Plagiarism and overseas students: stereotypes again?

This article is a response to Sowden's (2005ab) and Liu's (2005) articles on overseas students and plagiarism, published in ELT Journal 59/3. I appreciate Sowden's efforts in exploring plagiarism in relation to culture, and his arguing against stereotypical views of overseas students studying in English-speaking countries. Although I agree with Sowden that culture plays a significant role in students' learning styles, and perhaps in the way plagiarism is interpreted cross-culturally, I would like to argue that culture is not the only influencing factor and should not be seen as solely responsible for plagiarism in students' academic work. To support my points, I will first provide examples on how plagiarism is viewed in Vietnam. Then, I will argue that there appear to be several reasons why Western academics may rush to accuse overseas students of plagiarism. While Sowden seems to suggest that...