The Cheating Practices of Kuwaiti EFL College Students: Attitudes and Opinions

This study is designed to inspect the attitudes of Kuwaiti college students of English as a foreign language (EFL) towards cheating on English exams and their opinions about the factors underlying their cheating behaviour. A mixed-method approach was used to collect and analyse the data. The participants were 182 Kuwaiti EFL students who answered a survey that collected quantitative and qualitative data. Microsoft Excel Software was used to analyse the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the qualitative data. It was found that although the participants held a negative attitude towards cheating, they showed a lax stance towards some cheating methods, namely, using leaked exams and learning them from other students. This lax stance raises ethical concerns and highlights the need for intervention. Analysis of participants’ opinions revealed various personal and contextual factors affecting students’ cheating practices: language instructors’ corrupt practices, societal pressure, and students’ poor language proficiency levels. Our findings largely echo the literature on college students’ cheating practices, precisely research on EFL students’ cheating behaviour. They also reflect the Kuwaiti EFL context in which they were identified. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are indicated.