Using short stories to teach critical thinking and communication skills to tax students

Abstract

Researchers and numerous groups stress the importance of incorporating communication skills development into accounting curricula. Although a number of formal and informal techniques are available to instructors to incorporate writing skills into the classroom, many students have both oral and writing communication apprehension (CA). Short stories are a flexible teaching tool to overcome boredom both inside and outside the classroom. This scenario approach combines education and entertainment to make learning easier and interesting. Students can be required to develop short stories where accountants are the key characters and heroes. The better short stories may be placed on the Internet for future students to review. What may be wearisome and unexciting information can become meaningful through mystery, intrigue, humour, and adventure.Short Stories Critical Thinking Communication Skills Educational Novels Writing Communication Apprehension Scenario Principle,

Using Digital Storytelling to Engage Student Learning

“…Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/termsand-conditions Smith, 2000). So the key question is not whether education institutions ought to enact effective teaching pedagogies in accounting, but what and how to do so.…”

A writing intervention for the accounting classroom: dealing with the problem of faulty modifiers

“…Whatever the value of these approaches, they are burdened by one very significant problem: they are generally expensive to develop, implement, monitor, and maintain. Other approaches (viz., Crumbley & Smith, 2000;English et al, 1999;Ng et al, 1999;Prater & Rhee, 2003;Reinstein & Houston, 2004;Stout & Hoff, 1989/90;Stout et al, 1991;Wygal & Stout, 1989) are more limited in scope and focus on the use of writing in individual accounting (or business) classes. Still other approaches (Mills & Robertson, 1992;Powell, 1995;Scofield, 1994) can be viewed as supplementary in nature and as such are less costly ways to cover communication skills in accounting.…”

“…Crumbley and Smith (2000) present yet another example of the use of formal writing assignments in accounting: specifically, they discuss the use of 20-to 30-page short stories written by students in tax and accounting classes. These term papers are said to represent a form of ''didactic fictional novels'' prepared by students to ''teach'' technical accounting and tax topics.…”

Revitalizing Accounting Education: A Highly Applied Liberal Arts Approach

“…As a result, there seems to be a unlimited appetite in the literature for unique delivery techniques (e.g. Crumbley and Smith, 2000). Judging from the nearly complete absence of content suggestions in the literature, one has to assume that this component is wellcovered relative to the skills gap.…”