Exploring Accounting Lecturer Perceptions of “Good” and “Poor” NESB Student Writing

This paper explores accounting lecturer perceptions of non-English speaking background (NESB) student writing. In particular, it identifies specific features of samples of writing characterised by the lecturers as “very good” and those characterised as “poor.” The paper reports the findings of an exploratory study in which three highly experienced accounting lecturers evaluated a small sample of NESB student writing they selected from a population of 120 samples. The key features identified for “very good” and “poor” writing are summarised, the limitations of the study are noted, and recommendations for further research are suggested. This paper will be of particular interest to English for academic purposes (EAP) teachers involved in preparing students for discipline-specific study at Australian universities.