An analysis of teaching strategies designed to improve written communication skills

Accounting instructors can embed effective writing into the curriculum, but how much instruction is enough to make a significant improvement in students’ written products? In this quasi-experimental study, we compare the effect of three levels of minimal instructional intervention: all students in the study received a rubric outlining the evaluation criteria and graded feedback on the use of effective business writing (low instruction level); for the medium instruction level, students also received handouts on effective written communication; the high instruction level students received classroom instruction in addition to the handouts, rubric, and feedback. We find that all students show significant improvement in written communication skills in the areas of organization, development, and expression. Students who received the high instruction level show the most improvement. Providing students with the scoring rubric and grading for effective business writing is beneficial to student self-awareness and encourages students to significantly improve their written products.     

A writing intervention for the accounting classroom: dealing with the problem of faulty modifiers

Good communication skills continue to be viewed as critical for success in accounting. This paper demonstrates a writing-skills “intervention” that deals with faulty modifiers, a grammatical problem that can inhibit accounting students and professionals from achieving the clarity and conciseness widely regarded as essential in the accounting profession. The intervention consists of a handout distributed to students – fashioned to sensitize them to the pervasiveness of faulty modifiers and help them avoid the problem – and an in-class discussion of the handout. By design, this intervention is both inexpensive and unobtrusive. For the accounting instructor, we provide in the body of the paper a technical, but unpedantic and informal, analysis of faulty modifiers, including numerous examples of the problem, accompanied by alternative corrections. To date, few papers in the accounting education literature that deal with writing problems present direct assessment evidence. To assess the efficacy and perceived value of our learning intervention, we collected assessment data – both direct (i.e., a set of three diagnostic tests) and indirect (i.e., feedback from a student questionnaire) from two institutions at which our learning intervention was tested. These data suggest than an intervention of the sort described here can be valuable in remedying discrete weaknesses of student writing. In a larger sense, we believe our paper can be used as a model for the development of similar “interventions” that cover other grammatical problems, and that can serve either as stand-alone entities (similar to the method proposed by Reinstein and Houston (2004) [Using the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “plain English” guidelines to improve accounting students’ writing skills. Journal of Accounting Education, 22, 53–67]) or as complementary resources to more comprehensive and formal writing programs.     

《管理沟通》课程多元化教学方法应用与教学效果提升

管理沟通是一门理论和实践并重的技能型课程,课程教学的重点在于使学生了解职场沟通规律和方法,掌握沟通的技巧,培养职业素质,从而提升个人沟通的能力.本科阶段开设该课程采用多元化教学方法的研究和实践尚处于起步阶段.本文通过采用多元化教学方法,利用理论和实践巧妙结合,多种教学方法交替运用,使学生不仅掌握其理论,而且又能在实践中灵活运用,以此调动学生学习和参与课程的积极性,从而提升教学效果.     

A writing program for accounting courses

The author's premise is that communication skills, as well as technical knowledge, are critical elements for success in accounting. Accounting instructors can provide opportunities for students to hone their writing skills while teaching them technical subject matter. Assignments that require research in the profession's literature are particularly valuable for this purpose. Feed-forward and feed-back strategies can simplify the grading task and alert students to their writing deficiencies. Computer-assisted writing and analysis enhance the learning experience by using the technology students will encounter in the work place.     

Oral and written communication apprehension in accounting students: Curriculum impacts and impacts on academic performance

In the context of an accounting curriculum that has been significantly modified over the past decade in response to calls for skills development, this study investigates the impacts of curriculum on students' levels of communication apprehension. An emerging concern in accounting is that attempts made to improve students' communication skills may fail or be less effective for some students because such attempts do not improve, or may even exacerbate, students' anxiety about communicating, which in turn leads to poorer performance. The results from this New Zealand study show that students in their final year of study in which they are exposed to greater communication demands do not, on average, have higher levels of communication apprehension in earlier studies than their peers do. The levels of communication apprehension for final year students decline most markedly for those students starting with higher average levels of apprehension. The results fail to find any strong associations between levels of communication apprehension and students' abilities to advance in their studies or average levels of academic performance. One finding that opens up the possibility for further research, however, is that students' anxiety about communicating in interviews is not reduced.     

A profile of communication apprehension in accounting majors: Implications for teaching and curriculum revision

Practitioners have consistently noted that entry-level accountants exhibit inadequate communication skills (Andrews & Sigband, 1984). Academics and practitioners agree that accounting students' writing and oral communication skills are the two major areas needing more attention in the curriculum (Simons & Higgins, 1993). Daly (1978) and McCroskey (1984) have found that poor communication is a result of either poor skills, apprehension, or both. This suggests a need to determine the level of apprehension in accounting majors prior to making curriculum/classroom changes. This study examines the level of communication apprehension in accounting majors. The results show that accounting majors have higher apprehension toward both written and oral communications than other business majors. Gender differences were found only for oral communication apprehension, with female accounting majors reporting the highest apprehension. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Web-based practice and feedback improve tax students’ written communication skills

To prepare students for successful accounting careers, educators must be involved in developing students’ written communication skills. This article provides evidence that web-based lessons and self-tests appearing at www.gsu.edu/~accerl and dealing with three sentence structure issues significantly improve written communication skills. Our study involves control and treatment groups in a pre- versus post-treatment design. The authors measure passive voice, punctuation, and wordiness through in-class quizzes and writing assignments. Prior research has shown that a combined approach of lectures addressing writing skills within accounting classes, writing consultants, and detailed grading of assignments improve students’ written communication skills. However, this combined approach involves significant in-class time, departmental funds, and professor time. In contrast, this study shows that improved writing can occur without the substantial institutional resources these prior approaches required.     

An integrated approach to communication skills in an accounting curriculum

While accounting students think that they do not need written and oral communication skills in order to succeed in the profession, educators and practitioners stress the need for these skills. Not only is there a set of perceived factors of success in the field that includes the quality of communication skills, but also managers in many different industries complain that recent graduates are unable to effectively communicate their ideas in writing. This article presents the results of an integrated approach to this problem along with specific methodologies, cases, and heuristic evaluation of the program. In addition, it is proposed that communication skills are best taught within professional accounting programs in core courses rather than being taught solely either as part of general education or by a special business communication course.     

Integrating effective writing skills in the accounting curriculum

The J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the University of Georgia has developed a program for its accounting curriculum which integrates the teaching of effective writing skills with the regular accounting courses. Students in a three-course sequence write a total of eight papers — technical, memos, or reports. The assignments resemble on-the-job technical writing tasks actually encountered by professional accountants. A full-time writing consultant on the School's staff provides occasional lectures and handouts for students on effective writing skills; she also provides help to individual students who may need it. Papers are evaluated for both accounting content and effective writing     

Learning through writing in a first-year accounting course

More than any other activity at a university, the writing experiences of students are directly linked to their academic progress. This paper reports on the practical steps taken in restructuring the curriculum of a first-year accounting course at the University of Sydney to develop students’ writing skills within a broader skills-based program to enhance learning. Three dimensions of students’ writing skills are addressed: writing skills as prerequisites for learning, writing skills as a means of learning, and writing skills as an outcome of learning.The paper explains how the educational theory about learning to write and writing to learn contributed to a pedagogical framework for teaching practice and gives several examples as illustration of the pedagogy. Interactive reading guides, annotated model answers, analysis grids, and formative self and peer assessment are among techniques adopted to encourage students to reflect actively on their own learning through writing. The curriculum redesign project reported here was first introduced in 1994, and substantially modified in 1995 in response to feedback. In general, the quality of submitted assignments, examination performance, and feedback from both staff and students suggests that the innovations reported in the paper have helped students to improve their writing skills and enabled them to become more engaged with the learning of the content of the course. Quantitative feedback between 1994–1997 confirms these conclusions.     

Evaluating a method of integrating generic skills with accounting content based on a functional theory of meaning

This paper documents and evaluates an intervention designed to integrate the learning of selected generic skills, particularly analytical thinking and written communication skills, with the learning of accounting content. The method used was to scaffold practice in analytical thinking skills through specially designed writing activities. Content‐focused learning materials adapted from task‐types currently used to teach language skills were used to facilitate the analysis and interrelation of accounting concepts, principles and problems in interpersonal communicative contexts typical of actual accounting practice. The materials, in three assignments, were designed to incorporate: (i) selected generic skills, taken from those listed by the professional accounting bodies; (ii) writing, both as communication and as an instrument for analytical thinking and learning; (iii) knowledge of accounting concepts and principles; and (iv) awareness of the interpersonal dimensions of professional communication. Overall, students showed improved learning outcomes, with improvements of 19 percentage points for non‐Australian students over the three assignments. We were also able to show significant positive relationships between the assessments of assignments 2 and 3 and performance in the knowledge‐based final examination. Improvements in the quality of learning were shown in students’ improved ability to assess their own work.     

中央银行沟通、实际干预与通货膨胀稳定

近年来,中央银行沟通已成为一种重要的货币政策工具。本文把中央银行沟通因素引入修正的卢卡斯总供给函数,发现加大中央银行沟通力度有利于引导通货膨胀预期,稳定通货膨胀。采用2003-2009年月度数据,利用结构向量自回归方法对中央银行沟通及实际干预在稳定通货膨胀中的作用进行实证研究,主要结论如下:(1)正的中央银行沟通冲击能有效降低通货膨胀预期以及名义通货膨胀率,且时滞短;(2)正的实际干预(包括银行贷款利率、央票利率及货币供应量)冲击,在短期内不但不能降低通货膨胀预期及名义通货膨胀率,反而会加剧通货膨胀,出现"价格之谜"现象。此外,本文对大多数情况下我国中央银行沟通模棱两可的合理性进行了解释。     

The Goal Project: A Group Assignment to Encourage Creative Thinking,Leadership Abilities and Communication Skills

Abstract

The classroom assignment described in this paper, The Goal Project, gives students an opportunity to develop four of the skills and abilities required to be a successful accountant. In 1990, the Accounting Education Change Commission issued Position Statement Number One, Objectives of Education for Accountants. Appendix B of that statement contains eight categories of knowledge, skills, personal capacities and attitudes that are needed by accounting graduates. The Institute of Management Accountants has outlined the work of a management accountant to include working in small business teams and participating in strategic decision making. The project described in this paper replicates the work an accountant would perform when working in problem-solving teams. Data was collected and results are included from a questionnaire completed by 166 students who participated in The Goal Project. The results of perceived improvement in creative problem solving, leadership skills, and oral and written communication skills are presented.     

The written communication skills that matter most for accountants

Given the importance of effective written communication skills to the discipline of accounting, faculty must emphasize these skills in their classroom in order to adequately prepare students for successful careers in the field. Since 2000, only two studies in the accounting literature have examined which written communication skills are needed by entry-level accountants and consensus is that spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity are of utmost importance. We surveyed accounting practitioners and faculty to determine what exactly, within those categories, is most bothersome. For example, within clarity, is it wordy sentences, passive voice, or shifts in tense? By documenting the most bothersome errors, our findings can help accounting educators to focus their limited time on the appropriate skill emphasis.     

从语用失误看语用教学

语用失误即"the inability to understand what is meant by what is said"(表达方式不妥等导致交际不能取得效果)。它发生在语言的各个层面,如:词汇、话语、语法、文化……为了帮助学生规避语用失误,有效地提高跨文化沟通能力,英语教师应该把提高学生的语用能力作为英语教学的关键,将课堂教学与自然的言语交际情景相结合,使其在自然言语交际环境中能流利畅快地用外语进行交际。     

An innovative method of classroom presentation: What is “Jeopardy?”

Current pedagogical literature is replete with recommendations that college and university faculty more actively involve their students in the learning process. Among the many approaches that faculty may add to their “repertoire of instructional skills” is the modification of the traditional lecture by incorporating visual-based instruction and interaction with the students. This article discusses the use of that approach in teaching a complex subject—the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993, which was signed into law by President Clinton on 10 August 1993. The method was developed for a one-hour CPE session presented to a group of accounting professionals at a regional conference. The goal was to present a significant amount of material in a concise, novel, and effective manner. The method described can be adapted and used to present a variety of accounting topics, both inside and outside the classroom.     

Enhancing Students' Enabling Competencies: Student Perspectives and Recommendations for Educators*

Employers continue to express concern that accounting graduates lack the necessary competencies when they enter the workplace. These concerns have been addressed in part by periodic revisions to Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada's (CPA Canada) CPA Competency Map, which is used to define competencies for entry into the profession. The CPA Competency Map has recently been revised to include a new set of enabling competencies (often called generic or soft skills). However, the accounting literature highlights a concern that time and resources spent on the expanding set of enabling competencies could take valuable resources away from teaching technical accounting skills. In addition, the education literature indicates that student motivation plays a key role in learning. If students are motivated to learn enabling competencies, then educational efforts could be more efficient and effective. Conversely, a lack of student motivation could reduce student engagement and learning. To address these concerns, we investigated the student's perspective on the importance of enabling competencies as well as on how and where enabling competencies should be learned. We surveyed 380 students enrolled in the CPA Canada Professional Education Program (PEP). We investigated the three new enabling competencies that are most distinct from the previous set of competencies and that may be the most difficult for accounting educators to teach: adaptability and resilience; creativity and innovation; and active listening. We asked students about the importance of these new enabling competencies for their future careers and whether the competencies should be taught in PEP or in the workplace. Our results indicate that students believe that the new enabling competencies are important and should be learned in both the classroom and the workplace. Moreover, student responses to open-ended questions provide educators with suggestions on how to incorporate enabling competencies into the classroom by blending activities that could simultaneously enhance enabling competencies with technical competencies.     

Using student-generated cases to teach accounting information systems

This paper discusses the potential advantages of integrating student-generated cases into the accounting information systems course. The benefits of the traditional case method are discussed, and the student-generated case technique is presented as a way of further fostering a creative learning environment, which promotes a deeper understanding of the course material than the traditional case method. Further, this paper discusses how the student-generated case method can help students develop their group interaction skills, as well as their oral and written communication skills.     

Using technology and library resources in financial accounting courses

Accounting practitioners and academics have raised concerns about the need to develop accounting students' critical thinking and communication skills, as well as their computer literacy. This paper presents two intermediate accounting projects that address these concerns. The first project is structured to familiarize students with accounting resources available electronically. The second project requires students to use an electronic database to research and analyze the effect of asset impairment on the financial statements of companies within a specific SIC code. This project can readily be adapted to any financial accounting topic, not just asset impairment. Both projects have writing components and involve the use of groups and technology; the second project also involves critical analysis of the financial statement impact of asset impairments. The results of student surveys requesting feedback on the effectiveness of the projects are also presented.     

中央银行沟通的金融市场响应──基于股票市场的事件研究

本文使用事件研究法分析我国中央银行沟通行为对股票价格走势的影响。研究发现,影响确实存在且影响方向和力度与央行沟通方式以及股票市场背景有关。具体而言:(1)书面沟通影响显著,口头沟通则无明显作用;(2)宽松性政策信息沟通产生了正向影响,紧缩性信息沟通影响为负;(3)沟通事件的影响主要体现为一种短期作用,并伴随着即时效应、预知效应和滞后效应;(4)在熊市或牛市的不同市场背景下,央行沟通对股价的影响存在非对称性。结果表明,央行的沟通手段对金融市场有重要影响。