Teachers’ Perception of Plagiarism in Higher Education in Bangladesh

Abstract

Plagiarism is a grave concern among academicians and researchers in higher education. Due to this issue, many academicians and researchers have faced unwanted penalties. In Bangladesh, newspapers publish news on plagiarism or academic dishonesty done by students, researchers, and academicians at the higher education level. This paper aims at investigating the factors influencing teachers’ perceptions of plagiarism in higher education in Bangladesh. The researchers used a qualitative research design to answer the research question: What are the perceptions of English teachers about plagiarism at the tertiary level in Bangladesh? For the collection of data, an in-depth interview guide was used to interview 10 English teachers who have ample experience in research and thesis supervision. The data found through the in-depth interview was analyzed thematically. The thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews revealed that the absence of writing courses, the absence of mentioning plagiarism in the course outline, negligence by the teachers and students, the non-existence of plagiarism policy at the institution level, absence of any plagiarism detection software, etc. influence academic writing misconduct. The study ends with a few effective recommendations for reducing plagiarism in higher education for individual and institutional academic behavior in Bangladesh.