THE PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG TDTU STUDENTS

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 stud

VIETNAM GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOUR

TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem 1

1.2 Purposes of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 Definition of Key Terms 3

2.1.1 Academic dishonesty 3

2.1.2 Types of academic dishonesty 4

2.1.2.1 Cheating 5

2.1.2.2 Plagiarism 7

2.1.3 Academic self-confidence 8

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 Self-confidence 13

3 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Participants 15

3.2 Instruments 15

REFERENCES 17

1 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,

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 do students perceive academic self-confidence as an influence on academic dishonesty?

2 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 receivingunauthorized assistance in an academic exercise or receiving credit for work that isnot 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

In addition, the ambiguity of the concept has confused some students

concerning the acceptability of certain types of academic activities and actions thatare 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 exam-:

related resources; second plagiarism from other students' work Third fabrication orfalsification of information, references, or results; and fourth sabotage the works ofother participants Out of the four types of academic dishonesty, fabrication and falsification are not that prevalent because they require more effort to change any

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 environmentssince 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 do 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.”

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 door neighbor’s shoulder during an exam or the most typical instances of

next-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, breakingthe rules, which includes behaviors such as taking one’s notes to a test or exam or forging reference lists

2.1.2.2 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a challenge that every college student faces when they have to write an essay or do 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

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 do 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

themselves Another study from Alias et al (2009) claims that there is also a similarity in the definition of self-confidence and self-efficacy The author first explained the term self-efficacy as “ the belief in one's capacity to succeed at tasks” (p.1) then claimed that “Self-efficacy is also sometimes used to refer to situation-specific self-confidence” (p.1) The definition of academic self-

confidence is based on self-confidence According to Komarraju & Nadler (2013), students' academic self-confidence relates to their beliefs that they can succeed in school Alias et al (2009) first explained the term self-efficacy as “ the belief in one's capacity to succeed at tasks” (p.1) then claimed that “Self-efficacy is also sometimes used to refer to situation-specific self-confidence Thus, academic self-confidence can be viewed as self-efficacy” (p.1) In conclusion, academic self-confidence can be accepted as students’ perception of their capability to fulfill tasks in school The term has a close connection with other related terms such as self-concept and self-efficacy

2.2 Subtitles

2.2.1 Previous Studies on Students’ Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty

To understand students’ perceptions of academic dishonesty, specifically what behaviors are viewed as academic dishonesty, many studies have been carriedout to examine the question above According to a study about students’

perspectives on academic dishonesty from Nuss (1984), both teachers and students agreed that the following activities constituted dishonest behavior such as paying someone to produce a paper so that will be submitted as one’s own; coordinating with another student to provide or receive answers through signals; and do the text for another student However, Sutton, E M (1991) provided that students were asked if working together on a homework project when the instructor did not allow

it and copying sentences of content from a source without footnoting it in the paperwere considered cheating, half of the respondents said they were not, while the other half said they were

Moreover, many researchers have conducted surveys to see if students reallyunderstand what plagiarism is According to Robert et al (2007), in their study participating students were asked to reflect on themselves and report any cheating that they have done before, after the report, the students were provided with a definition of cheating, having clear knowledge of what is considered to be

cheating A lot of students who previously denied cheating have now admitted that they have cheated in exams The result of the post-definition report shows that students lack insight into what constitutes cheating Furthermore, students with lower GPAs are more likely to cheat and are usually perceived as someone who committed academic dishonesty by their peers Other factors also raise the

likelihood of cheating, like alcohol consumption, observing other cheating

successfully, involvement in sports, fraternity/sorority participation The paper alsomentions the honor codes of schools and how they affect their students’ probability

of admitting cheating, when compared to students at non-honor code colleges, students at institutions with well-publicized honor codes are less likely to admit to cheating

Another survey was done by Abdelfatah et al (2010) at an American

University in the Middle East focusing on engineering students’ perception of academic dishonesty An 11 questions survey was conducted, asking about

cheating, plagiarism, copyright policy, academic dishonesty misconduct The results of the study reveal interesting findings More than one-third of those who took part in the survey were unaware of the existence of a student academic

integrity code When it comes to the perception of students, there were differences

in gender, as female students perceived more frequent cheating than their male colleagues Furthermore, around 10% of female students, compared to

approximately 30% of male students, find no association between morality and academic integrity The primary reason students cheat is that they don't have

enough time to complete the job without obtaining unapproved assistance, and theyconsider cheating as a sort of collaborative effort Students indicated that having

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 confidence

Self-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