Academic Integrity: Leveling the Playing Field for L2 and L+ University Students

Emily Rosales & Roisin Dewart

École de langues, Université du Québec à Montréal

Questions in English and French are welcome.

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Plagiarism is a shared concern in universities worldwide (Adams, 2015; Introna & Hayes, 2004; Moore, 2014) often resulting in severe consequences for students. This is especially true for international students or recent immigrants whose undergraduate or post-graduate studies often take place in their second (L2) or additional language (L+) (Ouimet, 2015). These student populations may struggle to perform at the same level as their peers who are studying in their L1, due to lower language proficiency in the language of instruction, for example, in their listening (Knoerr, 2019) and writing skills (Introna & Hayes, 2004), or metacognitive strategies (Hacker, Dunlosky & Graesser, 2009; Knoerr, 2019). The current trend in pedagogical practices aims to support academic integrity through enhanced resources (Bluestein, 2018; McGovern, Pulford, & Siddique, 2016; Dewart & Rosales, 2018, 2019) for L2 and L+ speakers to level the playing field for all learners.

The authors will describe how an ESL program in a French-speaking university reduced the number of reported instances of plagiarism.  By targeting the needs of L2 and L+ students, the authors sought to complement existing institution-wide L1 efforts to raise awareness about plagiarism with an online activity and model appropriate academic behaviours. Immediately after its implementation, plagiarism rates significantly dropped and remained low. Following the transition to online learning (COVID-19), guidelines of universal design were applied to improve inclusivity. The authors posit the importance of adopting supportive and inclusive pedagogical practices to raise awareness about issues of academic integrity among students of varying linguistic and cultural backgrounds and proficiencies. 

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