Students' Perception of Intervention on Plagiarism in an English Communication for University Studies Course: A Hong Kong Case

Research on plagiarism in academic writing by ESL students has proliferated over the past decade due to the increasing numbers of cases in students using sources inappropriately (e.g. Elander et al., 2010; Flowerdew and Li, 2008; Pecorari & Petric, 2014; Wang, 2016). This study examines undergraduate students' perception of instructional intervention on textual plagiarism, which refers to the copying of information from sources without appropriate acknowledgement in their academic writing assignments. Participants of the study include 40 first year Social Sciences and 40 Nursing, Public Health, Pharmacy, and Medicine English as a Second Language (ESL) students in an English Communication for University Studies course in a university in Hong Kong. Data collected consists of a beginning of term pre-intervention, mid-term during intervention and end-of-term post-intervention questionnaires to gauge these participants' levels of awareness and perception of unintentional textual plagiarism over two academic terms in 2016-17.

Three major themes emerged from the findings of this study. First, most participants barely had prior knowledge of textual plagiarism and how to avoid it in academic writing before the intervention instructions. Second, the participants appreciated the intervention that equipped them with the knowledge and helped to raise their awareness of the importance of avoiding plagiarism and the need to develop these skills for their undergraduate degree study. Last, they suggested that they should be provided continuing independent learning practices beyond the course. This study has implications on curriculum development and pedagogical approaches to guiding second language students to stay away from plagiarism.