Speakers
Dr
Tomoki Furukawa
(Kansai University, International School)
Dr
Tosh Yamamoto
(Kansai University, CTL)
Description
With the formulation of the “300,000 International Students Plan” in 2008, Japan has made efforts to increase the number of international students, and acceptance of these students is moving forward at Japan’s institutions of higher learning. However, with the acceptance of many international students, the acquisition of advanced Japanese-language skills, particularly improvement of academic writing abilities in Japanese, has become an urgent issue. Among these problems, one of the largest is knowledge and understanding of plagiarism. The widespread use of the Internet has made it extremely easy to plagiarize (Hinchliffe, 1998), and the low level of awareness of plagiarism among international students has made it a major issue in the context of writing academic papers and reports as well as raising awareness about it.
Thus, this paper provides a report on results of a class called “Academic Writing” for international students at Kansai University, and the use of TurnItIn® for preventing plagiarism. TurnItIn® is an online tool that compares sentences composed by students with a vast amount of information culled from sources, such as webpages and academic databases. TurnItIn® quickly checks for similarities, and matches submissions of students with the database. It then displays the level of similarity, enabling a quick confirmation of whether a student has used quotes appropriately or is plagiarizing. The results output by TurnItIn® can then be used in providing instruction to students. In addition, the system has features that enable teaching staff to make direct corrections to and evaluations of submitted materials online, allowing teachers to use it as an online educational tool for developing writing abilities.
As a result of using TurnItIn®, there has been an increase in the appropriate use of quotations. In addition, the results of questionnaires given after these classes have shown an improvement in awareness of plagiarism among international students, as compared with classes prior to using this system.
This paper presentation will share the features of TurnItIn® and its functionality for enhancing the quality of the writing program and reports on the implementation of an academic writing curriculum with a particular focus on a shift in plagiarism awareness that occurred among international students.
Summary
Topics of Interest:
1.Applications and results from the Virtual Research Communities and Industry
(4) Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Applications
Key Words: Japanese as Second Language (JSL),College Writing, International Students, Plagiarism
Primary author
Dr
Tomoki Furukawa
(Kansai University, International School)
Co-author
Dr
Tosh Yamamoto
(Kansai University, CTL)
