Job Discussion Forums

[Jizzo T. Clown]

For the first time, we had some students who blatantly cheated on the TOEFL test. Does your university have any policies on this? We're considering sending them home since they violated the academic dishonesty policy of the university, but some of the more liberal teachers say it's a cultural issue and that we should simply issue a warning.

What do you do in this situation?

btw, this doesn't all fall on my shoulders. I'm just expected to contribute my two cents' but I want to make an informed decision.

[Margot73]

For what purpose were they taking the TOEFL test?

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Our IEP only requires a 400 on the TOEFL for conditional admission, that is, admission into the ESL program. If the students want to progress to university classes, they must pass both their ESL classes and the TOEFL with a 500.

As per our contract with NCN, we give the TOEFL four times per semester, which means the students have four chances to raise their scores.

Hope this helps.

[ls650]

How, exactly, do you know they cheated? You want to be very careful about making an accusation you can't prove.

That said, cheating is cheating. If you are absolutely sure and have proof, then their TOEFL mark is worthless.

Give them a choice: leave, or rewrite a different TOEFL under controlled circumstances. If they didn't cheat they should be able to pass again.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[guest of Japan]

I've heard that cheating is quite common in China does not get viewed as negatively as in the west. Check the forums for specific countries involved. Their may indeed be cultural factors.

[rusmeister]

I'm not a big fan of cheating - since my courses and tests are based on real knowledge I fight to protect them from cheating.

In many cultures university entrance tests (and things like US Foreign Service Exams) are not designed to find truly qualified candidates but merely to weed out large numbers of people - in any system where billets are few and many want in, honest assessment of ability is not the prime purpose of testing.

So how legitimate do you think the TOEFL testing is? (ie, ensuring that people in universities really have a necessary command of English) And to what extent is it primarily a money-making machine?

If you really believe in the system, I suppose you'll want to quash cheaters.

[Sherri]

Hi JTC
How exactly did they cheat? Was it the Institutional Paper-based test? Did they get a hold of the answer key? Who was proctoring the test?

As for consequences, of course their score is invalid and I suppose (if it is the PBT) then you will have to report the spoiled test papers when you return the materials to the TOEFL people. As for kicking them out, I would give them a warning first and make sure they really understand the student conduct code. If they haven't already, you might have them sign off on it. And from now on in orientation, make sure that new students are warned very clearly.

Actually we just had the case of an elderly Japanese man in our IEP who was caught red-handed cheating on his final exams. He tried to peek at the answer key the teacher had on his desk (under books and papers) while the teacher turned his back! Oh well, just more work for me.
Best
Sherri

[Sherri]

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[Sherri]

Interesting! Wow, a 620, good but not perfect. Did she miss some questions on purpose?

I still wonder how the student got the answers. Did she get a hold of an answer key? If so, how did she get it and why wasn't it missed? They come in sealed envelopes which should not be anywhere where students could have access! I would notice right away if an answer key was missing. Unless she copied it! Also you are supposed to return all the answer keys to the ITP TOEFL people after the test, so they will notice if you are missing one.

Sherri