TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.

1,May2007

DealingwithplagiarismataJapaneseuniversity: aforeignteacher'sperspective
RobertW.Norris FukuokaInternationalUniversity,Japan

Abstract Most of the current research on academic plagiarism that is available in English deals with English writing done by native and nonnative speakers. Little research has been done by native speakers teaching in a foreign language. This paper documents my own case as an AmericanprofessorteachingataJapaneseuniversity.Thefirstsectionofthepapercoversmy experiencesanddifficultiesincopingwithanincreasingamountofplagiarisminmyclasses conducted in Japanese. The next section summarizes the research I did onthe definition of plagiarism, on the question of cultural influences, and on reasons students plagiarize. The followingsectionreviewsrecommendationsandmeasuresthatschoolsandresearchersinthe West are trying to implement to combat the problem. The purpose is to look for possible implicationsforthesituationinJapan.Thefinalsectiondiscussestheresultsofmyreflective practice.

Introduction I was nave aboutthe issue of plagiarism. During my first fourteen years of teaching atthe collegelevelinJapan,Ineverhadtodealwithitdirectly.ItaughtmainlyOralEnglishanda fewEnglishcompositionclasses,butthestudentlevelswerelowandweworkedonsentence andparagraphconstructionratherthanonhowtowriteapaper.Iheardoccasionalgrumbling by other English teachers abouttheir students' lack of writing skills, but I never gave much thoughttoplagiarism. Thatchangedin2002whenIbeganteachinganAmericanCultureandSocietyclassto75 (67 Japanese, seven Chinese, and one Korean) nonEnglish majors at Fukuoka International University(FIU).TheconditionforteachingtheclasswasthatIhadtodoitmostlyinJapanese. IwantedthestudentstothinkaboutandreacttothematerialIpresentedinclassinsteadofjust recitingalotofnamesanddates,soIinstructedthemtowrite(inJapanese)theirownopinions and thoughts in their homework assignments, which included four essays that reviewed key issuesinthetextbookandagroupresearchpaperthatcoveredkeyissuesinclass.Overhalfof

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

thefirstessayscontainedanoverabundanceofsentencesandexpressionstakendirectlyfrom thetextbook.Igavefewpointstothosestudents,butrewardedwithmorepointsandpositive commentsthosestudentswhoexpressedthemselvesintheirownwords.Thegrouppapersalso hadalotofcopiedmaterial,butastheywerehandedinattheendoftheterm,Icouldnotgive anyfeedbackotherthanlowscoresorfailingthestudents. Ihadtorethinkmyapproach.Inthesecondyear,Ianticipatedthestudentswouldplagiarize,so IspentmoreclasstimerepeatingwhatIexpectedandforbadeonthehomeworkandaddeda roughdraftdeadlineforthegrouppaper.Notfeelingconfidentinmyabilitytoinstructstudents howtowritein Japanese,Ispentnoinclasstimeonhowtotakenotes,paraphrase,summarize, usequotations,orcitereferencesinabibliography.Iprovidedacopyofawellwrittenpaperto beusedasamodel.Comparedtothefirstyear,fewerstudentsplagiarized(about10percent), but there were still too many. In the last three years, I've become much stricter (usually warningstudentsforthefirstinfractionandfailingthemforasecond),butthecatandmouse game continues and I spend a lot of time playing plagiarism detective when checking homework. TwoyearsagoIbeganteachinganElectronicPublishingclassandconfrontedamoreblatant typeofplagiarism:studentscopyingandpastinglongsectionsfromtheInternetontotheirown homepages.Again,despitemywarningsandthesettingofroughdraftdeadlinestomakesure Icouldtrytogiveindividualguidancetotheperpetrators,Istillfoundnumerousincidentsof obviouscopyandpaste.ThemostvexingexamplewaswhenIassignedtheclasstohandina report outlining what they had learned from an Internet search for information concerning copyright laws. Over half the class emailed me one and twopage reports taken verbatim fromotherwebsites. This past year was overwhelming. I have never ranted and raved as much in my life. In addition to the other two nonEnglish classes, I was given a seminar class in Electronic Publishing.Theplanwastodoagrouppublicationindifferentformats,aswellashavetheten studentswriteathesispaper.Thetenstudents(fivewereJapanese,theotherfiveChinese)had beeninmyearlierElectronicPublishingclass,soIexpectedthemtohaveahigherawareness abouttheunacceptabilityofplagiarizedwork.Iwaswrong.Goingovertheirroughdraftshort stories and essays for the group publication, I found seven of the papers contained major sections taken directly from the Internet. I made them rewrite the papers. The same thing happenedwhenIcollectedtheroughdraftversionsoftheirthesispapers.Threestudentshad copiedlargesectionsfromtheJapaneseWikipediasite,whiletwoothershadpatchedtogether theirentirepapersfromavarietyofwebsites.Again,Ihadthemredothepapers.

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

At wit's end, I decided totake a more intellectual than emotional approach to deal with the problem.Istartedresearchinghowplagiarismisdefined,whatschoolsandteachersaredoing aboutit,whatculturaldifferencesexistbetweenAsianandWesterncultures,andspecificallyif thereisanythingbeingdoneaboutitatJapaneseuniversities.Inshort,Ifelttheneedtoengage in some reflective practice in order to improve my teaching and find an effective means to preventtheplagiarismfromoccurringinfutureclasses. The remainderof this paper summarizes what Ihave found.The first section deals with the problemofdefiningplagiarism.Thenextsectionexaminesthequestionof culturalinfluences andotherreasonsstudentsengageinplagiarism,whetherinadvertentlyornot.Thefollowing sectionreviewsrecommendationsandmeasuresthatschools,teachers,andresearchersinthe Westaretryingtoimplementtocombattheproblem.Thefinalsectionconsiderstheresultsof myreflectivepracticetolookforpossibleimplicationsformypresentsituationinJapan. WhatisPlagiarism? Whatexactlyisthedefinitionofplagiarism?Isitthesameasaviolationofcopyrightlaws?Is it a universally understood concept? Does it differ from country to country? Most of the researchIhavefoundfocusesmainlyonEnglishwritingdonebybothnativeandnonnative speakers,butitrevealsagreatdealaboutthecomplexityandscopeoftheproblem. Myers(1998)explainsthatthereisnosinglerecognizeddefinitionofplagiarism,anditexists intheformofinstitutionalrulesandregulationsratherthanasalaw,suchascopyright.Myers (1998:2)writesthattheserulesandregulations"arebasedonWesternacademicconventions thatareformulatedandinterpretedsomewhatdifferentlyacrossinstitutions.Forexample,one university may include some notion of 'intent' as part of the definition of plagiarism while othersdonot." AmongthedefinitionsMyers(1998:2)citesare(1) "usingtheideasorwordsofanotherperson withoutgivingappropriatecredit"and(2)"thefailureinadissertation,essay,orotherwritten exercise to acknowledge ideas, research, or languagetaken from others." Myers (1998) also explainshowplagiarismandcopyrightarenotexactlythesame.
Plagiarismmayviolatecopyrightlaw,butnotnecessarily.Asaconceptitisbothbroader andweakerthancopyright.Anauthormayplagiarizefromgovernmentdocuments,which are not copyrightable, from work with expired copyright, or from work in the domain of "fair use" without breaking the law. Both plagiarism and copyright are closely related

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

concepts that have formed attitudes and beliefs about intellectual property in the West (Myers1998:2).

Intryingtocometogripswithwhatconstitutesplagiarism,Dryden(1999)surveyedresearch thatcallsfora"postmodern"perspectiveonanddefinitionofplagiarism.Dryden(1999)states thatdefiningplagiarismusedtobesimpleandthatthroughoutthetwentiethcenturymostU.S. university writing handbooks took the position that copying someone else's words without attribution was wrong and the term itself was etymologically linked to "kidnapping" and "piracy." The "postmodern" position on plagiarism, however, has different interpretations, but all questionearlierassumptions.Dryden(1999)citesBuranenandRoy's(1999:xviii)ideathat
onecannotownwordsandideas.Allwecandoishonorandrecompensetheencodingofthose ideas,theuseofthosewords,inthecertaintythatsuchhonorandcompensationarenegotiated incontextsoftimeandplace,classandpower,withinsocialandeconomicconsiderations.

Whilethemodernassumptionofwordsbelongingtoindividualwritersseemsfairlycommon intheWest,thepostmodernstance,accordingtoDryden(1999),viewslanguageandideasas socialbeforetheyareindividual. CulturalInfluencesonStudents'Plagiarizing? Agoodportionofresearchhasbeendevotedtoculturaldifferencesconcerningplagiarism.In particular,thedividinglinehasbeenbetweenWesternthoughtandAsianthought.Researchers oftennotethattheeducationalenvironmentofstudentsfromvariousAsiancountriesstresses memorization of passages of text and encourages borrowing directly from the writing of others. Ross(1993:145)quotesaChineseteacher'sexplanation: "Knowledgebelongstosociety,notto ourselves.Ifyouhaveknowledge,itisyourdutytogiveittoothers.Students () cannotview theirtalentasprivateproperty."Hu(2001:54)claimsthatnotonlyinChinabutalsoinItaly, scienceandhistorystudentsarerequiredtofindsourceanswersandcopythem.Thompsonand Williams (1995:2728) write that many Asian students "copy wellrespected authors and leadersintheirsocieties"andthatthis"showsintelligenceandgoodjudgment." Dryden(1999)usesaquotefromaJapanesecolleaguetoshedlightonWesternandEastern epistemologies. The colleague explained about what was generally expected of Japanese undergraduatesinthewritingoftheirseniortheses.

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Studentsaresupposedtoshowhowwelltheycanunderstandseveralbooksanddigestthemin areportorapaper.Theyaren'taskedfororiginalideasoropinions.Theyaresimplyaskedto showabeautifulpatchwork.Aslongasyoumentionallthebooksinyourbibliography,you can present the ideas from the books as ifthey were yours, especially if your patchwork is beautiful(Dryden1999:5).

Buranen(1999)quotesaChinesebornandAmericaneducatedcolleaguewhoclaimedthatin Asianscholarlytradition"theuseofothersourcesisasignofrespectforthereceivedwisdom andknowledgeofothers,"andthat"beingabletoquoteorcitetheworkof'themasters'isa way of demonstrating one's own learning or accomplishment" (Buranen 1999:69). The colleaguegoesontosaythatit'snotnecessarytousefootnotesordocumentthesereferences because it is assumed that "any knowledgeable readeror audience knows the source" and it mightbe"aninsulttoareader'sintelligence"(Buranen1999:69). Not all researchers, however, buy into the cultural differences theory. The debate between Sowden(2005)andLiu(2005)concerningChinesestudentsinanESL(Englishasasecond language)settingisagoodexample.Sowden(2005)takesthepositionthatChinesestudents' plagiarizing can be attributed to their cultural background, while Liu (2005) insists that plagiarizing in a second language is predominantly a linguistic matter and that the main problems for Asian ESL students are poor language and writing skills. Liu (2005:234) also claims that copying is not part of Chinese educational tradition and that Chinese textbooks stresstheimportanceofcitationofsourcesandacknowledgementofothers'workasasignof respect. Memorization as a learning technique is common, but never intended "as atool for copying"(Liu2005:237). Many researchers have examined the issue of plagiarism across cultures, but few have exploredthestudents' ownperceptionsandattitudestowardplagiarismintheacademiccontext oftheirfirstlanguage(L1).OnenotablestudyisthatofRinnertandKobayashi(2005),who analyzedquestionnaireandinterviewresponsesfrom605Japaneseuniversitystudentsand76 Americanuniversitystudents.RinnertandKobayashi(2005)comparedtheresponsesacross disciplines(scienceversusliberalarts)andacademiclevels(undergraduateversusgraduate). Theresultssuggestedthefollowing. 1.Japanesestudents,particularlyattheundergraduatelevel,donothavemuchknowledge ofcitationofsources. 2.Japanesestudentsdonotperceivetheborrowingofwordsorideaswithoutcitingthe sourcetobeentirelynegative.

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

3.Academic discipline may be more influential than academic level on students' knowledgeandattitudestowardcitationconventions.Thatis,liberalartsmajorsseem tobemoreawareoftheneedtocreditsourcesthansciencemajorsare. 4.Graduatestudentsperceivecorrectcitationtobemoreimportantthandoundergraduate students. 5.AmericanstudentsreceivemoreformalL1writinginstructionthanJapanesestudents do,particularlyintheareasofhowtosupportpointsinapaper,howtoquotecorrectly,
1 andhowtoparaphrase.

(RinnertandKobayashi2005) OfparticularrelevanceareRinnertand Kobayashi's(2005)explanationsofpossiblereasons forthe above points. First, atthe high school level in Japan, there are few opportunities for studentsto gather information from outside sources and evaluate it critically. Second, atthe universitylevelinJapan,thereisnosystematictrainingincitingreferencesintheL1,letalone inEnglishoranothersecondlanguage.ClassesinthefirsttwoyearsofuniversityinJapantend tobelecturebased.Writtenassignmentsintheseclassesconsistprimarilyofstudentreportsin which students must show their understanding of the topic or lecture contents. Citation is generallynotrequired. Third,theconceptofplagiarismisunclear,particularlyaboutwherethelineisdrawnbetween thestudents' ownideasandothers'ideas. Addedtothisistheconfusionaboutwhatiscommon knowledgeinacertainfieldandwhatareborrowedideas.Fourth,thereisalackofstrictand consistentpoliciesprohibitingplagiarism instudentwritingatJapaneseuniversities(Rinnert andKobayashi2005). OtherInfluencesonStudents'Plagiarizing Various U.S. studies have tried to ascertain why students engage in academic dishonesty. According to Bricault (1998), the reasons include stress, grades, time, workload, course difficulty (Lipson and McGavern 1993) peer pressure, a high rate of return involving less personal effort and a low risk of getting caught, a value system that "do[es] not prohibit cheating" (Payne and Nantz 1994) unfair and overly demanding teachers (McCabe and Trevino 1993) the fear of failure and the belief that collaboration enhances the learning process (Lipson and McGavern 1993). Bricault (1998) also believes that ignorance is a key factorandthatstudentsarelikelytoplagiarizebymistakeratherthanintentionally.

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Hall(2005:5)concursthatmanyAmericanstudentscometouniversityunpreparedfordealing withtherulesforacademicwriting.Hall(2005)spendsseveralpagesexaminingtheissueof plagiarismfromthestudents'pointofview.Whilenotcondoningthepractice,Hall(2005:12) believesitisimperativethatifinstitutionsandindividualteachersareseriousintheireffortsto prevent students from plagiarizing, they need to be aware that the act often arises from confusionanddifferentsetsofexpectations. Aseparatecategorythatneedstobeconsideredisthatofnonnativespeakers.Inadditionto the various possible reasons given above for student plagiarizing, a lack of confidence in second languagewritingskills mustbe mentioned.Buranen(1999:73)believesthatmuchof theplagiarizingdonebyESLandEFL(Englishasaforeignlanguage)studentsistheresultof their "fear of punishment for grammatical 'mistakes'and the desperation it can prompt is whatprovokesmuchofthecopyingand'plagiarism' thattakesplaceinwritingclasses." Nonnative speakers also suffer the disadvantage of being more prone to getting caught becauseoftheirlackofwritingskillsinasecondlanguage.Buranen(1999:70),indiscussing international students in Southern California, explains that plagiarism is "simply easier to identify in the writing of nonnative speakers of English. [The] passages copied or barely paraphrased from another source interspersed with the nonidiomatic usage of a second language writer of Englishfairly leap off the page." Studies in the U.K. also show that international students are overrepresented in the statistics of those being punished (Carroll 2004:3). Onemorereasonforstudents'plagiarismistheeaseofdoingsointheInternetage.McCabe (2003)reportsthattheresultsoflargeselfreportingsurveysamongAmericanstudentsshowed thatin1999about13%answeredthattheyregularlyusedmaterialfromtheInternetwithout anyattribution.By2003,thenumberhadrisento41%.The lastfew years havealsoseen a large number of websites such as "Cheat.com," "Evil House of Cheat," "Term Paper Warehouse,"and"HighPerformancePapers"thatofferreadymaderesearchpapersforfreeor insomecasesforachargeofupto$15to$20apage.Levinson(2005)reportedtheownerof one such company was selling between 500 to 1,000 essays a week, mainly to overseas studentsstudyingintheU.K. MeasuresbeingTakenandSuggestionsbeingMade Studies in the U.K., the U.S., and Australia show that at least 10%of students'work atthe university level may beplagiarized(Carroll2004).If,assuchresearch indicates,plagiarism amongstudentsisincreasingglobally,whatareeducationalinstitutionsandteachersdoingto

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

dealwiththeproblem? Although the Internet now makes it easy for students to copy and paste, it also makes plagiarized text easy to detect. Many institutions are turning to Internetbased plagiarismdetectionservicestodetectanddetercasesofacademicdishonesty. OnesuchserviceisTurnitin.com,which,accordingtoitswebsite,hasthousandsofclientsin over90countries.Turnitinchecksforpossibleplagiarismbytakingpapersthataresubmitted andcomparingthemtoitsowndatabases,aswellastothedatabasesoftheinstitutionsithas licensing agreements with. Turnitin's databases include tens of millions of student papers alreadysubmittedmillionsofcommercialpagesfrombooks,newspapers,andjournalsanda currentarchivedcopyoftheInternet(Wikipedia2007). CriticsofTurnitinandsimilarservices claimtherearepotentiallegalissuesinvolvedconcerningstudents'legalrights(Foster2002). Allen,etal.(2005)provideanexampleofhowinstitutionsareusingtheseservices.Allen,etal. (2005)reportthatfiveuniversitiesinAustraliaandNewZealandparticipatedinatrialprogram usingTurnitin'sservice.Allfiveuniversitieshadpreexistingprogramstoeducatestudentson whatplagiarism isand itsassociatedrisks,buttheauthorssaythat "therehasbeenevidence thatinformationpresentationalonedoesnotchangestudentbehaviorandthatthepresenceof detectiontechnologyassistsineducatingstudents,byactivefeedback,ontherelevantissues" (Allen et al. 2005:34). After conducting various trials, all five universities decided to use Turnitin's service as part of an "educationdetectionpolicy approach, backed by a suitable levelofsupportandtraining"(Allenetal.2005:7). IntheU.K.,thegovernmentfundedJointInformationSystemsCommittee(JISC)in2002set up a plagiarism advisory service to help higher learning institutions combat plagiarism. The service promotes a holistic approach to plagiarism prevention that incorporates institutional policiesandprocedures,teachingpractice,andstudyskills instruction.Akeyelementofthe approachishelpingteachersto"designout" opportunitiesforplagiarism. JISC'splagiarismadvisoryserviceoffersadviceandguidanceonhowtodealwithplagiarism, andprovidesmaterialsaboutcopyrightanddatacollection,disciplinaryprocesses,andstudy skills. Its plagiarism detection service uses Turnitin to enable schools and faculty to do electronicchecksofstudents'work.Over80%ofU.K.universitieshaveadoptedtheTurnitin detectionservice(NorthumbriaLearning2006).

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

In the U.S., Hall's (2005) paper outlining the philosophy of Rutgers University's Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines programs (WAC/WID) has gained widespreadattention.Hall(2005)explainsindetailthebasicprinciplesandgivesexamplesof concreteactivitiesforinstitutionstoconsiderincarryingoutacomprehensiveantiplagiarism initiative.Thefourbasicprinciplesare: 1.Preventplagiarismthroughpedagogy. 2.Fosterseriousongoingcampusdialogueaboutplagiarismasanintellectualconceptand asocialphenomenon. 3.Get students involved in developing antiplagiarism activities. Help faculty, administrators, librarians, and tutors understand the student experience of plagiarism andincorporatethatintotheirinteractions. 4.When prevention fails, make the plagiarism intervention not only an occasion for punishment,butalsoan educationalopportunity,awaytopreventthenextplagiarism. Specific activities in the first principle include developing and disseminating materials and resources for both teachers and students to increase their awareness of the problem, encouraging plagiarismproof assignments and course design for teachers, and conducting surveysamong facultytodeterminewhattheyseeasthecausesandwhatkindof helpthey wouldlike(Hall2005). Activities in the second principle include sponsoring both faculty and student forums, discussions and lectures that encourage analysis of plagiarism as a complex problem with many causes and no simple solution. Components of the third principle include helping teachers understand plagiarism from the student perspective, involving the library staff in trainingstudentshowtofindsourcesandhowtoevaluatetheappropriatenessofthesources, andconductinganonymoussurveysamongstudentstogaugetheirunderstandingofplagiarism (Hall2005). Thefourthprincipleincludestrainingfacultyhowtodetectplagiarismandusesearchengine strategiesandtools,aswellasworkingwithadministration,faculty,andstudentstodevelopa systemofdealingwithcasesofplagiarism.Hall(2005)recommendsthattheapproachinclude sanctions,butshouldnotbepurelypunitiveandshouldinvolvethestudentsinits development andadministration. McGowan (2005) also believes that institutional guidelines for informing students aboutthe meaning of plagiarism and its consequences alone are insufficient, particularly for internationalstudentswritinginaL2.McGowan(2005)proposesastrategyforgivingstudents

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

thechancetolearnnotonlythemechanicsofacademicwritingandcitingreferences,butalso the reasons for the requirements and help in learning the specific language and structures neededtofulfillthoserequirements. McGowan(2005)advocatesputtingapositivespinonthereasonsbehindtheimportanceand traditionofacademicintegrityratherthanusingthelanguageofcrimeandpunishmenttowarn andscarestudents.Thiswouldrequireakindofapprenticeshipinvolving (1) anintroduction to theconceptofresearchbasedwritingand(2)timetoabsorbthelanguagestructures,sentence patterns,andwordchoicesrequiredbyacademicconventions.McGowan(2005:52)explains.
Studentsneedastartingpointformovingonfromusing "theirown" words, whichmaybean informal style or the inappropriate translation of a culturally foreign language choice, to searchingoutandapplyingthelanguagethatis typicallyusedwithintheirnewdiscipline. They need to engage in "active learning" to help them recognize how their reading can informtheirwriting.

TheinitialfocusofMcGowan's(2005)strategywouldbelessons,doneearlyinacourse,that useexercisesinwhichthestudents(1)firstreadashortarticle(representativeofthediscipline orgenretheyarestudying)forcontent,(2)identifystagesofdevelopmentinthearticle,and(3) notethelanguageitemsthatareusedineachstage.Thestudentswouldthenbeencouragedto followthestagesandreusethelanguageitems(e.g.,"AccordingtoJones,""Jonesclaims " etc.)intheirownwritingassignments.McGowan(2005)believesthatbyusingthistypeof "genreanalysis"overaperiodoftime,teacherscanhelpstudentsdiscoverstockphrasesused intheirowndisciplineorgenreandencouragethemtoreusethephrasestoexpressthetheir owncontent. McGowan (2005) acknowledges that planning and adding these "genre analysis" activities mightappeartobeanextraburdentoalreadybusyandoftenoverworkedteachers,butbelieves itisworthit.McGowan(2005:53)writes,"Initiallyitmayindeedmeansomeextrawork,but thepayoffinthelongrunshouldmeanthatmuchtimeissavedcounsellingindividualstudents whodon'tunderstandwhytheplagiarizedworktheyhavesubmittedisunacceptable." RinnertandKobayashi's(2005)studygavetheauthorssomeusefulinsightsforwaysinwhich teacherscanfacilitatestudents'acquisitionofacademicliteracy.Theimplicationsincludedthe following. 1.Theclassroomexperienceshouldbeusedtohelpstudentsbecomeactivelyinvolvedin the development of their own academic literacy. Discussions can be held on what

10

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

studentsknowaboutcitingsources intheirown language,whattheirexperiencesare, andwhattheteacherexpects. 2.Teachers should guide students in budgeting their time, generating ideas, finding relevantreferences,andusingquotationstoenhancethequalityofthestudents'writing. 3.Teachers should avoid homework assignments that encourage copy and pasting and overemphasizemechanicalaccuracyandaregurgitationofmeaninglessfacts. 4.Teachers should try to create an environment that enhances learning through the communication of meaning. This means helping students see books and articles as thingsthatcan bechallengedanddebated.Borrowedwordsand ideas,properlycited, canbeusedtosupportthestudents'ownideasandmakethemmorepersuasive. 5.In ordertoavoidcontributingtomorestudentconfusion,itisimportantforteachersin thesameinstitutiontofollowacoherent,unifiedapproachtoacademicliteracy instruction. (RinnertandKobayashi's2005)

AnAttempttoFormanAntiPlagiarismPolicy Myresearchshowedmethatplagiarism bybothnativespeakersandnonnativespeakersin not just the Englishspeaking world but elsewhere is indeed a serious problem. Schools, administrators, researchers, and teachers are aware of and concerned about the issue. Many ideas are being presented to deal with it. Regardless of whether a punitive, pedagogical, or holistic approach is taken, the researchers listed earlier all seem to agree that institutional guidelinesandcooperationarenecessaryforany antiplagiarismprogramtobeeffective. What about the situation in Japan? If, as Rinnert and Kobayashi (2005) stated, Japanese universitiesdonothavestrictandconsistentpoliciesprohibitingstudentplagiarism,itwould betoomuchtoexpectFIUto followtheU.K.exampleofusingaJISCtypeofadvisoryservice. Iwonderedifacoherentpolicy,oratleastsomeguidelines,couldbeformedatFIU. InformalconversationswithJapaneseteachersatFIUandotheruniversitiesledmetobelieve thatteachersareawareoftheplagiarismproblem,buttheissueisconsideredonethatrequires teacherratherthantopdownguidance.Developingand implementingan institutionalpolicy suchastheoneHall(2005)recommendsseemedanearlyimpossibletask.Ifeltsomewhatlike Dryden (1999:5), who wrote, "Recently I have considered why it is that some Western academics find plagiarism widespread in Japan, while the Japanese themselves do not seem particularlytroubledbysuchpracticesandare,infact,oftenbewilderedbythemoralizingof Westerners." Based on Hall's (2005) suggestion for conducting surveys with faculty for the purpose of raisingawarenesslevels,Idistributedaquestionnaire(see Appendix)totheother28fulltime teachersatFIU.TwentysixwereJapanese,onewasCanadian,andonewasKorean.Allthe

11

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

teacherswereteachingamixtureofundergraduateandgraduateclasses.Thequestionnairewas composedofseven"open"questionsandaskedtheteacherstogivetheirowndefinitionsof plagiarism,toexplainiftheyhadencounteredtheproblemintheirownclassesandifsohow they responded, and to give their opinions about the necessity for the university to create specificguidelinestobeincludedinthestudenthandbook. Twenty teachers responded to the questionnaire. Not all questions were answered (for the specificnumberofresponsestoeachquestion,seeAppendix).Overall,theresultsshowedthat the teachers at FIU are aware of the plagiarism problem and individually are providing guidance, but generally prefer an educational rather than an institutionallyguided punitive approach. Inresponsetoquestionone,theteachers' definitionsofplagiarismatFIUweresimilartothose that are provided in the literature on plagiarism at Western universities (Myers 1998 McDonnell 2004). Some of the definitions were not limited to academic plagiarism, but
2 included descriptions of a broader range of plagiarism. Below are some examples. (The

translationsoftheoriginalJapanesearemyown.) 1."Presentinganoriginalideaorinformationorsomeoneelse'swordsasyourown." 2."Withoutcitingthesource,usinganotherperson'swords,sentences,pictures,images, artwork,lyrics,etc.asiftheyareyourown." 3."In general, using words and sentences copied from published material or from the Internetandpresentingthemasyourown." 4."Withoutgettingpermissiontodoso,usingallorpartofanother'screativeworkand presentingitasyourown." 5."Showinganother'swrittenorcreativeworkasyourown." There were varying opinions concerning what, if any, levels of plagiarism exist and what corresponding measures should be taken. Of the 20 respondents, 17 had found student
3 plagiarism intheirownclasses.Abouthalfofthecases involved foreignstudents. Ofthose

whocaughtstudentsplagiarizing,15gavestrictwarningsand madethe studentsrewritethe papers,whiletheothertwoeitherfailedthestudentsorgavealowerscoreonthepapers. In response tothe question about whetherthey are providing guidance in the classroom, 15 answered "yes" and five answered "no." This preference for teacher guidance and decisionmaking over a strict institutional policy was also apparent in the responses to the questionaboutwhetherFIUneededaspecificpolicyforwhatconstitutesplagiarismandwhat theconsequencesshouldbe.Althoughfiveanswered"yes,"fouranswered"no"andfivewere

12

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

4 undecided. The following reasons were representative of the rationale against a topdown

policy.(ThetranslationsoftheoriginalJapanesearemyown.) 1."Studentplagiarismisaproblemthatshouldbehandlednotbyschoolauthorities,but withintheeducationalboundariesofthefamilyandindividualteachers." 2."Suspendingorkickingstudentsoutofschoolwouldbegoingtoofar.It'sadifficult burdenforteacherstoprovestudentplagiarismclearly.Weshouldstrivetohandlethe problemthrougheducationalguidance." 3."Japanesepeoplehavean insufficientawareness ofplagiarismasacriminalact.We needtobemoreactiveininstructingourstudentsabouttheconsequences.Weshould makethestudentsrewritetheirpapersasmanytimesasittakes.Inthecaseofstudents cheatingonfinalexams,strictpunishmentissuitable." 4."Studentsarenotinthesamecategoryasresearchersandprofessionalartists.They're notmakingtheirlivingfromtheirresearchorwriting.Whiletheyarestillinschool, they needtobeguidedtowardapropersenseof conductandresponsibility sothey willbecomeresponsibleadults.Makingthemrewriteareportorrepeataclassshould besufficientpunishmentatthisstageoftheirlives." 5."The level of today's students has dropped considerably. If you ask them to write a reportintheirownwords,they'llproduceasimpleelementaryschoolreport.Rather than a punitive approach, we need to give the students more educational guidance, morereadingandwritingpractice." Concerning whether a clear definition should be printed in the student handbook, eight teachers agreed, six thought it unnecessary, and three were undecided. The one area where therewasstrongsupportwasintheresponsestothequestionaboutwhetherstudentsshouldbe givenadetailedexplanation(eitherinthestudenthandbookoronaseparateprintout)ofhow to cite references in essays, term papers, and graduation theses. Seventeen of the 20 respondentsansweredintheaffirmative. Ingeneral,theresultsofthequestionnaireindicatedfourpoints:(1)teachersatFIUareaware oftheproblemandconcernedaboutit(2)theyunderstandthatstudentsneedmoreguidancein howtowriteacademicreportsandcitereferences(3)theyareinclinedtowardtheviewthatit ismoreimportantforteacherstoraisestudents'awarenessthanitisfortheinstitutiontoseta specificpolicyand(4)foreignstudentsaremorelikelytobecaught. Points(1)and(2)helptodispelthenotioncontainedintheearlierDryden(1999)quoteabout Japanese not being bothered by plagiarism. Point (3), however, reveals a clear difference between FIU and many Western universities. The research summarized earlier shows that

13

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Westernuniversitiesareincreasinglyadvocatingacombinationofinstitutionalguidelinesand preventionthroughpedagogy,butatFIUandseeminglymostJapaneseuniversitiespedagogy takes priority. Point (4) can be seen in the same vein as what ESL research shows: foreign students have more difficulty in using "their own words" in a second language and thus are pronetogettingcaughtmore often. In further following Hall's (2005) advice about developing and disseminating materials and resourcesforteachersandstudentsforincreasingawarenessoftheproblemandencouraging plagiarismproof assignments, I presented the questionnaire results to the dean of academic affairs.Thetopichassincebecomeanitemontheacademicaffairscommitteeandthereisa goodchanceaspecialprintoutforstudentswillbeprepared.Also,sincereceivingtheteachers' responses, I have engaged several ofthem in enthusiastic discussions about plagiarism and what kind of guidance can be given the students. Three of the teachers told me that the questionnairehadgiventhemanopportunitytoreflectontheirownteaching.Theysaidthey planned from the beginning of the semester to provide more detailed guidance and writing practice,particularlyintheirfreshmanhomeroomclasses. PersonalTeachingChanges Thenextstepinmyreflectivepracticewastodrawimplicationsfrommyresearchinorderto tryto(1)raisebothJapaneseandforeignstudents'awarenessofcitationconventionsand(2) givethem moreguidance fromthestart.Keyamongthese implicationswerecreating lesson plans that include taking time to introduce studentsto what plagiarism is, engaging them in discussion of the necessity of citation, and giving them more "active" reading and writing practice. Specifically, I'm following (1) McGowan's (2005) advice about using "genre analysis" techniquesforhelpingstudentsacquirestockphrasesandapplythemintheirownwritingand (2) Rinnert and Kobayashi's (2005) advice about giving students writing assignments that allowthemtouseothers'ideasandwordstosupporttheirownopinions. Thisisinlinewiththe JISCideaof "designingout" opportunitiesforplagiarism. In my American Culture and Society class, I've allocated two class periods to introduce studentstotheimportanceofcitation,someexamplesofsummaryandparaphrasing,andsome
5 stockphrasesinJapanese. Iwillcontinuetoreviewthesepointsandtrytoputapositivespin

onthem insubsequentclasses.In followingRinnertandKobayashi's(2005)advicetomake sure writing assignments "go beyond requiring a simple display of knowledge to include engagingstudents'mindsinanalyzing,connectingandsynthesizingideas,"I'minstructingthe students to pick one theme to react to for every 5060 pages from the textbook rather than

14

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

havingthemcoverthecontentsoftheentiresection.Inmarkingtheseessayassignments,Iwill givepositivefeedbackandencouragement,praisingthestudentsforcorrectcitationusageor pointingoutwheretheyshouldhaveusedthestockphrases. In the group term paper assignments, I will require the students to write a review of a recommended film. The review must include a section on relevant historical background, a summaryoftheplotandsetting,andasectiononwhattheythinktheoriginalauthor'smessage wastotheaudience.Thestudentsmustfindtwomediareviewsandusethatmaterial toeither supportorbalancetheirownopinions.Toreinforcethestudents'awarenessofcitingreferences, I'm borrowing Dryden's (1999) idea for having the students print out material downloaded fromtheInternet(ormaterialcopiedfromotherprintmedia),highlightwithacoloredmarker thesectionstheyuseinthetermpaper,andhandintheprintoutswiththepaper.Intheterm paperitself,thestudentsmusthighlightthepassagestakenfromtheothersources.Attheend of the paper,the studentsmust include a section explaining why they chosethe material, as wellashowtheyuseditaseitherquotationsorparaphrasedcommentary. IntheElectronicPublishingandseminarclasses,Iwilluseasimilarapproach,butspendmore time in class discussions concerning copyright laws, stock phrases, and different types of citationandreferencing.Iamalsopreparingreadingassignmentsthatrequirethestudentsto noticeandabsorbmorestructures,sentencepatterns,andwordchoicesforcitation.Thebasic strategy, to use McGowan's (2005:53) words, is "to encourage students to discover these languageitemswithintheirreadingsandtoreusethemtoexpresstheirowncontent." Conclusion Inclosing,Icansaythatmyearliervisceralreactionstothe plagiarismIdetectedinmyclasses havebeensoftenedbymybriefsojournintothefieldof "plagiarismresearch." Icansayclearly that I now have a better understanding of the complexities of the problem and the possible culturalinfluencesonstudents'attitudes,aswellasthereasonsbehindtheirlackoftrainingin citationconventions.Thishas led metoadoptamoresympatheticviewtowardpedagogical preventionasopposedtoanemphasisondetectionandpunishment. I'malso encouraged by the willingness of my Japanese colleagues at FIUtorespondto my questionnaire,debatetheissue,andtakestepstoimplementamorecollectiveandactivepolicy of prevention. By continuing to communicateopenly, to shareour experiences and teaching strategies, and to encourage committees to suggest specific institutional guidelines, we teachers can and must formulate unified strategies for reducing the amount of student plagiarism.

15

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

What I've outlined in this paper is only a small step forward in a timeconsuming and Sisypheantask,butifwearetoimparttoourstudentsanysenseofacademicintegritythatthey can carry with them into the world beyond university, such steps are imperative. As Hall (2005:5)says,"Maybe,justmaybe,wecanteachourwayout ofthismess."

Notes 1. Rinnert and Kobayashi (2005) caution that because the number of American respondents wassmall,furtherstudy isrequiredtoconfirmthecrossculturaltendenciesreportedintheir study. 2.Forthetranslationof"plagiarism,"Iusedthetermstousaku,touyou,andhyousetsuinthe Japanese questionnaire. These terms all have legal implications and refer to stealing, theft, robbery, or taking someone's work without permission. Later, when I read Rinnert and Kobayashi's(2005)paper,Ifoundtheyhadusedintheirquestionnairestheterm ukeuri,which isaninformaltermthatcanbetranslatedas"secondhandaccount"or"echoofsomeoneelse's words."ThelegalnuancesinthetermsIusedmayhaveinfluencedFIUteachers' definitions. 3.ThisseemstoindicatethatnonnativespeakersofnotonlyEnglishbutanysecondlanguage are prone to be caught plagiarizing because of their lack of writing skills in the second language. It also strengthens the argument for providing these students with additional educationalguidance. 4. Forthe same reason as number 2 above, the legal nuances in the terms I used may have influenced FIU teachers' opinions concerning a preference for educational guidance over institutionalpolicy. 5.SuchphraseswouldincludeSatoniyorebatoiukotodearu(AccordingtoSato)Sato wa tsugi no you ni iu/kaiteiru/nobeteiru (Sato says/writes/claims the following) Sato watooshieteiru(Satoexplainsthat)andSatonokenkaiwa(InSato'sview).

16

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

References Allen,G.,Callagher,L.,ConnorsM.,JoyceD.,&Rees,M.(2005).Policies,technologyand processes for promoting academic integrity: Some Australasian perspectives on academic integrityintheinternetage. EDUCAUSEAustraliasia,Auckland,NewZealand. Bricault,D.(1998,March).Legalaspectsofacademicdishonesty:Policies,perceptions,and realities. http://www.ncpts.edu/esl/dishnst.html (accessedFebruary27,2007) Buranen,L.(1999).ButI wasn'tcheating.InL.Buranen&A.Roy(Eds.) Perspectiveson plagiarismandintellectualpropertyinapostmodernworld(pp.6374).Albany,N.Y.:State UniversityofNewYorkPress. Buranen,L.&RoyA.(1999).Introduction.InL.Buranen&A.Roy(Eds.)Perspectiveson plagiarismandintellectualpropertyinapostmodernworld (pp.xvxxii).Albany,N.Y.:State UniversityofNewYorkPress. Carroll,J.(2004).Institutionalissuesindeterring,detectinganddealingwithplagiarism. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/plagFinal.pdf (accessedFebruary27,2007). Dryden,L.M.(1999).Nomorecopying?Plagiarismreconsidered,withaviewtoreducingit in student writing. Paper presented atthe KOTESOL proceedings PAC2 (The Second Pan AmericanConference),Seoul,Korea. http://www.kotesol.org/publications/proceedings/1999/pacpro027.pdf (accessed February 27,2007). Foster,A.L.(2002,May17).Plagiarismdetectiontoolcreateslegalquandary.TheChronicle of Higher Education. http://chronicle.com/free/v48/:36/36a03701.htm (accessed February 21,2007) Hall,J.(2005).Plagiarismacrossthecurriculum:Howacademiccommunitiescanmeetthe challenge of the undocumented writer. ATD. Across the disciplines. Interdisciplinary perspectivesonlanguage,learningandacademicwriting. http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/hall2005.cfm (accessedFebruary26,2007) Hu,J.(2001).Analternativeperspectiveoflanguagereuse:Insightsfromtextualand learningtheoriesandL2academicwriting.EnglishQuarterly,33(1),5262.

17

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Levinson,H.(2005,April14).Essaysales'belittle'education.BBCNews. http://news.bbc.co.uk/i/hi/education/4445357.stm (accessedFebruary25,2007). LipsonA.&McGavern,N.(1993,May).UndergraduateacademicdishonestyatMIT.Paper presentedatthe33rdForumoftheAssociationforInstitutionalResearch,Chicago,IL. Liu,D.(2005).PlagiarisminESOLstudents:Isculturalconditioningtrulythemajorculprit? EnglishLanguageTeachingJournal,59(3),234241. McCabe,D.L.(2003,November).Promotingacademicintegrity:AUS/Canadianperspective ineducationalintegrity:Plagiarismandotherperplexities.TheproceedingsoftheAustralian EducationalIntegrityConference,UniversityofSouthAustralia,2122. McCabe,D.L.&Trevino,L.K.(1993,September/October).Academicdishonesty:Honor codesandothercontextualinfluences.JournalofHigherEducation,64(5), 522538. McDonnell, K. E. (2004). Academic plagiarism rules and ESL learning: Mutually exclusive concepts? AmericanUniversityTESOLWorkingPapers,No.2. http://www.american.edu/tesol/wpmcdonnell.pdf (accessedFebruary27,2007) McGowan,U.(2005).Academicintegrity:Anawarenessanddevelopmentissueforstudents andstaff.JournalofUniversityTeachingandLearningPractice,2(3a),4857. http://jutlp.uow.edu.au(accessedApril20,2007) Myers,S.(1998, March).Questioningauthor(ity):ESL/EFL,scienceandteachingabout plagiarism.TeslEJ,3(2),121. NorthumbriaLearning.(2006,October13). Academicintegritysurvey.NorthumbriaLearning Digital Education Services. http://www.northumbrialearning.co.uk/documents/media.php (accessedFebruary27,2007). Payne,S.L.&Nantz,K.S.(1994,Summer).Socialaccountsandmetaphorsaboutcheating. CollegeTeaching,42(3),9096. Rinnert,C.&Kobayashi,H.(2005).Borrowingwordsandideas:InsightsfromJapaneseL1 writers.JournalofAsianPacificCommunications15(1),3156.

18

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Ross,H.A.(1993).ChinalearnsEnglish:Languageteachingandsocialchangeinthe People'sRepublic. YaleUniversityPress. Sowden,C.(2005).Plagiarismandthecultureofmultilingualstudentsinhighereducation abroad.EnglishLanguageTeachingJournal59(3),226233. ThompsonL.&Williams,P.(1995, September/October).ButIchangedthreewords! PlagiarismintheESLclassroom.ClearingHouse6(1),2729. Turnitin.com. (2007). The Turnitin solution. http://turnitin.com/static/pdf/tii_brochurev2.pdf (accessedApril30,2007) Wikipedia.(2007).Turnitin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnitin (accessedFebruary27, 2007).

19

TheEastAsianLearner,Vol.3,No.1,May2007

Appendix PlagiarismQuestionnaire 1.Whatisyourdefinitionof "plagiarism"?(20responses) 2.Doyouthinktherearedifferentcategoriesofplagiarism?Ifso,whatarethey?Forexample, fromminortomajorcases.(20responses) 3.Inyourteachingexperience,haveyouhadproblemswithplagiarism?Ifso,pleasedescribe thenatureoftheproblemthetypeofclassinwhichitoccurredwhetherthestudentswere foreign,Japanese,orbothandhowyoudealtwiththeproblem.(20responses) 4.Haveyoudealtwithplagiarismonapreventativebasis(i.e.,educationalguidance)inanyof yourclasses?Forexample,doyouteachstudentshowtotakenotesforresearchpapers,to summarize, to paraphrase, to use quotations, and to cite sources in a reference section or bibliography?Ifyes,pleasegivedetailsonthemethodyouusedandifitwassuccessful.(20 responses) 5.Currently the students'guidebook has only two short descriptions about cheating (one on page17,theotheronpage20).Doyouthinkthestudents'guidebookshouldcontain(a)a detailedexplanationofwhatconstitutesplagiarismand(b)adetailedexplanationofhowto cite references in essays, term papers, and graduation theses? (17 responses to "a" 20 responsesto"b") 6.Currentlythe schoolpostsalistofoffensesthatconstitutecheatingduring finaltests,but thishaslittlerelationshiptopapersproducedduringthecourseofthesemester.Doyouthink theschoolneedsaclearpolicyaboutwhatconstitutesplagiarismandwhattheconsequences are?Ifso,doyouhaveanysuggestions?(14responses) 7.Pleaseaddanyothercommentsorthoughtsthatyouhaveonthisissue.(15responses)

20