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NESB accountants, professional communication and implications for
ESP pedagogy
Anne BurnsStephen Moore
Applied Linguistics and Language in Education (ALLE) Research Centre
Macquarie University~Sydney
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Background Real and growing concern about the
quality of communication skills of recently graduated accountants in Australia (Birrell, 2006)
High proportion of non-English speaking background (NESB) overseas students training as accountants in Australia
Industry and academic concern about how their communication skills are best developed to meet needs and expectations of their future workplaces
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Introduction Our focus in this research is on the
discourse community of professional accountants.
This is an under-researched profession in studies of workplace communication.
Apart from our own research (reported at earlier USyd TESOL Research Colloquia) there are virtually no reports analysing spoken interactions between accountants and clients.
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Three phases of our research1. An examination of the spoken discourse of
postgraduate accounting students in simulated role plays (Burns & Moore, 2007)
Focus on power relations; advice initiation and termination; repair.
2. An investigation of the role of questioning in these same role plays (Burns & Moore, 2008)
3. An investigation of the spoken discourse of undergraduate accounting students in simulated role plays (Moore & Burns, in press)
Comparing the discourse of an undergraduate in-training NESB accountant with a practising NESB accountant
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Current study’s research questions
1. In what ways does the performance of an NESB in-training accountant differ from that of an NESB practising accountant?
2. What implications, if any, can be drawn from these findings in terms of professional accounting communication training and support?
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The study Task involving undergraduate
accounting students as professional advisers with non-accounting ‘clients’
‘Role play’ simulation, scaffolded by role play card and 8-page Australian Income Tax Return
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Data collection 10 role plays audio-recorded on digital recorders
in researcher’s office in May/June 2007 (+ one in August 2007)
Recordings transcribed for content Transcriptions examined for evidence of
technical competence in accounting 2 role plays selected are similar in terms of (i)
duration; (ii) NESB accountants; and (iii) their knowledge of the tax return form.
Comparisons made using Seedhouse & Richards’ (2007) tri-dimensional model of context
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Seedhouse & Richards 2007
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Seedhouse & Richards 2007: 25 “When LSP researchers collect data, they need to
employ the concepts of variety, sub-variety and micro-contexts. Any instance collected needs to be characterised as: a) belonging to a particular variety of institutional discourse which has particular characteristics, b) belonging to a particular sub-variety of institutional discourse which has distinctive characteristics, c) [being] a unique instance. By relating instances to varieties and sub-varieties in this way, researchers can build up a description of the characteristics of interaction in the institutional variety as a whole and in its sub-varieties”.
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Applying S & R (2007) Institutional
context
Variety encompasses overarching institutional aims
Professional accounting context
Overarching aim of providing financial advice to a wide range of clients
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Applying S & R (2007) Sub-variety
context
Achieving typical professional tasks
Sub-variety aim
Providing appropriate tax advice
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Applying S & R (2007) Micro-context
Unique instantiations of specific encounters between/among individuals
Micro-level aim
Providing appropriate tax advice in specific and unique accountant-client interactions
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Importance of sub-variety
“[A] sub-variety of institutional interaction is understood…as combining an institutional sub-aim with an interactional organisation appropriate to that aim.
A sub-variety has certain common, distinguishing features and may also have its own unique fingerprint”.
(Seedhouse & Richards, 2007: 18-19)
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Analysis
The sub-variety of accountant-client tax consultation reveals two key institutional sub-aims:
1. Informing the client of relevant tax regulations;
2. Completing the tax-return form.
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Informing the client of relevant tax regulations
Both practising and in-training accountant informed clients by:
1. Referring to specific figures (e.g., tax brackets; allowances etc.)
2. Referring to situational information (e.g., expense is paid by client, but is work-related, therefore a legitimate deduction before taxable income is calculated)
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Completing the tax return form: Practising accountant Practising accountant continually refers
back to the task of completing the tax return form
Institutionally relevant artefacts “constitute an essential link to the institutional context and are an integral part of a key move” (ie, one directly linked to the sub-aims of the sub-variety). Seedhouse & Richards 2007: 29
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Practising accountant’s use of tax return formAccountant: 2a How about we following the tax-return form, following
the pattern. Shall we look at income first? What kind of income do you have? Do you just earn salaries? Do you have, for example, shares or interest?
2b Alright. We’re going to have a look at deductions… 2c Okay, and there we move on to the tax offsets part
… 2d Okay. Alright. Fine. Very good. Well we are
progressed very well. 2e So, very good. We more or less complete the form
now. 2e Okay, that’s very good. We’re more or less … I’m
more or less asked you all the questions about all that all the things we need.
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Completing the tax return form: Trainee accountant The accountant-in-training also regularly
refers to the tax return form, but as an object or source of information, rather than as something to be completed with reference to the client.
Accountant’s orientation is to his own agenda of displaying knowledge about the tax return form
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In-training accountant’s use of tax return formAccountant: 4a So firstly … I will explain the form, the
formats of income tax return for you. The first page is normally about your personal information, is include your tax file number and your status, your sex.
4b So is automatically have off … when fill this form, in this form, says several situation like you claim spouse tax offset, you might needs to fill the spou detail, this mean, your husband … yeah. So why … and you must fill the form in the pages six or seven, here, for any situation relating.
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Other interactional differencesPractising accountant: Initiates consultation by
listening to client’s needs Refers continually to
client’s specific circumstances
Asks 38 questions Short Q & A sequences When leave-taking, the
accountant summarises the way forward as a plan for action to be taken
In-training accountant: Initiates consultation by
telling client that he will “explain” the tax return
Refers to tax return form generically
Asks 7 questions No short Q & A sequences When leave-taking, the
consultation ends abruptly without evidence of any interpersonal rapport between accountant and client.
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Pedagogical implications for developing communication skills
1. Accountants must understand what it means to be client- and not self-oriented or knowledge-oriented in their professional encounters.
2. This means fine-tuning their advice to the micro-context of the client’s knowledge and needs.
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Pedagogical implications for developing communication skills
3. At the sub-variety level, institutional artefacts such as a tax-return form play an important role in modulating professional discourse in relation to client-specific needs.
4. At the micro-level, an extensive use of questioning is used to construct the interactional architecture that enables the client to provide relevant personal information.
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Relevance of this research for LSP or professional training programs
1. Communication trainers or LSP teachers can deepen their own knowledge of particular types of interaction in effective and less effective encounters.
2. Practitioners can share this knowledge with their students.
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Relevance of this research for LSP or Professional training programs
3. Students can be alerted to the need to use a variety of questioning techniques to draw out client-specific information.
4. Trainees can be given training in generating and responding to questions of client-specified type, ie, relating to specific personal situations.
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Concluding remarks Evidence of clear differences in accomplishing a
professional task were presented: In-training accountant used expertise to orient to self,
global and decontextualised content knowledge. Practising accountant applied expertise to specific,
localised and individualised client interaction. Communication skills development programs
need to address and bridge these types of differences if they are to truly address the communication needs of the accounting profession.
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References Birrell, R. 2006. The changing face of the accounting profession
in Australia. Melbourne: CPA Australia. Burns, A. and Moore, S. 2008. Questioning in simulated
accountant-client consultations: Exploring implications for ESP teaching. English for Specific Purposes 27: 322-337.
Burns, A. and Moore, S. 2007. Conversation analysis and the accounting classroom: Exploring implications for LSP teaching. In H. Bowles and P. Seedhouse (Eds.) Conversation Analysis and LSP (pp.183-215) Bern: Peter Lang.
Moore, S. and Burns, A. (2008). Non-English speaking background accountants and professional communication. Prospect: An Australian journal of TESOL, 23(2), 47-59 .
Seedhouse, P. and Richards, K. 2007. Describing and analysing institutional varieties of interaction. In H. Bowles and P. Seedhouse (Eds.) Conversation Analysis and LSP (pp.17-36) Bern: Peter Lang.
