Plagiarism Decisions among Indonesian EFL Students: A Grounded Theory Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18592/let.v16i1.19643Keywords:
plagiarism decision, EFL students, academic writing, grounded theoryAbstract
Plagiarism decisions among student writers rely heavily on their beliefs and practices when writing academic texts. Some writers do not have any intention to commit on the plagiarism, but others may intend to internalise such dishonest practices as a way to accomplish written work. Grounded from the background, this current study unveiled both plagiarism statuses and specific factors that influenced EFL students to deal with plagiarism decisions. Seventy-three undergraduate students majoring in English participated in a grounded theory study. Qualitative data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. As for the findings, EFL students’ plagiarism statuses were categorised into never plagiarisers, experimenters, sudden, active, and former plagiarisers. EFL students’ decisions specifically consisted of personal (e.g., writing perfection, curiosity, enjoyment, burnout), academic (e.g., multiple tasks, course competition, error avoidance), and technological factors (e.g., free online access, unlimited resources). The final result of this study referred to a grounded theory model that describes integrated factors or rationales regarding EFL students’ plagiarism decisions.
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