Abstract
International students often turn to various sources for help, including writing center tutors, friends, faculty mentors, online sources such as Google translate, and proofreading and editorial services, among others. While receiving help from these sources is both understandable and somewhat expected, what type and level of help is appropriate or ethical is not always clearly defined. The current research study investigates perceptions of faculty and international students at one U.S. university as to what is ethical in academic writing help for international students in 17 different scenarios. Findings suggest that students, far more than faculty, lacked certainty and agreement on whether certain help they may receive is ethical. The two groups’ views also varied on machine translation and the use of for-pay editors. Faculty, in general, had the least agreement on the use of machine translation and the use of a for-pay editing service for sentence- and discourse-level help and expressed that specific contexts and instructor’s expectations should be taken into consideration. Also, perceptions of students from East Asia showed notable differences. We argue that establishing and communicating clear guidelines concerning writing help should be part of any policy of academic integrity and present an “ethicality index” to help begin conversations as each institution, program, or faculty establishes the boundaries of ethical writing help in a specific context.
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Notes
An email invitation was also sent to a few adjunct faculty members teaching at the Center for Intensive English Programs (CIEP) at the time of the study. However, the data does not specify full-time and part-time status, so it is not known if any, or how many CIEP adjunct faculty, completed the survey.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Questionnaire (Part 3)
The following scenarios are about three international students, John, Maria, and Sam, for whom English is not their native language. These students are completing their writing assignments and receive help with their writing assignments from various sources. Please read the following scenarios and rate them as Acceptable (5) or Not acceptable (1) on a scale of 1 to 5 based on your opinion.
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I.
John is an intermediate-level ESL student enrolled in the intensive English language program at Andrews University. His writing class assignment is to write a one-page essay.
Scenario 1
He takes his writing to the campus writing center. A writing center tutor reads the essay and suggests changes in sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation, explaining why changes are needed. She also helps him to find better words and expressions. John corrects the errors on the computer while the tutor observes.
Scenario 2
He takes it to the writing center. The tutor sits at the computer making changes in the essay’s sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation while John observes. The tutor occasionally explains why changes are needed. John doesn’t participate in making the changes, but observes them being made by the tutor.
Scenario 3
He asks a bilingual friend (who speaks his native language) to read his paper. The friend tells John how to change non-English-like expressions. He also comments on grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. John revises his essay, making the changes himself.
Scenario 4
He asks a bilingual friend (who speaks his native language) to read his paper. The bilingual friend changes non-English-like expressions, rewrites certain sentences, and corrects grammatical errors for him, occasionally explaining why the changes are needed. He turns in the revision to his teacher.
Scenario 5
John writes his essay in his native language. He then asks his bilingual friend to translate it into English. John turns in this essay to his teacher.
Scenario 6
John writes his essay using an Internet translation program (e.g., Google Translate) occasionally when he is unsure of how to express something in English.
Scenario 7
John writes his essay in his native language, and then uses an online translation program to translate sentences or paragraphs into English. He turns in the computer’s English translation of his essay to his teacher.
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II.
Maria is an international undergraduate student at Andrews University. She has to write a 3–5 page essay for one of her classes.
Scenario 8
She takes her draft to the campus writing center. A writing center tutor reads the essay and suggests changes in sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation, explaining why changes are needed. The tutor also helps her to find better words and expressions. Maria corrects the errors on the computer while the tutor observes.
Scenario 9
She takes her draft to the writing center. The tutor sits at the computer making changes in the essay’s sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation while Mary observes. The tutor occasionally explains why changes are needed. Maria doesn’t participate in making the changes, but observes them being made by the tutor.
Scenario 10
Maria takes her to a bilingual friend (who speaks her native language) to read her paper. The friend tells her how to change non-English-like expressions. Her friend also comments on grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Maria revises her essay, making the changes herself.
Scenario 11
Maria asks a bilingual friend to read her paper. The friend changes non-English-like expressions, rewrite certain sentences, and corrects grammatical errors for her, occasionally explaining why the changes are needed. Maria turns in the revision to her teacher.
Scenario 12
Maria writes her essay using an Internet translation program (e.g., Google Translate) occasionally when she is unsure of how to express something in English.
Scenario 13
Maria writes her essay in her native language, and then uses an online translation program to translate sentences and/or paragraphs into English. She turns in the computer’s English translation of her essay to her teacher.
Scenario 14
Maria finds a for-pay writing service, and they write an essay for her to meet the assignment requirements. She turns in this paper as her own work.
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III.
Sam is an international graduate student at Andrews University. He writes his project paper/thesis/dissertation under the guidance of his professors. Then,
Scenario 15
He submits the draft to a for-pay editor, who proofreads for misspellings, punctuation, grammar, formatting, citations, and references.
Scenario 16
He submits the draft to a for-pay editor, who reorganizes the writing, tightens up the flow of argument, and rephrases sentences for clarity and accuracy, in addition to providing services in Scenario 15.
Scenario 17
He submits the draft to a for-pay editor, who makes content-level changes by deleting, adding, and/or rewriting sentences to correct errors in ideas, reasoning, and explaining/applying theories, in addition to providing services in Scenarios 15 and 16.
Appendix 2
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Kim, EY.J., LaBianca, A.S. Ethics in Academic Writing Help for International Students in Higher Education: Perceptions of Faculty and Students. J Acad Ethics 16, 39–59 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-017-9299-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-017-9299-5