DQ 1 Academic Integrity in the Cultural Context

Academic Integrity

According to Joyce (2007), Academic Integrity is one of the 14 “key

concepts”1 around which the thematic analysis is done. He also found that
nine perspectives affect the writing of any author, and these are assessment
design; attitudes and perceptions; cultural differences; detection and
prevalence; discipline and penalties; education and support: ethics, morality
and values; evaluation of software; policies and processes. These
perspectives help in making differences in terms like
“academic/administrative, educational/disciplinary, positive/negative and
proactive/reactive” (p.190).

Academic Integrity also includes misrepresenting data, formulate or

doctoring data or consequence, representing other’s work or knowledge as
one’s own, disrupting or destroying the work of others, or abetting anyone
who engages in such practices.” It can also be related to the plagiarism,
which can be an intentional deception and unintentional misuse.
Unintentional misuse is done by the students in general and multicultural
students. (Throw, 2007)

Academic Integrity and Cultural Differences

The concept of academic integrity gives rise to the notion of cultural
differences. For instance, there is always difference between a writing
pattern of native student and an international student (Hall, 1976). Today’s
faculty find themselves in the position of teaching in intercultural

1 Academic integrity; academic plagiarism; acknowledgment of sources; appropriation;

attribution; authenticity; cheating; co-derivative documents; educational integrity;
inappropriate copying; inter-textuality; originality; plagiarism; and unacknowledged copying.
classrooms. For this reason, simply knowing one’s discipline is insufficient.
One needs intercultural awareness and competence.

Role of Teachers

Making the balance between academic integrity and cultural difference is the
responsibility of a Teacher. “The culturally responsive teachers do not just
teach well-designed lectures; they know how and why their students learn.
They also are aware of socio-cultural differences.” (Sachs, 2004)

The teachers could improvise the students on academic integrity by:

– Identifying multicultural variables

– Understanding learning styles

– Acknowledging culturally variant logic

– Revisiting assignment design

The Strategies adopted by teachers could be:

✔ Instruct students that the writing process in English involves a set of

assumptions different from those with which they are accustomed.

✔ When it is important that the direct English style is used, its standards
should be clearly stated.

Summary

The issue of academic duplicity in Management Institutions has risen to the

intensity of a predicament according to some authors2, with the occurrence
of reports on learner unethical copy increasing to more than half of all the
management students. In this question I have tried to introduce the difficulty

2 Chen & Starosta, 2003; Spitsberg, 2004; Sapp, 2002; Powell & Andersen, 1994;
Lieberman, 1994
of academic integrity as a holistic issue that involves the making of a cultural
change involving students, faculty, and administrators in an integrated
process (Lieberman, 1994). Assimilating the broad literature from other
scholars, a model has to be built to create a positive culture for academic
integrity. The successful implementation of a well-crafted academic integrity
program can have a positive impact on business schools and improve the
reputation of tomorrow’s business leaders.3

References:

Chen, G., & Starosta, W. (2003). Intercultural awareness. In L. A. Samovar &

R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (7th ed., pp. 344-
353). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor.

Joyce, D. (2007). Academic integrity and plagiarism: Australasian

perspectives. Computer Science Education 17(3), 187-200.

Lieberman, D. A. (1994). Ethnocognitivism, problem solving, and

hemisphericity. In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural
communication: A reader (7th ed., pp. 178-193). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Powell, R. G., & Andersen, J. F. (1994). Culture and classroom

communication. In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural
communication: A reader (7th ed., pp. 322-330). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

3 A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business Schools, Journal
of Business Ethics, Vol-92.No.-1.Mar 2010,pp1-13
Sapp, D. A. (2002). Towards an international and intercultural understanding
of plagiarism and academic dishonesty in composition: Reflections from the
People’s Republic of China. Issues in Writing, 13(1), 58-79.

Spitzberg, B. H. (2004). A model of intercultural communication competence.

In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader
(7th ed., pp. 347-359). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Throw, A. (2007, May 24). Welcome to my culture [posted comment]. In

Elizabeth Redden, Cheating across cultures. Available at http://
www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/24/cheating