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    University students’ and staff’s perceptions of third-party writing assistance and plagiarism : a mixed methods study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Möller, Ami
    Considering plagiarism as the by-product of undeveloped and inadequate composition skills, it seems reasonable for a student to seek assistance to improve their writing. But when does writing assistance stop constituting help and start constituting plagiarism? Little research, especially in Aotearoa New Zealand, investigates perceptions about situations where students use assistance during the process of composing their assessments. This thesis uncovers the intricacies of perceived [un]acceptability of third-party writing assistance scenarios through an examination of what undergraduate students and teaching staff in Aotearoa New Zealand believe about instances of collaborating, editing, repurposing, and ghostwriting. The study uses a convergent mixed methods design comprised of a primary qualitative track and a supplementary quantitative track. Both approaches use an original set of fictional, yet realistic, scenarios of writing assistance that vary in amount, scope, and quality. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with students and descriptive statistics and quantitative content analysis of an anonymous online survey of staff provide insight into both groups’ beliefs. Themes of labour and learning included situational features participants identified as why writing assistance was acceptable or unacceptable. All students and most staff viewed scenarios where a student subverted the labour of writing, like obtaining an assessment composed by someone else, as unacceptable. Participants in both groups considered scenarios that involved collaborating acceptable when situations included an explanatory discussion, which they perceived as active and engaged learning. Between these scenarios, though, existed a distinct lack of certainty regarding the boundaries of acceptability and plagiarism—especially when it came to instances involving editorial interventions, repurposing of text, and technology-based phrasing tools. Contributions from the findings include confirming earlier reports of students’ limited conceptions of plagiarism; illuminating an added complication in determining acceptability based on how a student operationalises assistance; and enhancing our understanding of when writing assistance constitutes plagiarism. The unique implementation of embedding scenarios into qualitative interviews contributes a fresh approach to academic integrity research. And the bespoke set of scenarios offers potential utility as a learning support tool. Implications include refocusing acceptability onto how assistance is utilised; considering cognitive offloading in response to efficiency motives; integrating direct, sustained dialogue about writing assistance into instruction; and requiring transparent declarations of use in assessments.
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    Expressions of voice and trajectories of writers’ selves in academic writing : transitioning from an academic bridging course to postgraduate programmes : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics and Second Language Teaching at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Butler, Eugenia
    Abstract This longitudinal study explores the use of language involved in the construction of voice in academic scripts, as well as personal perspectives relating to the concept of voice, its perceived role and its usage in an academic script. The main aim is to demystify the perceived elusiveness of voice, and present a number of textual features which are analysed longitudinally in order to identify changes in a writer’s identity. The study draws upon previous research by Halliday (1985), Ivaniç (1998) and Thompson (2014) which has provided a framework for investigating how language contributes to the process of interpersonal communication. The qualitative data resulted from an analysis of novice postgraduate ESOL student scripts, as well as from interviews with the main stakeholders involved in academic writing: the students, ESOL teachers on the bridging programme in which they studied, and lecturers in the postgraduate courses in which they subsequently enrolled. Three longitudinal interviews involving 21 students and email interviews with nine ESOL teachers and four postgraduate lecturers provided opportunities for my participants to share their perceptions of voice in academic writing, particularly on Master’s programmes, in order to show how voice reflects beliefs, past and present circumstances, and social constructions of the self. Analysed through the theoretical framework of the Communities of Practice developed by Lave and Wenger (1991) and Wenger (1998), the findings indicate that students were interested in the textual technicalities surrounding the expression of voice. They had personal views about voice which they openly expressed in interviews and applied in their scripts. Longitudinally, the voice markers used in their texts were in assonance with their willingness to contribute new knowledge to their second language (L2) disciplinary community, an aspect also highlighted in three case studies’ findings. Overall, the expressions of voice through the textual features proposed by this study diminished in scripts in the transition from the academic bridging programme to the postgraduate studies. The teachers’ approaches to voice instruction were primarily informed by their voice acquisition experience resulting from their mainstream studies, both general and academic. The postgraduate lecturers seemed to expect simplicity in the grammatical structures used in a script but held different views relating to students’ authorial contribution to knowledge in a Master’s script.
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    What is the socio-linguistic context for teaching English writing to senior high school students in Fiji? : a thesis completed in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Humanities and Social Sciences) in Second Language Teaching, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Nicholls, Lynn
    This study explores teaching practices for expository writing in a developing world context. A qualitative approach draws on a grounded theory model with three different high school case studies in Suva, Fiji. The participants were teachers and students from Form 6 English classes. The linguistic landscape is diverse, with the two majority ethnicities comprising of indigenous Fijian and Fijian both learning different vernacular languages as mediums of instruction for the first three years of school. Standard Fijian and Standard Hindi taught in schools are not always the languages these students speak at home. While English is the medium of instruction taught in schools from Class 4, there is no official language of instruction policy. Students who have English as their second language face challenges in achieving the academic genre of writing. A pass criterion for English proficiency comes with high stakes for success in tertiary studies, with writing for examinations being the only method of assessment. The study found that teachers lacked appropriate resources for teaching this genre of writing, and therefore resorted to teaching more simple formal writing options. Teacher training and professional development in the areas of second language teaching and unit writing appear inadequate in supporting the teaching and learning writing process, and as a result students may not be adequately prepared for their aspirations of going to university.
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    The rhetoric of business social responsibility in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management and Communication, Massey University, Palmerston North
    (Massey University, 2003) Walker, Robyn Jane
    This thesis focuses on how business social responsibility is constituted and enacted in New Zealand. It comprises a case study of Hubbard Foods Limited, using rhetorical analysis to examine the business texts related to the company, many of which are produced by and about owner-manager Dick Hubbard, a key exponent of business social responsibility. Three distinctive approaches to rhetorical analysis are used in this study: role analysis, dramatism and cultural analysis. Role analysis examines how business social responsibility is constituted through the central communication tool of Hubbard Foods Limited, Clipboard. Application of Beason's (1991) framework enables exploration of how Hubbard attempts to persuade others, through the written text, of his own credibility and his vision of business social responsibility. Dramatistic analysis (Burke, 1969a) examines text as drama, focusing on a company event - a staff trip from New Zealand to Samoa. Analysis of the drama reveals how staff members are cast as co-actors engaging in a public enactment of business social responsibility. Cultural analysis is used to compare and contrast the narratives of Dick Hubbard and counter agent Roger Kerr, Executive Director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. Points of compatibility between Hubbard and Kerr are apparent in both the basic assumptions upon which their positions are founded and in the images and archetypes they draw upon to legitimise their claims about business social responsibility. In particular, analysis reveals that both actors draw upon religious imagery. Rhetorical analysis of Hubbard Foods Limited business text extends current conceptions of business social responsibility in a number of ways. The findings suggest a blurring of the business and society distinction, as Hubbard's rhetoric constitutes business as part of society. Analysis of textual strategies reveal aspects of the transactive process associated with business social responsibility, highlighting the importance of managers' personal moral engagement with the implications and consequences of their business decisions, thus challenging contemporary tendencies to objectify social responsibility. The case study of Hubbard Foods Limited serves to draw attention to the centrality of trust to conceptions of business social responsibility and to the way Hubbard humanises the idea. The thesis proposes a 'definition' of business social responsibility in New Zealand whereby it is characterized as a process of negotiation that accommodates inconsistencies and contradictions. It identifies implications of this finding for managers and for business and society research. Finally, it urges business and society researchers to acknowledge the value of interpretive approaches to complement and enrich the current scholarship.