Supporting Accounting Students to Read Before Class

Abstract

There is evidence a large proportion of accounting students prepare inadequately for classes at university. Lack of reading before classes would support passive, surface learning. This study examines how to support accounting students to read before classes. A sample of 81 students in a third year undergraduate accounting course was studied employing a phenomenographic research approach, using five session preparation assignments (SPAs) for each student (supplemented by a focus group, critical incident questionnaires (CIQs) and student surveys) to identify and capture the experience of students reading before classes. A key finding is that it is possible to support a large proportion of students to read before class through use of structured, assessed learning journals and readings with a deep approach to learning embedded in them as part of an integrated set of interventions designed to support deep learning. An implication of this study is the need to support accounting students to read before classes in first year courses as part of their ‘learning how to learn’ at university to enable them to develop personal capabilities in their later university studies.