Deep and surface approaches to learning within introductory accounting: a phenomenographic study

By U. Lucas. 2001

201 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper reports the findings of a phenomenographic research study which sought to identify students' approaches to learning introductory accounting and their conceptions of accounting. The findings reveal that, in common with other disciplines, deep and surface approaches to learning can be identified. However, the main contribution of this study lies in two areas. First, it distinguishes those features that are characteristic of the deep and surface approaches within the discipline of accounting. Secondly, it identifies contextual features surrounding these approaches to learning and which are central to an understanding of them. The paper suggests how these findings can be used immediately to make changes within teaching and assessment practice through a phenomenographic pedagogy which: seeks to make students' conceptions of the subject matter explicit; provides diagnostic tools for the identification of distinctively different conceptions of the subject and approaches to learning; and addresses issues of preconceptions and relevance within teaching and assessment. The findings can also be used as the basis for further research into the identification of statistical variation in approaches to learning between students.

Subfields: Accounting, Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/96486a2ac2cc04dd9da812ca23ad70cb8414169d

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Citations in the corpus

Changing the learning environment to promote deep learning approaches in first-year accounting students (2004, methodology): “…are consistent with suggestions by the AECC (1990) about the use of group work and unstructured problem-solving exercises, and with suggestions that the learning environment is a critical factor influencing the approach students take to learning (Gow et al., 1994; Sharma, 1997; Lucas, 2001).”
Achievement Goal Theory: The Relationship of Accounting Students’ Goal Orientations with Self-efficacy, Anxiety, and Achievement (2015, background): “…and an academic context, accounting education research provides evidence that approaches to learning accounting are related to students’ conceptions of what learning is (Abhayawansa & Fonseca, 2010; Sharma, 1997) and even their preconceptions about the field of accounting (Lucas, 2001).”
The relationship between learning approaches and learning outcomes: a study of Irish accounting students (2002, background): “The need to explore student learning in different disciplinary contexts has been reiterated recently (Meyer and Eley, 1999; Neumann, 2001), and Lucas (2001) has called for more research within the accounting discipline.”
The relationship between motivation, learning approaches, academic performance and time spent (2017, methodology): “Scholars stated that motivation can affect the strategy a student adopts in learning (Lucas, 2001).”
Validation of the approaches and study skills inventory for students (assist) using accounting students in the USA and Ireland: a research note (2004, background): “One of the implications of this is that fine-grained discipline specific studies are warranted (Meyer and Eley, 1999; Neumann, 2001; Lucas, 2001).”
Perceptions of the learning context and learning approaches: Implications for quality learning outcomes in accounting (2005, background): “…the use of examination performance as a measure of learning outcomes (for example, Duff, 1996; Booth et al., 1999; Byrne et al., 2002; English et al., 2003) and qualitative data analysis related to perceptions of accounting (Gow et al., 1994; Sharma, 1997; Lucas, 2001; Lucas and Meyer, 2003b).”