PART II
COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTION INTEGRATED
INTO AN ACCOUNTING COURSE
• Writing Assignments
• Oral Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Assigning Chapters in Effective Writing
COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTION INTEGRATED INTO AN
ACCOUNTING COURSE
An earlier section mentioned one advantage of teaching communication skills within the
accounting curriculum: writing with precision and clarity about accounting topics can best be
taught within the context of an accounting course. In fact, only an instructor who is also an
accounting professional would likely see the flaw in this sentence:
The Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issues official pronouncements on accounting
topics.
Including writing assignments in accounting courses helps students to write with precision
about accounting and offers other advantages as well. For one thing, asking students to explain a
concept in writing is one way of teaching that concept. Looked at another way, writing about a
topic may show both the teacher and the student whether the material has been mastered. If a
student cannot explain a concept clearly in writing, the chances are good that the concept should
be retaught or restudied.
Writing assignments, then, are a way to teach accounting: another pedagogical tool that you
can use to teach students the course content.
This section of the manual will suggest ways you can integrate communication instruction,
especially writing instruction, into your accounting courses.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
How Much Time Will Writing Assignments Require?
Some people believe that the greatest obstacle to including writing assignments in an
accounting course is the time required for these assignments, both the instructor’s time and the
students’ time. Indeed, with the proliferation of new accounting standards, many instructors find
themselves trying to cover more accounting content within the same number of quarter or
semester hours. Also, students must work even harder to master this growing body of material.
We’ve already pointed out that writing assignments are a way to teach students accounting.
Writing assignments may in fact enable you to cover more material within the time allotted to a
course. Some instructors assign papers based on chapters that are not covered extensively in
class or through other homework assignments. The writing assignments force the students to
delve into the chapters on their own before they can write their papers. Writing assignments may
thus increase the amount of material that can be covered within a course. Nevertheless, the time
needed for writing assignments merits a closer look.
Time: the students’ point of view. Accounting courses have always required students to
spend considerable time studying the textbook and working homework problems. Writing
assignments can be thought of as part of students’ homework and study time.
Perhaps this point is most obvious when the writing assignment is an adaptation of a
textbook problem. With this approach, students first solve the problem and then explain their
answers in a paper, perhaps a short memo to a hypothetical reader. In a later section we explain
how to modify textbook problems so that they can also be used as writing assignments.
Time: the instructor’s point of view. The extra time needed by the instructor is primarily for
two tasks: designing writing assignments and evaluating students’ papers. You may also decide
to work with students individually, perhaps offering to review their working drafts so that they
can improve their papers. The time needed to design assignments should not be a serious
problem, as the following section will show. Evaluation, however, is another question. The key
is to make the assignments short
⎯
perhaps a maximum of one to three typed pages. The
advantage of short papers, besides faster grading, is that they emphasize the concise, to-the-point
writing that is required in most business situations. Moreover, shorter papers may enable you to
assign more than one paper per term, so that the students have the opportunity to learn from their
mistakes and improve.
In Part I of this manual, several ways to evaluate students’ papers were discussed. General
impression scoring is particularly useful because it usually reduces the time needed for grading.
The time needed to work with students individually, especially to critique their working
drafts, is a matter of practical considerations. Certainly they benefit from the extra help, but with
heavy teaching loads and large classes there just may not be time in the instructor’s work day.
Even without this extra help, though, students’ writing will improve if they have the opportunity
to practice.
Writing Assignments in the Syllabus: How Many?
Deciding how many writing assignments to include in your syllabus is also a function of
practical considerations. Ideally, students should write at least three papers per term, although
two papers will allow them to learn from the mistakes made in the first paper and to improve in
the second.
Space the assignments so that you’ll have time to grade and return one set before students
write the next one. If you require the students to revise weak papers, then it’s best to allow a
little time for the revision before they begin to work on the next assignment.
Designing Assignments
One way to motivate students is to assign papers that simulate the kinds of documents they
will be expected to write on the job. The assignments in Effective Writing do this, but you may
want to supplement these assignments with some of your own. Here, then, are some suggestions.
1. Use writing assignments to reinforce and extend what students have learned about
accounting. Cases work well for this approach. Students might be asked to apply
accounting principles they’ve been studying to a particular situation.
One source of these cases is the end-of-chapter materials from an accounting text.
Students can analyze the assigned problem and then explain their solutions in a short
paper. Other sources for assignments might be your own experience, the cases in
CPA review manuals, or cases provided by accounting firms.
2. Give students practice in writing the kinds of business formats they will encounter on
the job. They might write their papers in the form of a client letter, for example, or a
memo to management.
If you base an assignment on the cases provided by the textbook, CPA review
manuals, or other sources, you may need to modify them slightly so the answers can
be written in a business format. You will probably need to specify a hypothetical
reader, such as a client, creditor, controller, CEO, or partner-in-charge. You can vary
the accounting expertise of these hypothetical readers so students gain experience
writing on different technical levels. A letter to a partner in a CPA firm, for example,
would be written on a more technical level than one to most clients.
3. Keep assignments short, but assign several during the quarter or semester. Students
improve their writing when they can respond to feedback given on previous
assignments.
You might limit students’ papers to one to three typed pages, double spaced,
depending on the complexity of the assignment.
4. When you make the assignments, stress to students that their papers should
demonstrate qualities of effective business writing. They should take the same care
with the assignments that they would take if the papers were actually written on the
job.
To help your students master the kind of writing they will use as professionals,
discuss with them the qualities that will make their letters, memos, and reports
effective.
Remind them of the qualities of effective writing summarized in Figure 1
−
2, Tips for
the Effective Writer. You can also use these guidelines as the basis for evaluating
their papers, as discussed in Part I of this manual.
ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Including oral communication assignments in an accounting course presents another
challenge in time allocation, especially since students’ oral presentations will require class time.
There are several ways to work around the time limitations.
Here are some suggestions for including oral communication assignments in an accounting
course:
1. Provide some initial instruction so that students have guidelines for their
presentations. You can assign Chapter 16 of Effective Writing and discuss with them
some of the most important strategies for preparing and delivering an oral
presentation.
2. Require each student to make at least two presentations before the class, so there is
opportunity for critique and improvement. Page 121 of this manual provides a master
you can reproduce for critiquing the presentations. Page 122 is a different form that
students can use for peer evaluations.
3. Provide both praise and suggestions for improvement for each student.
4. If possible, videotape the students’ presentations. The students can review the
videotape after class to see where they need to improve. If time permits, you can
view the tape with the students to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the
presentations.
5. If you know of a student who is a particularly good speaker, ask that student to make
the first presentation, which will serve as a model to the rest of the class.
The following sections will illustrate assignments you can use for these procedures. These
assignments are designed to take up a minimum of class time.
Informal Presentations: Explaining Assigned Problems
To accustom students to speaking before the class, ask them to prepare explanations of
assigned homework problems. They can then explain the problems to the class, using some of
the techniques for effective oral presentations discussed in Chapter 16 of Effective Writing.
When you make this assignment, stress the importance of these delivery techniques:
• Maintain good eye contact with the class.
• Speak in a volume, speed, and pitch that everyone will find easy to understand.
• Use visual aids, such as PowerPoint, or a whiteboard.
Practice of these techniques will be good preparation for later presentations, which may be
longer and more formal.
Formal Presentations: The Advantages of Group Projects
Formal oral presentations can be the culmination of individual or group projects the students
work on for most of a term. For a group project, three to five students can work together to
analyze and research an accounting problem. They can then work together to write a report and
present the results of their research to the class.
A group project has the added advantage of giving the students some practice with
interpersonal skills. They will be responsible for dividing responsibilities for the project and
working together effectively. Monitor the groups’ progress to make sure that they are working
on schedule and that there are no problems that they cannot solve.
Responsibilities for the actual oral presentation, like the research and analysis for the project,
can be divided among the members of the group. Everyone should have a part in preparing the
presentation, and everyone should present some portion of it to the class.
Remind the students that they should practice their presentation together before they speak
before the class, and they should critique each other’s delivery and content so that the group
effort is as polished as possible.
A group project that was used for an Intermediate Accounting course appears on pages 123–
125.
1
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
1
Randolph A. Shockley, “Assignment for Intermediate Accounting” (unpublished class assignment, University of
Georgia, 1990).
The discussion of group projects pointed out that these assignments help students improve
their interpersonal skills because they give students experience working together cooperatively.
The projects will require them to divide duties and then to combine work done individually into a
cohesive whole. In addition, the students may also encounter problems in their projects that
require group problem solving.
The best way to guide students in these projects so that they develop the interpersonal skills
they need is to monitor the progress of the group, discussing with them problems they encounter
and ways they might solve those problems. It will usually be sufficient to meet with each group
together only once or twice. In the case of problems with an individual student, of course, an
individual conference may be necessary.
The remainder of this section presents another activity that helps students improve their
interpersonal skills, at the same time it improves their writing: peer reviews of the papers.
Peer Reviews of Students’ Papers
Pages 109–113 contain a handout you can use with your classes for a peer review of a
writing assignment. This handout explains the peer review process in detail, suggests guidelines
the students can use for their reviews, and provides the forms needed for the assignment.
When students review the writing done by other members of the class, they learn a number of
helpful skills. They learn to read carefully and to edit the writing done by another person. This
practice of careful reading and review should carry over into the editing and revising of their
own writing.
Students also improve their interpersonal skills when they participate in peer reviews,
because they learn to give and receive constructive criticism with tact and mutual respect. To
foster these qualities, stress these guidelines when you assign a peer review:
1. Students should submit their best work to their classmates for review. Hasty,
incomplete papers waste the reviewers’ time and prevent the writer from receiving
full benefit of the review process.
2. Students should regard the reviews as a responsibility that merits their best work.
They should follow the directions in the handout and allow plenty of time to do a
good job.
3. Encourage your students to make honest, helpful comments about the papers they
review. (Some may be afraid to hurt the writer’s feelings. A review with nothing but
praise will not help the writer improve the paper.)
The directions for the reviews ask the reviewer to note strengths as well as
weaknesses of the papers. This combination of praise and suggestions for
improvement should make it easier for the reviewers to be honest.
4. Encourage writers to be open to suggestions for improving their papers, rather than
defensive. However, they are finally responsible for their own papers; they don’t
have to follow the reviewers’ suggestions if they disagree.
5. Students appreciate a few minutes of class time to discuss the papers they have
reviewed, especially the chance to explain their suggestions for improvement. Ten or
fifteen minutes should be enough time for this discussion.
ASSIGNING CHAPTERS IN EFFECTIVE WRITING
Assigning chapters in Effective Writing will help your students as they work on writing
assignments for your class. Here is a suggested schedule of reading assignments:
At the Beginning of the Term:
Assign the first eight chapters, which will give students the background they need for all the
assignments. Depending on their background in English and other writing classes, some of this
material will be review; other material will present concepts and strategies with which they may
be unfamiliar.
Encourage students to study all these eight chapters carefully, but to spend the most time on
the unfamiliar material. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 7 have self-testing exercises with answers that will
enable the students to check their mastery of those chapters.
Chapters for Particular Writing Assignments:
When you make a specific writing assignment, assign the chapter in Effective Writing that
gives directions for the kind of document the students will be preparing. For example, if your
assignment calls for a memo, ask the students to study Chapter 10, “Memos.”
Stress to the students that they are still responsible for the material assigned earlier in
Chapters 1 through 8. For example, you would expect them to understand reader analysis, as
discussed in Chapter 2, and effective style, as discussed in Chapter 4.
Part III of this manual contains commentaries for the chapters in Effective Writing. Included
are teaching suggestions, solutions to exercises, and lists of handouts and transparency or slide
masters that you can use with your classes.