1. THE CROSS PAPERS – 12 MARCH 2009
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY IN A
MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT:
IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING
AND LEARNING
Carol A. Jenkins, PhD
2009 Cross Papers Fellow
Glendale (AZ) Community College
A Maricopa County Community College

2. PRESENTATION OUTCOMES:
Plagiarism: a socio-cultural or academic phenomenon?
Understanding cross-cultural assumptions
Strengthening academic integrity
Recognizing “culturally variant logic”
Strategizing for multicultural students

3. PLAGIARISM DEFINED
Who owns knowledge?
What constitutes intellectual (dis)honesty?
What role does culture play in defining academic integrity?

4. WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?
Intentional deception (fraud)
Unintentional misuse

5. WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?
Intentional deception (fraud)
Unintentional misuse
students in general
multicultural students

6. ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL STUDENT SUCCESS
Pedagogies can be strengthened by
Identifying multicultural variables
Understanding learning styles
Acknowledging culturally variant logic
Revisiting assignment design

7. MULTICULTURAL STUDENT LEARNING:
Key predictors of academic success
Individual factors
Contextual factors

8. ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Learning Styles
Multiple intelligences
Authentic learning
Collaborative group work
To what extent do these approaches
reflect Anglo-European assumptions?

9. ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Culturally Influenced Rhetorical Styles
Korea: encouraged to imitate rather than create
China: taught copying viewed as legitimate and
showing respect for the original author
Japan: taught group solidarity and collaboration
Mexico: motivated to share homework and answers

10. ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Culturally Influenced Rhetorical Styles
When multicultural students adhere to their own culture-specific reasoning and writing norms, why does their work tend to be viewed as intentioned intellectual dishonesty rather than a reflection of differing cultural norms and prior socialization?

11. ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Doing critical analysis involves Western behaviors.
Culturally influenced rhetorical styles
Strategies:
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.

12. TOWARD A MORE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY
Culturally Responsive Teachers:
“Highly effective 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)

13. TOWARD A MORE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY
Learner-centered Instruction
Pays careful attention to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs learners bring to the educational setting
Recognizes the importance of building on that conceptual and cultural knowledge

14. TOWARD A MORE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY
Preventing Plagiarism
“That which appears as plagiarism may indeed
be simply a reflection of systems of logic and
manners of cognifying that have evolved out of
the historical development, cultural institutions,
and philosophical traditions of a people.” (Bowman, 2004; Youmans and Evans,2000; Brown, 1998)

15. RESPONDING TO PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism As A Disciplinary Issue
(Intended fraud)
Strategies:
Deal with plagiarism swiftly and directly within established Institutional guidelines
Develop effective deterrents

16. RESPONDING TO PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism As An Unintended or Culture-bound Offense:
Strategies:
“Deal with unintended or culture-bound
offenses as issues of pedagogy, not as
issues of morality.” (Howard, 2000)

17. RESPONDING TO PLAGIARISM
Strategies:
Do not give up standards of academic integrity.
Recognize that learning how to write is difficult for many students and especially stressful for second-language learners.
Consider differences in intellectual traditions.
Enable students to successfully transition reasoning and writing skills.

18. RESPONDING TO PLAGIARISM
Strategy:
Rather than focusing on catching and
punishing – provide genuine opportunities
for multi-cultural students to learn
appropriate academic conventions and
the rationales behind them.

19. RESPONDING TO PLAGIARISM
Preventing Plagiarism
Strategies:
Effective prevention makes detection unnecessary.
Create a climate of involvement and interest, rather than of detection and punishment.
(University of Melbourne, 2002)

20. “If community colleges continue to open their doors to students of the world, those teaching in these academic settings have a moral obligation to meet students where they are intellectually, without being condescending, ethnocentric or hegemonous.” Jenkins, 2009)

21. Comments or Questions
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