Improving accounting student writing skills using writing circles

An ongoing debate exists as to whether writing should be taught in accounting classes. We took on this challenge and found accounting student writing can be improved without overburdening faculty members, requiring very little class time. This article proposes using a peer review method, called writing circles (WCs), that takes 15 min to teach and can improve the quality of student writing. WCs require three or four individuals to meet regularly to give each other feedback on writing projects using a prescribed methodology that evaluates key sentences. Given the call to improve accounting students’ writing skills, we tested WCs in our classes, collecting empirical evidence to measure its effectiveness in three studies. After attending WCs, we found student writing improved allowing us to concentrate on grading content instead of grading writing. We administered the WCs in four different accounting classes at three different universities – two accounting information systems (AIS) classes, a tax class, and an advanced accounting class. At University A, we compared the writing between students in WCs and those tutored at the university learning center (LC) and found comparable results except for students going to WCs scored higher in grammar. At University B, we found that WCs helped students improve the writing of their one-page tax research memos, mainly in focus and style. Surprisingly, a methodology designed to improve writing also sparked classroom debates about solutions, which helped students write richer solutions through socially constructed knowledge. At University C, we found that WCs again helped students better organize and focus their papers. As a result of our studies, we believe WCs can move a number of students along the writing continuum to better writing. At all the universities, students expressed above-average satisfaction with their overall writing experience, except for a few students with advanced writing skills who preferred the help of writing tutors. Finally, we provide step-by-step instructions and rubrics so you can adopt WCs for your classes.