Abstract:

This paper offers evidence of the effects of English language proficiency on the performance of non-native English-speaking students in a post graduate financial accounting course instructed in English. It aims to quantify the effects of English language proficiency on essay-style exam questions requiring the evaluation of accounting standards as opposed to calculation-based exam questions requiring the application of accounting standards.

Our results provide evidence that while both native and non-native English-speaking students score lower in tasks requiring evaluation, the relative performance between evaluation and application is related to English language proficiency. Results are examined against a framework of cognitive load theory.

The interaction between language and question type can be explained by one of the fundamental constructs of cognitive load theory; that learning is impaired when working memory is overloaded. The necessity for our non-native English-speaking students to deal with language problems simultaneously with an accounting question is accentuated for the essay-type questions where English skills are more imperative than they are with calculation-based questions.

The findings from this study will have implications for our further research with non-native English-speaking students. Our further work will incorporate use of a new English language teaching system called Readable English; an innovative system that replaces hundreds of English language irregularities with 22 easy-to-learn visual cues. Readable English turns English into a phonetic language for easier reading and pronunciation.

Analysis of the results of this study will assist us to tailor the Readable English system to assist our non-native English-speaking students in their accounting studies. The “Readable English Accounting” system will provide an efficient means for these students to acquire an accounting technical vocabulary in English. The acquisition of such a vocabulary will then flow through to improve performance in all accounting related areas.

Keywords:

Readable English, financial accounting, cognitive load theory, language learning.