Plagiarism by Non-Native Speaker Student Writers
Many studies have attributed plagiarism to the temptations of the Internet, teachers’ reluctance to enforce the rules, belonging to a culture where academic plagiarism is condoned, or non-native speakership. In this paper, it is first argued that none of these can be considered direct causes of plagiarism, and other studies are cited that support this position. It is further argued that non-native student plagiarism is caused by ignorance of the rules and/or authorial problems. Further support for this claim is provided by an empirical study involving inappropriate use of source texts by eight non-native speaker graduate students. This study confirms the findings in Pecorari (2003, 2006) where it is claimed that plagiarizing non-native speakers have personal, idiosyncratic views of plagiarism that demonstrate their ignorance of the generally accepted rules. This study also confirms the findings in Abasi et al. (2006) where it is claimed that authorial problems are a root cause of plagiarism by ESL students. Finally, it is investigated what the relationship is between ignorance of the rules of plagiarism and authorial problems.
References (21)
References
Abasi, A.R., Akbari, N. & Graves, B. (2006). Discourse appropriation, construction of identities, and the complex issue of plagiarism: ESL students writing in graduate school. Journal of Second Language Writing, 151, 102–117.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Voss, D. & Rosati, A.C. (2002). «It Wasn’t Me, Was It?» Plagiarism and the Web. Computers and Composition, 191, 191–203.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ercegovac, Z. & Richardson, J.V. Jr. (2004). Academic Dishonesty, Plagiarism Included, in the Digital Age: A Literature Review. College & Research Libraries, July 2004, 301–318.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Howard, R.M. (1993). A plagiarism pentimento. Journal of Teaching Writing, 111, 233–245.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Howard, R.M. (1995). Plagiarism is, Author ships, and the Academic Death Penalty. College English, 571, 788–806.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Howard, R..M (2007). Understanding “Internet Plagiarism”. Computers and Composition, 241, 3–15.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyland, F. (2001). Dealing with plagiarism when giving feedback. ELT Journal, 551, 375–381.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Keck, C. (2006). The use of paraphrase in summary writing: A comparison of L1 and L2 writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 151, 261–278.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, D. (2005). Plagiarism in ESOL students: is cultural conditioning truly the major culprit? ELT Journal, 591, 234–241.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Moore, T. (1997). From test to note: Cultural variation in summarization practices. The Prospect, 121, 54–63.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paxton, M. (2007). Tensions between textbook pedagogy and the literary practices of the disciplinary community: A study of writing in first year economics. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 61, 109–125.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pecorari, D. (2001). Process citing: avoiding plagiarism in student writing. In K. Gray and M. Leedham (Eds.), The Japanese Learner: Context, Culture and Classroom Practice. Oxford: Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 121, 317–345.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pecorari, D. (2006). Visible and occluded citation features in postgraduate second-language writing. English for Specific Purposes, 251, 4–29.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Phan Le Ha (2006). Plagiarism and overseas students: stereotypes again? ELT Journal, 601, 76–78.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rilling, S. (2005). The development of an ESL OWL, or learning how to tutor online. Computers and Composition, 221, 357–374.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shi, L. (2004). Textual Borrowing in Second-Language Writing. Written Communication, 211, 171–200.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sowden, C. (2005). Plagiarism and the culture of multilingual students in higher education abroad. ELT Journal, 591, 226–233.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sunderland-Smith, W. (2005). Pandora’s box: academic perceptions of student plagiarism in writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 41, 83–95.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Swales, J.M. & Feak, C. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yamada, K. (2003). What prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?: Analyses of 10 North-American college websites. System, 311, 247–258.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Pecorari, Diane & Bojana Petrić
2014.
Plagiarism in second-language writing.
Language Teaching 47:3
► pp. 269 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.