A Study on Iranian High School Students’ Perception of Cheating in Online Assessments

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

2 English Language Teacher, Ministry of Education, Birjand District, Birjand, Iran

Abstract

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many educational institutions worldwide to move from in-person to online classes. Although online technologies do facilitate learning and testing, academic dishonesty in online assessments (OAs) remains an issue of concern since technological devices provide students with ample opportunities to cheat in exams. The purpose of this study was to investigate Iranian high school students' perceptions of cheating in OAs. In addition, the study tried to examine the potential differences between male and female students’ perceptions of cheating in OAs. The participants were 214 Iranian high school students. They were asked to answer a questionnaire about academic dishonesty in OAs. The results indicated that more than 80% of the participants had experienced cheating in OAs. “Looking at the teaching materials and copying answers” was mentioned as the most frequent method of cheating. The main reason for cheating was “getting a better score”, and the main reason for not cheating was “being morally and socially unacceptable”. In addition, almost 70% of the participants did not have a negative attitude to cheating in OAs. Furthermore, there was not any significant difference between male and female students' perceptions of cheating (Sig.>.05).

Keywords

Applied Linguistics Inquiry
Volume 1, Issue 2
September 2023
Pages 142-151

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 June 2023
  • Revise Date: 17 August 2023
  • Accept Date: 01 September 2023

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