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The Cheating Practices of Kuwaiti EFL College Students: Attitudes and Opinions
Abstract
This study is designed to inspect the attitudes of Kuwaiti college students of English as a foreign language (EFL) towards cheating on English exams and their opinions about the factors underlying their cheating behaviour. A mixed-method approach was used to collect and analyse the data. The participants were 182 Kuwaiti EFL students who answered a survey that collected quantitative and qualitative data. Microsoft Excel Software was used to analyse the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the qualitative data. It was found that although the participants held a negative attitude towards cheating, they showed a lax stance towards some cheating methods, namely, using leaked exams and learning them from other students. This lax stance raises ethical concerns and highlights the need for intervention. Analysis of participants’ opinions revealed various personal and contextual factors affecting students’ cheating practices: language instructors’ corrupt practices, societal pressure, and students’ poor language proficiency levels. Our findings largely echo the literature on college students’ cheating practices, precisely research on EFL students’ cheating behaviour. They also reflect the Kuwaiti EFL context in which they were identified. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are indicated.
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The main purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate EFL undergraduate students’ perceptions about cheating in exams: reasons, techniques, and consequences. It also examined the differences between participants’ responses by their gender and class. A total of 185 EFL undergraduate students at two public universities took part in the study. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. SPSS version 28.0 was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that students cheated in exams for various reasons including getting a higher grade, passing an exam, and not having enough time. Students used different ways to cheat in exams such as cheat sheets, cellphones, clothes, and their body parts. Furthermore, students faced certain consequences as a result of cheating in exams. For instance, they failed a particular course due to being caught cheating in exams and they lost their class ranking and self-respect. The study also revealed that there were differences between the participants by their gender but not class. Lecturers should use student-centered learning and formative assessment techniques in their teaching practices to engage students in the learning process and maximize their learning.
Contract cheating, or students outsourcing their assignments to be completed by others, has emerged as a significant threat to academic integrity in higher education institutions around the world. During the COVID-19, when traditional face-to-face instruction became unsustainable, the number of contract cheating students increased dramatically. Through focus group interviews, this study sought the perspectives of 25 students enrolled in first year writing in a private higher education institution in Kuwait during the pandemic in 2020–2021, on their attitudes towards contract cheating. MAXQDA 2020 was used to examine the data. The participants believe that the primary motivations for engaging in contract cheating are mainly the opportunities presented by online learning and the psychological and physical challenges they experienced during online learning. Those who did not cheat had some shared traits, such as a competitive spirit, confidence in their talents, and a strong desire to learn. Additionally, those with high moral values avoided cheating. To combat contract cheating, students believe that teaching and evaluation techniques should be drastically altered and that students should be educated about plagiarism, while institutions should impose tougher sanctions on repeat offenders.
The present study evaluates the English language practicum program at the College of Basic Education in the State of Kuwait from the viewpoints of female student teachers. The study attempts to identify such strengths and weaknesses of the practicum experience in pre-service teachers’ motivation to continue their future in the teaching profession. Quantitative research methodologies were used by adopting Peacock’s (2009) model for practicum program evaluation. The current TEFL practicum program results have confirmed many strengths but also highlighted certain significant shortcomings from the student-teachers’ perspective due to the gap between the theoretical and practical aspects, as well as the absence of adequate supervision, which affected the trainees’ need for pedagogical competence in term of class and time management skills. The study proposes many recommendations and suggestions that the practicum program should be structured to improve the student teachers’ needs and the educational context and fulfil the practical, beneficial content for the individuals.
In recent years, online learning has received more attention than ever before. One of the most challenging aspects of online education is the students' assessment since academic integrity could be violated due to various cheating behaviors in online examinations. Although a considerable number of literature reviews exist about online learning, there is no such review study to provide comprehensive insight into cheating motivations, cheating types, cheating detection, and cheating prevention in the online setting. The current study is a review of 58 publications about online cheating, published from January 2010 to February 2021. We present the categorization of the research and show topic trends in the field of online exam cheating. The study can be a valuable reference for educators and researchers working in the field of online learning to obtain a comprehensive view of cheating mitigation, detection, and prevention.
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant, unforeseen changes in classroom instructions, including the evaluation of students.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to investigate college students’ cheating both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of (a) preponderance of cheating, (b) the factors that may have led to an increase in the amount of cheating, and (c) the underlying reasons for and affective response to cheating.
Method
A sample of primarily Psychology majors ( N = 214) attending a public land-grant university in the southeastern U.S. voluntarily completed a survey at the end of the Fall 2020 semester.
Results
The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic increased first time cheating, cheating in online classes was higher than that of in-person classes for most types of graded materials, and students are adept and adaptive at dealing with faculty attempts to combat cheating. Students’ primary reasons for cheating were “feeling pressure,” and “pandemic,” and students who had cheated reported feeling “relieved” most often.
Conclusion
With the onset of the pandemic and subsequent increase in online instruction, cheating behavior has also increased.
Teaching Implications
As online enrollment continues to grow, understanding students’ cheating behavior.
A foundation of second language motivational theory has been that motivation contributes to explaining variance in language learning proficiency; however, empirical findings have been mixed. This article presents an innovative approach to exploring L2 proficiency and motivations of teenage English language learners in Madrid, Spain (N = 1773). Participants completed a multiskill English language test, plus an eight-scale questionnaire operationalizing constructs from Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005). Data were analysed using Latent Variable Mixture Modeling, a person-centered profiling approach. Results indicated five distinct classes of students, characterized by differing motivation-proficiency profiles. The importance of this study is that the analysis does not assume a homogenous relationship between motivational traits and proficiency levels across the learner sample; whilst there is undoubtedly a connection between the two areas, it is not a straightforward correlation, explaining to some extent discrepancies in previous findings and laying groundwork for further, more nuanced, investigation.
This paper provides a review of current research on academic integrity in higher education, with a focus on its application to assessment practices in online courses. Understanding the types and causes of academic dishonesty can inform the suite of methods that might be used to most effectively promote academic integrity. Thus, the paper first addresses the question of why students engage in academically dishonest behaviours. Then, a review of current methods to reduce academically dishonest behaviours is presented. Acknowledging the increasing use of online courses within the postsecondary curriculum, it is our hope that this review will aid instructors and administrators in their decision-making process regarding online evaluations and encourage future study that will form the foundation of evidence-based practices.
Abstract
Cheating is an academically dishonest behavior about which there has been a thrust of research. However, it has not been extensively researched in an Iranian context. Therefore, the current study was conducted with 310 Iranian students. A cheating questionnaire was devised and administered to the participants. Certain demographic variables were investigated. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the obtained data. The results of the descriptive statistics revealed that cheating was common among participants, and most students did not harbor any negative attitude toward cheating or at least were neutral about it. The most common method of cheating was “letting others look at their papers while taking exams.” The most common reason for cheating was “not being ready for the exam.” As for inferential statistics, one-way analysis of variance, an independent t-test, and correlational analyses were used to test the effect and relationship of demographic variables on and between the cheating behaviors of the participants. It was found that none of the two demographic variables of gender and year level had any effect on students’ cheating behaviors. Furthermore, achievement scores and age were not significantly correlated with cheating behavior scores.
The prevalence and surge in academic cheating indicate that students are finding innovative techniques to cheat during examinations. This problem has left invigilators and academic stakeholders wondering how students manage to cheat during exams. With a qualitative approach, this study sought to explore the techniques used by students during examinations. Data were gathered from students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The findings revealed that the innovative techniques used by students were sitting arrangements, use of body parts, entry of foreign materials, and the use of technology. Students devised these techniques due to their perception of cheating and also poor institutional mechanism, which provided a favourable ground for cheating. We, therefore, argue that, to curtail academic cheating, not only should educational authorities and academic stakeholders improve institutional mechanism to prevent cheating, as it is the case, but also, a conscious effort should be made to alter student’s perception of cheating.
One of the factors that drive students to gain knowledge and learn new things are motivation. Motivation and learning behaviour are two very important factors in determining students’ learning achievement. However, motivation is an abstract thing that is difficult to measure the willingness of students to learn. As such, greater knowledge in motivating student’s to learn is needed to help us to understand not only why students are motivated in learning but also ways to help teachers to further maintained student’s momentum in engaging with academic activities. This review article aimed to discuss the theories of motivation, highlights about ways to enhance the motivation in students’ achievement with some assistants from teachers and other people such as family and friends and how other motivations such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can also assist students to stay motivated. In summary, motivation is essential to encourage students to learn in the education system.
Keywords: Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Achievement Motivation, Goal Achievement.
The overall objective of this study was to examine the links between teacher-student relationship quality and student engagement, delimited to affective and behavioural engagement. We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods research approach that consisted of a quantitative phase, in which survey data were collected and analysed within a short-term longitudinal design, followed by a qualitative phase, in which focus group interviews and constructed grounded theory analysis were conducted. Participants included 234 students from two Swedish compulsory schools in the quantitative phase, and 120 in the qualitative phase. The quantitative findings revealed that teacher-student relationship quality predicted student engagement one year later, even when controlling for sex, age, and prior student engagement. The longitudinal association between teacher-student relationship quality and student engagement was unidirectional. The qualitative findings reported students' own perspectives on what they considered to be a good teacher and their ideas of how their teachers and classroom setting influence their affective and behavioural engagement at school. Two significant categories emerged: 'teacher being' and 'teacher doing'. ARTICLE HISTORY
Distance education is becoming more in demand at universities all around the world in general and in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in particular, than ever before. This study aimed at highlighting the students’
perceptions of cheating on a distance learning programme at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). The study will
further explore the ways they use to cheat, causes for cheating, and some solutions to minimize cheating. This
study was conducted at the end of the second semester in 2019. Data was collected from 57 female distance
learning students who graduated from the English Language Department at KAU. A mixed-methods research
design was adopted in this study via a custom designed, fifteen closed-ended and one open-ended item
questionnaire. The quantitative section was analysed by frequency and percentages and the open-ended questions
were analysed thematically. The results indicated that the majority of female students cheated by helping each
other, obtaining the correct answers from other students or sending the correct responses to all their classmates.
Another way which some students admitted they employed was using electronic websites to copy and paste the
answers onto the test’s screen. The study further concluded that reasons for cheating in distance learning
programs were due to technical problems, frequent absence of virtual classes, and students wanting grades, not
necessarily knowledge. Recommendations for possible solutions to eliminate cheating, participants themselves
recommended increasing students’ awareness of cheating policy and finding solutions to common technological
issues.
Purpose:
This study aimed to investigate students' cheating behaviors, perceptions, and risk factors for cheating.
Methods:
The author conducted a questionnaire survey of 375 undergraduate students at the Dankook University College of Dentistry in 2017. The questionnaires consisted of three parts: individual information, a moral sensitivity test, and cheating behaviors. Students rated whether they were involved in 28 cheating behaviors and their intolerant attitude for each behavior. Each student received a cheating grade of severity and diversity from 0 to 4 according to the degree of commitment in cheating behaviors. Chi-square and correlation tests were performed among cheating grades, individual factors, and moral sensitivity.
Results:
Most students admitted having engaged in at least one cheating behavior (92.2%). School years, intolerant attitudes towards cheating, perceived prevalence, study time, and academic performance showed significant correlations with students' cheating grades.
Conclusion:
These findings indicated that cheating behaviors were a very serious and prevalent problem at this dental college in South Korea. This is a critical issue that must be addressed. Dental school faculty members need to work together to develop policies, ethics curriculum and to improve students' attitudes. It is also important to encourage students to learn and devote their time to study to reduce cheating behaviors.
This study examines Cambodian students’ exam cheating practices throughout their schooling. Based on a thorough analysis of interviews with 19 university students, the study found that, although cheating was more prevalent at the secondary level, individual students’ cheating experiences varied in frequency and timing (i.e. when they started, stopped, increased, or decreased such practices). Curricula, parents’ attitudes, peer behaviour, institutional policies, and – most significantly – relationships with teachers were identified as influencing factors for students’ cheating practices. These findings largely echo academic dishonesty literature, but they also indicate the context-specific features of these factors.
With the increase in students taking online classes to complete their degrees, there is a corresponding increase of research into how students might participate in these online classes. One way in which students may participate, but subvert the parameters of the online class they are taking, is by engaging in academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty can reduce the quality of the learning experience for students, and reduce the validity and trust in online class’s assessment. For this reason, understanding how student perceive their cheating behavior is useful for researchers. This paper looks at the interview responses of a group of students taking cyber university classes to gain insight into their perceptions and motivations for cheating. The responses were varied, but showed the ad-hoc nature of the behavior and that students felt that academic dishonesty was a natural aspect of their learning experience.
The aim of the current study was investigating the role of achievement in learning English as a foreign language in EFL learners’ cheating attitudes and cheating behaviors. Eight hundred junior high-school students were selected based on random cluster sampling and participated in the study. Their attitudes towards academic dishonesty and their cheating behaviors in language classes were examined by two questionnaires. The result of data analysis revealed significant correlations between achievement in learning English and cheating attitudes and behaviors. Further, the result of regression revealed that achievement in learning English had weak power to predict cheating attitudes (.7%). However, the power of achievement in learning English to predict cheating behaviors of language learners in language classes was five times stronger (3.5%).
This article is an attempt to shed some more light on certain factors, related to individual differences in the process of second/foreign language acquisition/learning, proven by previous research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). These are factors which may affect the final attainment of adult learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge of English as a second/foreign language and their proficiency. A study based on empirical data collected from a sample of 103 participants, through a battery of tests, aimed at tapping into the attainment of implicit or explicit knowledge of ESL/EFL, was conducted to explore certain factors such as: starting age of learning; length of exposure to English as a second/foreign language in a target language country; length of learning and type of input received, which have a statistically significant impact on attainment and on ESL/EFL proficiency. The results were analysed using SPSS software.
The article discusses the problem of academic dishonesty, which has been growing in Western Europe, North America, in the transitional economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. However, cross-cultural comparisons remain scarce, particularly with regard to the former communist countries. This paper presents an exploratory study on academic misconduct in Switzerland, Ukraine and Poland. The Academic Dishonesty Scale was used. A sample of 870 university students participated. The results reveal no differences between Ukrainian and Polish students in terms of attitudes toward cheating. Swiss students expressed significantly more negative attitudes. The results offer implications for the practice of moral awareness.
Practices of academic dishonesty are prevalent on college campuses (Chen, 2009; O'Rourke, Barnes, Deaton, Fulks, Ryan, & Rettinger, 2010; Simkin, 2010). The pressure to excel, peer perception, and the lack of faculty enforcement are among several factors that lead students to cheat. Building on an initial multi campus 673 participant-survey results, circumstances of academic integrity among Saudi students at a Midwestern university are examined through in depth interviews. Findings revealed prevalence of academic misconduct behaviors among study participants. Academic misconduct behaviors ranged from simple utilization of cheating on tests to utilizing internet paper mills. Findings also showed a gap between students' moral beliefs and their moral actions (Gross, 2011). Most participants, though reporting several academic dishonesty behaviors as accepted practices, denounced cheating as opposed to their own cultural, religious, and ethical beliefs.
Almost all aspects of life in the Arab Gulf States, including family, have been touched by rapid, unstoppable social change. However, certain aspects of the family remain intact. That is, although the nuclear family, has in the past few decades tended to replace the extended form of family structure, family still plays a powerful role in the life of men and women in the Arab Gulf states. Family still shows a high degree of unity, purpose, and integration among its members. Although the number of people living in the same household is shrinking, the connection among them remains strong, and the value system that governs the extended family is still in action. Also, the hierarchy of authority and relations based on kinship still exists and plays a major role in individuals’ lives. The patriarchal social system, where males in the family have the ultimate authority and decision-making power in the household, has been not impacted by the rapid social change. Children bear to their fathers’ names and adult women such as wives, mothers, sisters, and aunts are subject to the authority of males such as fathers, husbands, brothers, and uncles. This paper discusses the social and economic foundations of the hierarchy of authority in the Arab Gulf states’ extended families. Further, the paper explores the factors that determine social positions, roles, and expectations associated with family members, especially women, based on age, gender, and kinship.
This paper applies Beck and Ajzen’s (Journal of Research in Personality 25:285–301, 1991) extended version of the theory of planned behaviour model to the decisions of students to engage in academic dishonesty
(cheating and lying). The model proposes that students’ intentions to engage in dysfunctional behaviours may be influenced
by attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and moral obligation. This study was done using a survey questionnaire
of 363 undergraduate students at a West Indian University. Based on the extended version of the theory of planned behaviour,
with the exception of subjective norms which only predicted students’ intentions to cheat, it was found that attitudes, perceived
behavioural control and moral obligation were significant predictors of students’ intentions to perform academic dishonesty
behaviours in the form of cheating and lying. The results of the study have given further support to the use of the extended
version of the theory of planned behaviour. Implications are discussed.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
Academic integrity is an issue of critical importance to academic institutions and has been gaining increasing interest among scholars in the last few decades. This article discusses data obtained over the last three years from over 80,000 students and 12,000 faculty in the United States and Canada. While documenting that cheating on tests and exams and plagiarism are significant issues on our college and university campuses, it also offers some thoughts on possible strategies to encourage greater levels of academic integrity among students.
This study investigates the attitudes and opinions of Kuwaiti instructors of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) on the shift from face-to-face classes to online distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis was utilised. A total of 70 EFL instructors participated in this study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a questionnaire that contained closed- and open-ended items. Quantitative data were descriptively analysed using Microsoft Excel Software, and thematic analysis was used for the responses to the open-ended questions. Results revealed participants’ satisfaction with their online teaching experience, demonstrating positive attitudes towards online distance learning. Findings also revealed that several advantages characterised the shift to online distance learning. The unexpected transition also resulted in some drawbacks and difficulties. The study has pedagogical and practical implications for educational decision-makers and EFL instructors that must be considered. The findings contribute to the literature on EFL teachers’ attitudes and opinions on online distance learning by providing data from the Kuwaiti educational context.
Why do so many adolescents cheat despite judging that cheating is wrong? Two studies tested a new model of cheating in high school. In Study 1, 85 high schoolers in the Western U.S. reported their perceptions, evaluations, and motivations surrounding their own and hypothetical cheating. In Study 2, 83 teachers reported their views about cheating; we also analyzed course syllabi. About half of the adolescents reported unintentional cheating, and many judged their own cheating—but not hypothetical cheating—as acceptable. Decisions to cheat were responses to competing pressures, low value placed on the assignment, and other considerations. Study 2 revealed teacher‐student disagreements about cheating, and minimal content about academic integrity in syllabi. The findings supported the proposed model of adolescent cheating.
This paper shares the results of a meta-analysis on the parental-expectations component of parental –involvement and its relationship with the student outcomes of urban students. Special attention is paid to parental expectations, because in many past studies, parental expectations has been the most salient component of parental involvement. This meta-analysis includes 54 quantitative studies that examined the relationship between the parental expectations component of parental involvement and the academic achievement of students. The results indicated that statistically significant effects emerged across students of different age groups, races, genders, and nationalities. The results were also substantial in the highest quality studies.
Background
Academic dishonesty (AD) is an increasing challenge for universities worldwide. The rise of the Internet has further increased opportunities for students to cheat.
Aims
In this study, we investigate the role of personality traits defined within Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) as potential determinants of AD. RST defines behaviour as resulting from approach (Reward Interest/reactivity, goal‐drive, and Impulsivity) and avoidance (behavioural inhibition and Fight–Flight–Freeze) motivations. We further consider the role of deep, surface, or achieving study motivations in mediating/moderating the relationship between personality and AD.
Sample
A sample of UK undergraduates (N = 240).
Method
All participants completed the RST Personality Questionnaire, a short‐form version of the study process questionnaire and a measure of engagement in AD, its perceived prevalence, and seriousness.
Results
Results showed that RST traits account for additional variance in AD. Mediation analysis suggested that GDP predicted dishonesty indirectly via a surface study approach while the indirect effect via deep study processes suggested dishonesty was not likely. Likelihood of engagement in AD was positively associated with personality traits reflecting Impulsivity and Fight–Flight–Freeze behaviours. Surface study motivation moderated the Impulsivity effect and achieving motivation the FFFS effect such that cheating was even more likely when high levels of these processes were used.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that motivational personality traits defined within RST can explain variance in the likelihood of engaging in dishonest academic behaviours.
Most previous studies of academic dishonesty have been conducted in North America and Europe, and have focused on the contextual, institutional, and individual factors that influence students’ propensity to cheat. While such studies offer useful background and structure to this endemic problem, this study aimed to gain deeper insights into student perceptions of academic dishonesty in a multi-cultural context. Our study sample was sourced from a large private university based in the United Arab Emirates, in which there is a culturally diverse mix of national and international students (Arab and non-Arab). From our data, while a number of student perceptions were similar to those reported in other studies, several new socio-cultural themes emerged. In particular, Arab students perceived: peer student obligations; patriarchal pressure; shame avoidance; and a Fahlawi [Fahlawi – derives from ‘fellahin’ or quick-witted individual. This Arab cultural term references a person with a highly adaptive attitude and an ability to achieve things with minimal effort] mind-set, as being influential on their academic dishonesty attitudes and behaviours.
This paper examined domestic educator and Chinese international student (CIS) perspectives on their experience of the commoditisation of international higher education in Australia. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with academic and student participants. A Trans-disciplinary Framework derived from grounded theory and the Auditable Systematised Qualitative Analysis tool, provided structure and a method to systematise interview data. An interpretation of positioning theory gave insights into the perceived reality of research participants. Findings indicated that a number of academics struggled in their role as teachers of CIS. Concerns varied from disquiet about high fees to a perception that the quality of the teaching and learning program was lower because of the university’s emphasis on international students as a source of income. Conversely, some international students paid a high price for a Western education and considered success a fait accompli.
The incidence and moral implications of cheating depend on how it is defined and measured. Research that defines and operationalizes cheating as an inventory of acts, i.e. ‘cheating in any form’, has often fueled concern that cheating is reaching ‘epidemic proportions’. Such inventory measures appear, however, to conflate moral and administrative conceptions of the problem. Inasmuch as the immorality of behavior is a function of moral judgment, academic misconduct is immoral only when it is intentional, and the greatest moral weight should be ascribed to violations that students judge to be the most ‘serious’.
The present study aimed at investigating the status of cheating on exams in the Iranian EFL context. One hundred thirty two university students were surveyed to this end. They were selected through convenient sampling. The results indicated that cheating is quite common among the Iranian language students. The most important reasons for this behavior were found to be “not being ready for the exam”, “difficulty of the exam”, “lack of time to study” and “careless and lenient instructors”. The study also indicated that the most common methods of cheating are “talking to the adjacent individuals”, “copying from others' test papers”, and “using gestures to get the answers from others”. It was also found that the student’s field of study, academic level, and occupational status had a significant effect on cheating whereas gender and marital status had no effect in this regard. Furthermore, it became clear that field of study and occupational status had a significant effect on students’ attitude toward cheating whereas gender, academic level and marital status had no effect. Finally, the study indicated that age significantly correlated with cheating and attitude toward cheating.
Academic integrity has been a perennial issue in higher education. Undoubtedly, the advent of the Internet and advances in user-friendly technological devices have spurred both concern on the part of faculty and research interest in the academic community regarding inappropriate and unethical behavior on the part of students. This study is designed to (a) gauge the attitudes of business students toward various issues and behaviors when taking an examination 'online' and (b) obtain an estimate of the extent of cheating in traditional versus online coursework from the perspective of college students. The results, based on a sample of 121 undergraduate business students from a university in the South, indicate that respondents felt quite liberal in their views of potentially cheating behaviors when there was no test-taking policy set by the course instructor. In addition, 73.6% of the students in the sample held the perception that it is easier to cheat in an online versus traditional course. We believe that, based on prior research, the current results would be applicable to general student populations in other academic disciplines. The findings are discussed in light of prior research on academic integrity issues and recommendations for future research are noted.
A review was conducted of the results of 107studies of the prevalence and correlates of cheatingamong college students published between 1970 and 1996.The studies found cheating to be more common in the 1969-75 and 1986-96 time periods thanbetween 1976 and 1985. Among the strongest correlates ofcheating were having moderate expectations of success,having cheated in the past, studying under poor conditions, holding positive attitudes towardcheating, perceiving that social norms support cheating,and anticipating a large reward for success. However, animportant limitation on the conclusions drawn from this research is that many variables wereincluded in only one or a few studies. A model of theantecedents of cheating is proposed and the implicationsof this model for the identification of students at risk for cheating and controlling cheatingare discussed.
As the use of mobile devices, such as cell phones, has proliferated in academic settings in recent years, new challenges are faced by institutions of higher education and their faculties. The authors surveyed 269 college students from 21 academic majors at a small northeastern university to gain a better understanding of the frequency and manner in which cell phones are used in college classrooms. Focusing on the use of text messaging in the classroom, students reported on their own and others’ use of cell phones. It was found that 95% of students bring their phones to class every day, 92% use their phones to text message during class time, and 10% admit they have texted during an exam on at least one occasion. The majority of the students surveyed believe that instructors are largely unaware of the extent to which texting and other cell phone activities engage students in the classroom. These activities include browsing the Internet, sending pictures, or accessing social networking sites. The authors discuss these and other findings and their implications for issues of classroom management and academic dishonesty.
Traditional methods of detection may no longer be wholly successful in fully preventing cheating in examinations. New strategies need to be considered and employed to better manage the advancement of technology use for illegitimate purposes. This paper investigates technology used to cheat in examinations, how such cheats are carried out, and how to prevent such methods of cheating. To show the full extent of the progression of cheating over the years, this report also documents some of the traditional methods of cheating. The devices which are used to cheat are investigated to see how they can provide an advantage to those who are taking examinations.
The present study examined the relation between self-reported academic dishonesty and attitudes towards dishonest academic behaviors in 244 college students. Analysis suggested that self-reported academic dishonesty and approval of academic dishonest behaviors were positively correlated.
Academic dishonesty is a persistent and pervasive problem on college campuses. Researchers have suggested a variety of factors that influence academic dishonesty. The present study is an examination of the roles of self-control, attitude toward academic dishonesty, and perceived opportunity in predicting academic dishonesty. The dataset consisted of 853 survey responses from university students across the United States. The results showed that attitude toward academic dishonesty mediated the relationship between self-control and academic dishonesty and also between perceived opportunity and academic dishonesty. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.
Academic dishonesty: A mixed-method study of rational choice among students at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait
- B Alsuwaileh
- D Russ-Eft
- S Alshurai
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Exploring EFL assessors' assessment literacy in an English preparatory programme in Kuwait
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Mohamed, F. (2021). Exploring EFL assessors' assessment literacy in an English preparatory programme in Kuwait [Doctoral
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Success factors for English as a second language university students' attainment in academic English language proficiency
- K Tai
- Y Zhao
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