Academic Dishonesty and Testing: How Student Beliefs and Test Settings Impact Decisions to Cheat

Research shows that academic dishonesty in post-secondary education runs particularly high among students in the specific disciplines of engineering, business, and nursing. The authors were interested in how student attitudes towards specific environments for testing might contribute to the prevalence or likelihood of cheating on tests and exams. It was hypothesized that while there would be no difference in their beliefs or attitudes regarding the acceptability of cheating behaviors in unproctored versus proctored settings, students would be more likely to engage in cheating behavior in an unproctored setting. Technology continues to transform the world around us at a rapid pace, allowing faculty to incorporate more technology into the classroom and to educate more students remotely via hybrid and online classes. While these opportunities have their benefits, they also present new challenges. The opportunity for cheating on tests increases, especially when exams are delivered in unproctored environments. An instrument was created to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of first- and second-year undergraduate engineering students while taking tests in both proctored and unproctored environments. In all, 734 students were surveyed from four different institutions of higher education. Students provided both qualitative and quantitative responses to questions related to their beliefs and attitudes toward cheating in today’s socially shareable society. Results indicated that both students’ attitudes and behaviors vary as a result of tests being delivered in a proctored versus unproctored environment

Student use and instructor beliefs: Machine translation in language education

The use of machine translation (MT) tools remains controversial among language instructors, with limited integration into classroom practices. While much of the existing research into MT and language education has explored instructor perceptions, less is known about how students actually use MT or how student use compares to instructor beliefs and expectations. In response to this gap, the current article explores how students use MT while writing and how this use compares to instructor perceptions via two studies: a computer-tracking study of how 49 second semester-level language learners (French, Spanish) use MT and a qualitative survey of 165 US-based second language educators’ beliefs about MT. Findings highlight important areas of alignment (e.g., MT input at word level) and divergence (e.g., MT output analysis strategies) between student use and instructor perceptions as well as layered tensions in what mediates student use of MT tools. The article concludes with calls for more research on student use and an outline for how to approach MT tools in language education in ways that support existing student practices

The use of UTAUT and Post Acceptance models to investigate the attitude towards a telepresence robot in an educational setting

(1) Background: In the last decade, various investigations into the field of robotics have created several opportunities for further innovation to be possible in student education. However, despite scientific evidence, there is still strong scepticism surrounding the use of robots in some social fields, such as personal care and education; (2) Methods: In this research, we present a new tool named: HANCON model that was developed merging and extending the constructs of two solid and proven models: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the factors that may influence the decision to use a telepresence robot as an instrument in educational practice, and the Post Acceptance Model to evaluate acceptability after the actual use of a telepresence robot. The new tool is implemented and used to study the acceptance of a Double telepresence robot by 112 pre-service teachers in an educational setting; (3) Results: The analysis of the experimental results predicts and demonstrate a positive attitude towards the use of telepresence robot in a school setting and confirm the applicability of the model in an educational context; (4) Conclusions: The constructs of the HANCON model could predict and explain the acceptance of social telepresence robots in social contexts

Combining different types of data in studying attitudes to English as a Lingua Franca

This paper deals with the attitudes of Croatian speakers to ELF, in particular to its pronunciation. Four methods were combined to reach conclusions about the status of ELF in Croatia: diary study, teacher interviews, a preliminary focus group interview and a survey. Whilst the first three methods revealed that the subjects regularly disfavour ‘bad pronunciation’, the survey showed that when it actually comes to talking to either native or non-native speakers, the subjects turned out to be tolerant to a slight accent. This clearly suggests a case of what is known as linguistic schizophrenia (B.B. Kachru 1977; Seidlhofer 2001). However, there are notable differences among groups of participants depending on variables such as professional profile, gender, degree of ease and success in learning pronunciation, and national pride. In any case, the combination of these methods proved to be a very good way to deal with the topic. The diary study is a valuable method to look into everyday practices and can feed nicely into survey questions. The preliminary survey highlighted the importance of different groups of participants and the need for groups of questions focusing around different factors. The preliminary focus group interview showed that it is crucial to have a single homogenous group of participants, as well as a trained facilitator. Finally, teacher interviews pointed to the possibility of similar attitudes being held by university teachers and the students they teach, which suggests that attitudes may be perpetuated. Overall, triangulation across methods and participants in the way proposed in the present paper provided a wealth of data, allowing a bottom-up view and a top-down view on the state of ELF in Croatia

The Role of the Teaching Context in Hong Kong English Teachers' Perceptions of L2 Writing Pedagogy

This paper examines the ways in which L2 writing is perceived and its pedagogy conceptualised by English language teachers in Hong Kong secondary schools. It then attempts to delineate the factors thatshape teacher perceptions.Data for this study were gathered through a questionnaire survey, which was followed up by teacher interviews,classroom observations,written protocols and documentary analysis.These data indicate that the perceptions of Hong Kong language teachers regarding students' L2 writing are dominated by language-related concerns at the sentence levelwith minimal focus on either the discourse-related or cognitive aspects of writing. Grammatical and lexical errors engage maximum teacher attention. The data suggest that teachers' perceptions of L2 writing are predominantly shaped by the contextual factors that surround their classroom lives. It is argued that conditions for teacher perceptions will be subject to change as the context becomes more sensitive to the discourse-related and cognitive factors within L2 writing that recent developments in curriculum renewal and language teacher education in Hong Kong are likely to bring.published_or_final_versio

Plagiarism and Programming: A Survey of Student Attitudes

This paper examines student attitudes towards a number of behaviors which range from acceptable means of seeking help on assignments to unacceptable behaviors such as copying from another student or paying someone to complete an assignment. Attitudes regarding such behaviors are compared based on the type of assignment (programming assignment, written essay, math problems). Findings indicate that students do perceive that there are differences in the acceptability of behaviors depending on assignment type. Further, the study examines the effect of an education campaign designed to increase student awareness as to which behaviors are permitted. Results suggest that faculty efforts to clarify expectations do result in a change in student attitudes regarding the acceptability of certain behaviors

Acceptability, Integrity and Perceived Effectiveness of Kinder Training

ABSTRACT ACCEPTABILITY, INTEGRITY AND PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF KINDER TRAINING by Natalya A. Edwards There has been limited research on the effectiveness of kinder training, but those studies that have been conducted show promising results. The majority of past kinder training studies utilized quantitative methods. The current study implemented a qualitative approach to examining the acceptability, integrity and perceived effectiveness of kinder training. The researchers explored the perceptions that a group of elementary school teachers had of the content and process of kinder training, including its impact on teaching beliefs and practices, student behavior, the teacher-child relationship, and classroom management skills. Findings indicated acceptability related to the content and structure of the kinder training model for all teacher participants. The researchers also examined the degree to which participants implemented the kinder training language and skills as originally taught. The results suggested moderate integrity based on the observations of the Principal Investigator. Additionally, the teachers reported an enhanced teacher-child relationship, improved student behavior and improved classroom management skills. Implications for research and practice, as well as the limitations of the study are discussed

The Impact of Self-Regulated Strategy Development on Upper Elementary Students\u27 Opinion Writing Performance

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SRSD opinion writing instruction provided by teachers who completed SRSD Writing to Learn™ online training on the writing performance of students with and without specific learning disabilities (SLD) in third, fourth, and fifth grade. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine teachers\u27 perceptions of SRSD Writing to Learn™ online training and the impact of the training on their knowledge of SRSD. A pretest-postest, cluster randomized control design was used to determine the effects of SRSD opinion writing instruction, following teachers\u27 completion of SRSD Writing to Learn™ training, on students\u27 writing achievement. Differential effects for students with SLD and student acceptability of instruction were also examined. Results indicated that students in experimental classes wrote longer essays that contained more elements of opinion essays compared to students in comparison classes. While students with SLD performed below their typically performing peers on measures of elements and length of writing samples, students with SLD in the comparison group wrote longer essays that contained more elements of opinion essays compared to students with SLD in comparison classrooms. Students provided generally positive responses regarding questions of acceptability. To address the secondary purpose of the study, teachers\u27 content knowledge of SRSD was measured, and teachers\u27 provided feedback regarding their perceptions of the online training. Results indicated that after completion of SRSD Writing to Learn™ training and implementation of SRSD instruction with moderate to high levels of fidelity, teachers were able to identify some stages of SRSD and the corresponding instructional components of each stage. Teachers generally reported positive perceptions of the online training. They found the training modules to be applicable and relevant, although they found the information to be somewhat overwhelming and difficult to navigate. A discussion of results addresses limitations of the study, implications for practice, and directions future research. While the results of the study demonstrate that teachers who have completed online training are able to implement SRSD and positively impact opinion writing performance for upper elementary students with and without SLD, specific consideration should be given to the differential effects for students with SLD. When providing SRSD instruction in the general education setting, all students\u27 needs should be considered. Struggling writers, and specifically those with SLD, will likely require more intensive instruction. Differentiating instruction within the general education setting and supplementing and intensifying instruction in intervention or special education settings may allow students with SLD to benefit even more from instruction within an SRSD framework

An International Comparison of Student Perceptions of Earnings Management: Evidence of Effects of National Origin between Mexico and the United States

Manipulating reported earnings is a temptation faced by accountants and financial professionals around the world. Manipulating, or “managing,” one’s accounting earnings takes a variety of forms and includes not only the avoidance of prescribed accounting rules but also the practice of selectively choosing accounting estimates or timing operating decisions to move reported earnings toward a desired goal. Prior research reveals wide disagreement regarding the perceived ethical acceptability of this practice. This study investigates whether national origin influences perceptions of earnings management. Participants from the United States and Mexico evaluated thirteen vignettes describing various earnings management practices (Merchant and Rockness 1994). Analyses of the responses indicate considerable variation between students from these two countries, indicating culture does significantly impact how individuals perceive opportunities to manage reported financial information