ENGLISH COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES OF ACCOUNTING INTERNS (original) (raw)

Accounting Students' Perspective of Work-Relevant Communication Skills: Evidence from a Philippine University

2017

To further probe the alignment (or misalignment) of university and industry priorities in terms of English language skills development of future accountants, this study extends the earlier investigation of employers' perception on the communication skills needed by entry-level accountants. Using conjoint analysis, this research examines the outlook of 302 graduating accounting students on the communication skills that they consider relevant to their target career. The respondents answered a researcher-made questionnaire by ranking 16 skills set in the order of their perceived importance for employment in audit firms. Results show that accounting majors perceive interview skills to be the most important communication skill related to employability, followed by reading and communication technology. Such views are relatively consistent with employers' perspectives. However, writing and listening are ranked lower by the students than employers. Analysis of gender variance furthe...

BY-NC-SA 4.0 License IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature English Material Needs of Accounting Students: An English for Specific Purposes Approach

Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 2020

The appropriateness of teaching materials is one of the essential components in gaining the maximum input of knowledge to achieve the success of a language learning. In terms of teaching English for specific purposes, the contextualized material is a prerequisite to encourage the learners' productivity in using the language. Therefore, the present study sheds light on English teaching material needs of accounting students at IAIN Surakarta and the challenges that accounting students face to fulfil the needs. Descriptive qualitative was employed in this study by administering Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and web-based survey to the first-year accounting students who had finished English for Specific Purposes course as the participants. Semi-structured interview was also conducted with the English lecturers and the head of accounting department to enrich the data. The data were analysed by transcribing the results of FGD and semi-structured interview and describing the questionnaire results as data triangulation. The findings of this study showed that contextual English teaching materials are strongly needed by accounting students to enhance their language production. Moreover, there are some insights from the participants related to the ideal teaching materials for accounting students. These findings offer practical insights in designing a representative teaching material for accounting students to equip them with outstanding language skills in accounting field. Introduction The preliminary observation of the teaching English at accounting department of Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Surakarta indicated that the English materials slightly fulfilled the students' needs of language skills. It was hypothesized that the language materials was about general English rather than

English that counts: Designing a purposive communication course for future accountants

Prompted by curricular changes in the college level brought about by the recent K-to-12 implementation in the Philippines and informed by industry inputs, this research presents a syllabus for an English for Accountants course geared at making future accountants work-ready. The study adopted Bell’s (1981) English for Specific Purpose Language Teaching Syllabus Design as framework and outcomes-based education or OBE as educational model, both of which focus on the analysis of learner needs and learning outcomes as starting point for course design. The learning outcomes, teaching strategies, instructional materials, and assessment methods were all determined based on the findings of Philippine studies exploring employer perspectives and investigating final- year students’ perspective of work-relevant communication skills in accounting practice. The resultant syllabus was subject to qualitative validation through consultation with subject area experts and English language teachers in the university.

Technical and communication skills: can they both be accommodated in a postgraduate program preparing graduates for the professional accounting workplace?

This paper reflects on a Master of Accounting program where the majority of students are either international or domestic students from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB). The program seeks to prepare graduates for professional accounting practice where a high level of communication skills is equally important as a high level of technical skills. The paper reports on a project which has integrated technical and communications skills within the accounting curriculum through collaboration between accounting lecturers and staff from a university centre specialising in English language teaching and research. The result of the collaboration is an integrated program which addresses students’ expectations in relation to professional communication and lecturers’ and accounting practitioners’ perspectives in relation to the role of communication skills in accounting practice.

The Importance of Learning English Literacy for Accounting in Higher Education: Benefit and Drawbacks

International Journal of Language Education

This qualitative research aims to explore the importance of learning English literacy skills for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) accounting students in higher education. The data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis, and analyzed thematically. The findings indicate that developing English literacy skills offers numerous benefits for EFL accounting students, such as building literacy competence, enhancing employability, improving communication skills, facing globalization, understanding accounting terms and subjects, and identifying errors in accounting. However, the study also identified some drawbacks, time and effort including, Balancing Language Learning with Technical Accounting Skills Development and linguistic difficulties and frustration. The study suggests that educational institutions and policy makers should develop comprehensive strategies that support EFL accounting students in acquiring English literacy skills wh...

Needs Analysis of ‘English for Accounting’ in Tertiary Education

ELT in Focus, 2019

This study focused on needs analysis and course design of English for accounting in tertiary education in Kuningan, West Java. It aimed to investigate the required learning materials and the suitable learning activities for accounting students of tertiary education. This study employed qualitative method. It was conducted in qualitative design with some data collected quantitatively through questionnaire and some collected qualitatively through interviews and document analysis from students and lecturers. The questionnaire was used for descriptive statistics, whereas interviews and document analysis were used for the collection of more in-depth and emergent data. This study revealed that listening and speaking skills are the priority in teaching English which is closely followed by writing and reading. The highest students’ preferences for classroom learning activities are vocabulary exercising, followed by simulation and grammar exercising. It is also found that most students consi...