English Language Institute Journal

Plagiarism: Implications in Professional Life, Prevention and Cures

2023-04-09T08:16:34+00:00

Plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct represents a serious violation of the academic values of integrity and honesty, and has implications that go beyond the university to the workplace, the economy and society. Research indicates that students who plagiarize and engage in other forms of academic misconduct are more likely to engage in unethical practices in the workplace in their future professional life. This is especially relevant to business and engineering students who have been reported for the highest rates of violations, and they transfer these unethical behaviors to the workplace. Business and engineering graduates later become corporate executives and leaders who wield great power and influence in the organizations they lead; the unethical actions they take are bound to affect their organizations and the society. The paper presents an interdisciplinary overview drawing on relevant research that locates plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct in education practice, and traces the implications on corporate businesses, management, ethics, and leadership. The absence of ethics education causes students to become more tolerant with academic violations, and later violate professional ethics in the workplace. As executives, the unethical decisions they make are often rationalized as necessary for organizational success. Consequently, a culture of cheating and impunity is generally condoned. It is in this context of a general decline in ethics that the reported failure of big international businesses can be better understood. The way out is a return to ethics education in schools. Some measures are suggested for cures.

Pragmatic Competence of Sudanese English Foreign Language (EFL) Learners at University Level

2023-04-09T09:59:15+00:00

This descriptive analytical study aimed to explore the pragmatic competence of the Sudanese EFL learners at tertiary level. A pragmatic competence test (PCT) was developed to collect data from 126 participants; 104 EFL learners majoring in English and 22 EAP learners who were willing to take part in the study. The participants were divided into two main groups. The first group was composed of the fourth level and the second level of English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners, while the second group was composed of the second level of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners. Each main group was divided into two sub-groups to provide data. A test was used to collect data and the results were processed to measure the performance of each sub-group. The results were correlated and it was found that the academic level had an effect on the pragmatic competence of the fourth and second level EFL learners. It showed that there was a significant difference in favor of the fourth level. As to the effect of gender on pragmatic competence, the statistical analysis showed no difference in the pragmatic performance due to gender difference. Finally, the analysis of the effect of the type of syllabus on the pragmatic competence of the 2nd level EFL learners and the 2nd level EAP learners showed statistically significant differences in favor of the 2nd level EFL learners. It was concluded that the existing syllabus properly addresses its audience intercultural communication needs. However, it was recommended that more practice needs to be added to sustain the current level of the students' pragmatic competence.