Saudi University EFL Students' Understanding of Plagiarism: Perceived Knowledge, Recognition Patterns, and Conceptual Ambiguity in Academic Writing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1703.22Keywords:
plagiarism, academic writing, EFL students, academic integrity, higher educationAbstract
This study examines Saudi university EFL students’ understanding of plagiarism as a component of academic writing competence, with a focus on the relationship between perceived knowledge and actual recognition of plagiarism in common writing scenarios. Using a questionnaire adapted from Chu et al. (2020), 154 Saudi undergraduates enrolled in Research Writing at King Khalid University during the academic year 2024 responded to Likert-scale items measuring self-perceived understanding and scenario-based items assessing plagiarism recognition. Results revealed a notable discrepancy between confidence and competence. While a majority of students reported knowing how to avoid plagiarism (M = 3.75, SD = 1.01), their ability to identify plagiarism varied substantially across practices. High recognition rates were observed for explicit violations such as copying without citation (88.3%), but recognition declined sharply for practices requiring interpretive judgment, including paraphrasing without citation (53.2%) and AI-generated text submission (53.9%). Self-plagiarism (16.9%) and use of teacher-provided ideas without citation (18.2%) were largely unrecognized. These findings align with cross-cultural EFL research demonstrating that plagiarism understanding involves developmental and instructional dimensions beyond mere policy awareness. The study argues for integrating explicit, scenario-based plagiarism instruction into academic writing pedagogy to support EFL students in developing nuanced understandings of source use, attribution, and authorship in higher education contexts.
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