Cultural Backgrounds and Textual Appropriation

Abstract

This study examines interviews with 46 undergraduates to explore if participants with differing language and cultural backgrounds view plagiarism or textual appropriation primarily as a) a language problem because of a lack of words of one’s own, or b) a cultural challenge as a result of either some first language (L1) cultural training to privilege a collective ownership of words and ideas or the blurring boundary of originator and collaborator in the current digital world of hypertext. The participants were from five L1 backgrounds: Native-English-speaking (n = 11), German (n = 10), Chinese (n = 8), Japanese (n = 9), and Korean (n = 8). Findings suggest that the majority of participants were not sure about whose words and which ideas they needed to cite with acknowledgement in their writing. Many participants who speak English as a second language (L2) also expressed concerns about being accused of copying as innocent language learners and some with nonwestern backgrounds also found the concept of plagiarism foreign and unacceptable. The study reveals challenges to establish parameters of textual appropriation and suggests a new postmodern pedagogy of imitation and student authorship.

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