Cognitive skills objectives in intermediate accounting textbooks: Evidence from end-of-chapter material

Assessment and Cognitive Demand in Higher Education Account i ng Textbooks

“…The South African text was labeled Textbook A and the Nigerian text Textbook B. In the selecting the chapters for analysis, we aimed to incorporate a broad range of cognitive attributes by including chapters that are both textual and computational, because it was not realistic to examine every question in the textbooks (Davidson & Baldwin 2005). Therefore, we categorised all the chapters into four broad groups and selected one chapter from each group in line with the strategy used by Chiang et al (2008) While the titles of the chapters in the texts do not necessarily correspond in groups one and three, some topics contained therein are quite similar.…”

“…The few studies that have been conducted on the cognitive demand of assessment in accounting textbooks (Davidson & Baldwin 2005) generally focus on developed countries using Bloom's taxonomy to evaluate the extent to which the cognitive skills in End-Of-Chapter (EOC) materials in intermediate textbooks align with the requirements of the curriculum or professional bodies (Davidson & Baldwin 2005;Gupta & Marshall 2010). The general conclusions from these studies suggest that EOC materials do not adequately focus on cognitive skills at higher levels of the taxonomy, and may therefore not prepare students adequately to meet the requirements of professional institutions or the workplace.…”

“…Despite recognition that textbooks play a vital role in education, few studies have addressed the cognitive demands of assessment tasks in accounting (Davidson & Baldwin 2005) even though learning is largely driven by assessment (Biggs 2003). While Stokes, Rosetti and King (2010) examined the cognitive demand of assessment tasks in introductory accounting textbooks in the United States, there is a paucity of such research on the African continent.…”

Explaining Differences in Learning Outcomes in Auditing Education - The Importance of Background Factors, Prior Knowledge and Intellectual Skills

“…"any assertion about (teaching) efficiency must include a measurement of a student's learning achievements", Adler (1999, 241). Davidson and Baldwin (2005) associate Bloom's taxonomy to end-of-chapter assignments in order to identify the presence of cognitive skill objectives as prospective learning outcomes. However, their analysis indicates that low-level learning skills are predominant for intermediate accounting textbooks.…”

“…As a consequence, the educators have to make sure that the examination based on the auditing coursework is "fair". The type of questions classified here as requiring procedural knowledge may be considered as parallel as the learning outcomes at the upper end of Bloom's taxonomy, see Davidson and Baldwin (2005). In effect, a fair exam should reflect the differences in prior knowledge in order to provide equal opportunities for all students.…”