closely linked to self-confidence It is fair to infer that self-concept plays a vital part in strengthening students’ academic performance and achievement A student with high academic achievement and high self-confidence will be less likely to perform unethical behaviors in class (Khodabakhshzadehs and Shoahosseini, 2021, p.7) 0 Tieu luan CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants This research is being carried out at Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU), which is a public university with the main campus located in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The target population of the study is English-majored sophomores and juniors from the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL), including students from both programs (Standard and High-quality) Second-year and thirdyear students are chosen because they have at least one year of experience in TDTU; therefore, they are more likely to encounter academic dishonesty However, due to research limitation, the accessible population of this study is only Englishmajored sophomores and juniors in High-quality program Through simple sampling method, 35 second-year students and 35 third-year students are selected to take part in this research 3.2 Instruments The main instrument used in this research is a questionnaire It began with an opening paragraph informing students about the aim of the survey and the confidentiality of their replies Following the opening paragraph will be a brief 0 Tieu luan explaination of key terms, providing participants with a definition of academic dishonesty and academic self-confidence The questionnaire has sections The first section will collect necessary information about the frequency of academic dishonesty The next section will inspect the potential causes of academic dishonesty The third section will examine students’ perceptions of academic dishonesty, while the last section will explore the correlation between academic dishonesty and academic self-confidence Because of no remarkable purposes, typical background questions are not included in this questionnaire All sections of the questionnaire will follow the format of 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree - disagree - neutral - agree - strongly agree) Additionally, each section of the questionnaire includes close-ended questions with the purpose of collecting the information related to the section’s topic However, section Causes of academic dishonesty has an extra open-ended question, allowing participants to articulate their thoughts in their own words Finally, to increase the reliability and validity, the questionnaire is based on two original questionnaires of Alexander & Feutch and University Kuala Lumpur (MFI) 0 Tieu luan REFERENCES Alias, M., Nurul, A., Hafiz, H M., & Hafir (2009) The relationship between academic self-confidence and cognitive performance among engineering students Proceedings of the Research in Engineering Education Symposium, 1–6 Bachore, M M (2016) The Nature, Causes and Practices of Academic Dishonesty/ Cheating in Higher Education: The Case of Hawassa University Journal of Education and Practice, 15 Bowers, W J (1964) Student Dishonesty and Its Control in College Amsterdam University Press Burrus, R T., McGoldrick, K., & Schuhmann, P W (2007) Self-Reports of Student Cheating: Does a Definition of Cheating Matter? The Journal of Economic Education, 38(1), 3–16 https://doi.org/10.3200/jece.38.1.3-17 Emmanuel, A.-O., Adom, E A., Josephine, B., & Solomon, K F (2014) Achievement motivation, academic self-concept and academic achievement among high school students European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences, 2(2) Enweh, I I., Onyedibe, M C C., & Onu, D U (2021) Academic Confidence Mediates the Link Between Psychopathy and Academic Dishonesty Journal of Academic Ethics, 1–11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-021-09426-0 0 Tieu luan Etter, S., Cramer, J J., & Finn, S (2006) Origins of Academic Dishonesty:Ethical Orientations and Personality Factors Associated with Attitudes aboutCheating with Information Technology Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(2), 133–155 https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2006.10782477 Hosny, M., & Fatima, S (2014) Attitude of Students Towards Cheating and Plagiarism: University Case Study Journal of Applied Sciences, 14(8), 748– 757 https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2014.748.757 Kamaruzaman, S (2015, December 2) Questionnaire Academic Dishonesty WQI Academic Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.academia.edu/19351014/Questionnaire_Academic_Dishonesty_ WQI Kibler, W L (1993) Academic Dishonesty NASPA Journal, 30(4), 253 https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1993.11072323 Komarraju, M., & Nadler, D (2013) Self-efficacy and academic achievement: Why implicit beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter? Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 67–72 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005 0 Tieu luan ... that the key to controlling the frequency of academic dishonesty is knowing how students perceive academic dishonesty Therefore, it is ideal to inspect students'' perceptions of academic dishonesty. .. the potential causes of academic dishonesty The third section will examine students? ?? perceptions of academic dishonesty, while the last section will explore the correlation between academic dishonesty. .. academic dishonesty will be profoundly covered in the next section 0 Tieu luan In addition, the ambiguity of the concept has confused some students concerning the acceptability of certain types of academic