Fear of plagiarism - a barrier to academic language development for international students

Ursula McGowan
University of Adelaide

Keywords: plagiarism terminology; international students; academic language development

A survey of the terminology associated with plagiarism in publications such as university policies and academic journals will provide the data for analysing the attitudes that are conveyed in terms of educational or disciplinary strategies. This analysis will be used to examine the broad spectrum of meanings allocated to the concept of plagiarism - from the innocent failure to provide 'proper attribution', due to a lack of control of the appropriate academic language, to the other extreme of blatant cheating or fraud. Possible implications for both international students and their lecturers are discussed. If a climate of fear of committing an offence results from burdening a single term with such a dissonant range of interpretations, staff may understandably be reluctant to identify inadvertent plagiarism or to encourage legitimate risk taking as a language learning strategy for their international students and, indeed, others who are unused to the evidence-based approach to writing in an academic institution (McGowan 2005). Drawing on the author's of experience and data gained in advising academics in cross-cultural methodologies and in teaching, advising and assessing international and local students from non-English speaking backgrounds, the paper concludes by offering some suggestions for modifying the terminology used in discussing plagiarism, and to increase the emphasis on educationally sound teaching and assessment strategies.