Plagiarism in second-language writing

Abstract

Plagiarism is a broad and multidisciplinary field of study, and within second-language (L2) writing, research on the topic goes back to the mid-1980s. In this review article we first discuss the received view of plagiarism as a transgressive act and alternative understandings which have been presented in the L1 and L2 writing literature. We then survey and identify salient themes in the growing body of work relating to plagiarism, primarily fro an L2 writing/applied linguistic perspective. These themes include terminological distinctions; views of the role of textual plagiarism in language learning and a writer's development; a concern with students' and teachers' sometimes differing understanding of plagiarism; and disciplinary differences in perceptions of plagiarism. We review research into the role of the electronic media in changing orientations toward plagiarism, the potential role of culture as a cause of plagiarism in the work of L2 writers, and pedagogical approaches to guiding students away from plagiarism. Methodological issues in researching plagiarism are sureveyed, and the article concludes by suggesting directions for future research.

A Review of Literature: Plagiarism in the Papers of Turkish Context

“…Workload and stressful environment" (Singh, Ram, & Satsangi, 2015, p. 230). In addition to these, literature also showed that the authors do plagiarism due to the fact that they have low writing skills, and have to publish in second language (Pecorari & Petric, 2014).…”

Plagiarism policies in Iranian university TEFL teachers’ syllabuses: an exploratory study

“…Adam, 2015;Childers and Bruton, 2016;Greenberger, Holbeck, Steele and Dyer, 2016;Krishan, Kanchan, Baryah, Mukhra, 2016;McGrail1 and McGrail, 2015;Pecorari, 2015;Tauginienė, 2016) and in the realm of second language (L2) medium higher education (e.g. Abasi and Akbari, 2008;Abasi and Graves, 2008;Adam, 2015;Ahmadi, 2014;Flowerdew and Li, 2007;Joyce, 2007;Pecorari 2015;Pecorari and Petrić 2014). That is not surprising in this electronic age when access to various online sources is quick and copyright law can be infringed upon quite easily (e.g.…”

“…According to Pecorari and Petrić (2014), the earliest concept of plagiarism stems from the Enlightenment period when authors were considered as the one and only creators of a text and no one else was involved in inventing it. Pennycook, in his 1996 article in which he delves into the roots of plagiarism, states that plagiarism is a concept that originates from Western cultures and societies; a concept which came into existence as a consequence of the birth of copyright law in western nations in the 17th and 18th centuries.…”

“…The more recent postmodernist position questions this stance and, taking a more relativist attitude, posits that one cannot own words and ideas (Pennycook, 1996;Roy, 1999). Pecorari and Petrić (2014) contend that the current trend sees authorship as something that is constructed through negotiation and interface with other discourses and texts and reusing the on-hand resources. Weigle (2014) adds that written materials should not be seen in isolation; on the contrary, they are framed by other texts produced before.…”

Becoming-teacher: a partial and experimental account of Western native English-speaking teachers in Vietnamese international schools

“…The view that "Asian" students are skilled at copying is not uncommon, though it is rarely stated in quite so nakedly essentialist terms. In their review article on plagiarism in second language writing, Pecorari and Petrić (2014) note that the oft-asserted connections between culture and plagiarism have been in large part responsible for the appearance of the topic as part of the second language writing research agenda. And yet, as they describe it, 'the body of informed commentary on plagiarism and culture is as fragmented and contradictory as the body of empirical evidence' (Pecorari & Petrić, 2014, p. 286).…”