Why are first‐year accounting studies inclusive?

Abstract

This study is motivated by the increasing diversity among first-year accounting students and the increasing number of first-year accounting students whose majors are not in accounting related areas in UK universities. The main contribution of this study is that it uses student data over four consecutive academic years from a first-year accounting course at a UK university to provide empirical evidence in support of the theoretical framework proposed by Rankin et al. (2003). Our results show the effects of metacognitive knowledge and content knowledge on academic performance as well as highlighting the inclusiveness of the first-year accounting course. For instance, regardless of the choices of secondary subjects, students who have good prior academic achievement are the best performers on the first-year accounting course. The influence of content knowledge on academic performance is strongly felt when the assessments of the course changed from a 100 per cent final exam to a combination of mid-term coursework and a final exam. The results suggest that well-designed mid-term coursework is academically beneficial to accounting students, especially non-native English-speaking students.

The effect of work placements on the academic performance of Chinese students in UK higher education

“…Based on the literature, a range of independent variables which reflect individual differences in prior academic achievement, prior academic qualification and gender among home and international student groups were included in regressions along with mode of study Crawford and Wang 2014c;Crawford and Wang 2014a;Crawford and Wang 2014b) show that the academic performance of university students is strongly correlated with 3 or more A grades. In this study, students who obtained 3 or more A grades from A level were considered as academically strong.…”

“…Potential students are expected to achieve at least 3 A grades from A level or have equivalent results from other national and international pre-university examinations such as foundation courses, baccalaureate, etc. (for detail, see Crawford and Wang 2014c). International students additionally need to obtain at least IELTS (International English Language Testing System) level 7 for a successful application.…”

Exploring the influence of individual and academic differences on the placement participation rate among international students

“…Duignan (2003), Gomez et al (2004), Reddy and Moores (2012) and Crawford and Wang (2014b) note the existence of the self-selection issue and show that sandwich students tend to be higher achievers than fulltime students prior to placements. On the other hand, Surridge (2009), Mansfield (2011 and Patel et al (2012) find no evidence to support the self-selection issue since the performance differences between sandwich and full-time students prior to the final year in their studies are not statistically significant.…”

“…The increasing presence of international students in UK higher education raises a pedagogic question of whether the UK higher educational system is designed to afford all students the opportunity to participate in an educational offering such as placements, regardless of individual and academic differences. Placements require students to undertake a period of work experience during their degree study period (Little and Harvey , 2006) and can improve their chances of obtaining good degrees (2.1 or above) and/or better academic results in the final year (Duignan, 2003;Mandilaras, 2004;Surridge, 2009;Reddy and Moores, 2012;Crawford and Wang, 2014b;Crawford and Wang, 2014a;Crawford and Wang, 2015a).…”

“…The increasing presence of international students in UK higher education raises a pedagogic question of whether the UK higher educational system is designed to afford all students the opportunity to participate in an educational offering such as placements, regardless of individual and academic differences. Placements require students to undertake a period of work experience during their degree study period (Little and Harvey , 2006) and can improve their chances of obtaining good degrees (2.1 or above) and/or better academic results in the final year (Duignan, 2003;Mandilaras, 2004;Surridge, 2009;Reddy and Moores, 2012;Crawford and Wang, 2014b;Crawford and Wang, 2014a;Crawford and Wang, 2015a).Prior studies which compare the academic performance of students who undertake placements (called sandwich) with students who do not have a break in their study (called full-time) observe significant and increasing performance gaps between those two groups of students from the first or second year to the final year (Duignan, 2003;Gomez et al, 2004;Reddy and Moores, 2012;Crawford and Wang, 2014a;Crawford and Wang, 2015a). Duignan (2003) first explains this phenomenon as a self-selection issue, suggesting that fulltime students are academically less able students who are unable to secure a placement either…”