ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT IN THE PROJECT WORK OF TERTIARY ESP STUDENTS: CAUSES, RELATIONSHIPS AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

University students often lack basic skills related to academic integrity, especially with regard to the ethical use of resources. The paper attempts to identify typical cases of academic misconduct. In an effort to find the situations or circumstances that may trigger unethical behaviour, or a relationship between language proficiency and academic dishonesty, a profound analysis of Business English student projects was made, revealing that there is a relationship between the nature of a task and the occurrence of inadequate use of resources, as academic dishonesty is present irrespective of student’s language proficiency. The authors’ ambition is to propose solutions to tackle unethical academic behaviours, focusing on prevention rather than tracking and penalization. Besides providing proper training in correct citation, paraphrasing and summarization, it is also necessary to reassess the relevance of the project task. This combination should help to achieve not only a unique project work outcome, but also develop skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration, information literacy, productivity and reliability, and ultimately lead to the development of autonomous lifelong learning.