The Competency of Grade 11 students in Structural and Lexical Paraphrasing

Chapter 1

The Problem

Background of the Study

Academic writing has always played a vital role for students all over the world.

School and university teachers spend many weeks of the year trying to pass on their

knowledge and teach their students to write academically, as they know the benefits of

acquiring this skill early on. (Anon, 2017) But however, academic writing faces many

hindrances. The complexity of the writing process often leads to learner dissatisfaction,

especially following a tedious routine or doing a dull revision. Considering the

hindrances of academic writing, most students find guides from other authors and other

students. Some students copy the whole thing without changing a word and indicates

the name of the author and such. Some other students copy the idea and usually

change things but still have the same concept as the one copied. That technique is

called paraphrasing, a way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting

source material. By translating content from your research into your own word, you

demonstrate to your reader that you've understood and are able to convey this content.

Paraphrasing has two kinds, the lexical and structural. Lexical paraphrase occurs

when synonms appear in otherwise identical sentences. It is the use of a semantically

equivalent term. Structural paraphrase uses different syntactic structure to revise a

sentence. It is the use of a phrase or sentence in place of another phrase or sentence

semantically equivalent to it. Students usually use these two kinds because structural

mainly deals with rearranging the words and structure but still conveying the same

message and lexical mainly deals with synonymy, a state of being synonymous.

In academic field, paraphrasing is an important skill to be mastered by the

students because it helps them to get through many research papers, thesis, projects

and other assignments in a smooth and organized manner. Many subjects need

thorough study and producing own notes. Sometimes, the students have to go through

hours of labor to get the relevant knowledge then reproduce it at various levels. In this

case, paraphrasing is very important so that they can regenerate original and genuine

work and avoid quoting the work of the author to avoid repetitions. You must change

the words a lot so they no longer similar to the original and won’t be classified as

plagiarised.

Plagiarism is defined as the practice of directly copying and then presenting an

existing production without accurate citing or referencing, and/or passing off the

product as one’s own, without permission from the original producer. Plagiarism

allegations can cause a student to be suspended or expelled. Schools, colleges, and

universities take plagiarism very seriously.

Paraphrasing can benefit writers by allowing them to use their own words and

understand the original text better. By correctly citing and paraphrasing, a student can

avoid becoming a plagiarist. (JenniP5, 2012)

Statement of the Problem
 This study aims to test the competency of Grade 11 STEM students in paraphrasing

and how well and structure their paraphrasing are. Specifically, it sought to answer the

following questions:

1. Why paraphrasing is important to students?

2. How competent the students are in terms of paraphrasing?

3. How students deals with the struggles they encouner in paraphrasing?