Awareness, Attitudes, and Instructional Behaviours of Pathways Faculty Towards Plagiarism Kristina Oldenburg, Library Public Services Jennifer Weldon, Library Public Services Jennifer Cummins, English as an Additional Language Introduction • Survey + focus group of EAL Pathways faculty and their reactions, responses, and attitudes to student plagiarism • Departmental context (Jenn Cummins, Pathways) • Existing literature (Kristina Oldenburg, Library) • Preliminary findings (Jen Weldon, Library) 2 2021-05-04 vcc.ca EAL Pathways • EAL Pathways Program • English as an Additional language learners • Canadian Language Benchmarks 5 – 9 • Academic, Workplace, Personal/Community • Between 700-900 students • Additional programming: Job Skills EAL (HCA, Baking, Culinary), Hospitality Management support, IELTS prep, CELBAN prep, Grammar and Pronunciation courses 3 2021-05-04 vcc.ca EAL Pathways • Plagiarism in the Pathways Program • Since 2018, 54 reported plagiarism incidences • Developmental approach • Current Experiences with Plagiarism • Stressful • Time consuming • Can be unproductive 4 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Literature Search Plagiarism and English as an Additional Language (EAL) adult learners. • Broad search of existing research • Scanned results for instructional strategies • We used a few of the strategies to elicit reflection from focus group participants 5 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Literature Search Plagiarism policies: • Plagiarism policies written at a “grade 16” level (Taylor & Bicak, 2019) • Students do not understand plagiarism policies (Adam et al., 2017) • Faculty do not understand plagiarism policies (Löfström et al., 2015). 6 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Methods Overview • Survey of EAL faculty on: • Faculty awareness of plagiarism procedures • Typical responses to plagiarism in the classroom, teaching students about plagiarism • Modified questionnaire based on Coalter et al., 2007 and McLeod, 2014 • Focus group questions were developed based on the results of the survey • Participants described their experiences and explained decision making processes when responding to plagiarism • Interventions or supports suitable for the EAL classroom 7 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Survey • 31 questions in Survey Monkey • Data collected October 26, 2020 – December 3, 2020 • 18 responses • 4 main question areas • • • • 8 Awareness and attitudes of plagiarism reporting procedures Use of VCC and EAL department policies and procedures Factors that influence response to plagiarism in the classroom Interventions – methods to help students avoid plagiarism 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Survey Results • 72% had used the EAL Dept. Procedures to report plagiarism • Providing information to students about plagiarism (n=17) • 94% discuss issue in class • 70% give written instructions at beginning of semester • 65% review concepts like plagiarism or unauthorized collaboration prior to assessments • 53% refer to academic code of conduct • Types of plagiarism encountered (n=16) • 81% copying and pasting • 81% submitting work significantly different from previous work. 9 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Survey Results • I respond to plagiarism most often by (n=15) • 80% give a warning • 73% EAL department approach • 53% dealing with the matter informally • Participants were asked to rank the factors that influenced their response to plagiarism • Whether I think the student has plagiarized intentionally or unintentionally (n=15) • 10 2021-05-04 11 ranked this factor highest vcc.ca Focus Group • 2 Focus groups with 3 participants each • Mid-December and Mid-February • Question Areas • How instructors decide if plagiarism is intentional or unintentional • Example of plagiarism from their classroom – formal response •Type of plagiarism •Type of response •Outcome • Ideas about assignment design to prevent plagiarism • Supports that would help them to manage plagiarism in their classrooms 11 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Emerging Focus Group Themes • Once a piece of knowledge is in my head it's mine now • Students often struggle with recognizing that memorized information still needs to be cited • Thresholds for EAL Department involvement • Wide variation in when instructors decide to involve EAL leadership • Giving students the tools to avoid plagiarism takes time • Students want to get through their program quickly • Instructors don't have the time within a course to teach about paraphrasing, plagiarism, citation • Interventions 12 2021-05-04 vcc.ca Next Steps • Short Term • Focus group data compilation and coding • Medium Term • Validation by Department • Suggested interventions/assignments • Long Term • Involvement of faculty • May include: Testing an intervention/assignment in a classroom setting • Submitting results of the study in a journal article 13 2021-05-04 vcc.ca References Adam, L., Anderson, V., & Spronken-Smith, R. (2017). ‘It’s not fair’: Policy discourses and students’ understandings of plagiarism in a New Zealand university. Higher Education, 74(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0025-9 Coalter, T., Lim, C., & Wanorie, T. (2007). Factors that influence faculty actions: A study on faculty responses to academic dishonesty. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2007.010112 Löfström, E., Trotman, T., Furnari, M., & Shephard, K. (2015). Who teaches academic integrity and how do they teach it? Higher Education, 69(3), 435–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9784-3 MacLeod, P. D. (2014). An Exploration of Faculty Attitudes Toward Student Academic Dishonesty in Selected Canadian Universities. http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/24891 Taylor, Z. W., & Bicak, I. (2019). Academic honesty, linguistic dishonesty: analyzing the readability and translation of academic integrity and honesty policies at U.S. Postsecondary institutions. Journal of Academic Ethics, 17(1), 1–15. vcc.ca https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-018-9321-6 14 2021-05-04 15 2021-05-04 vcc.ca 16 2021-05-04 vcc.ca