Sink or Skim: Students' Textbook Use in Introductory Accounting

Abstract

Despite the significant emphasis that most instructors place on textbooks in introductory accounting courses, little research exists to describe how students use and interact with their textbooks. Using learning journals, 172 undergraduate students provided detailed, real-time accounts of their experiences with 13 chapters of an introductory financial accounting textbook. This paper reports the results of qualitative and quantitative analyses that begin to characterize textbook use from a student perspective. These results provide guidance for instructors wanting to understand student reading behaviors such as reading strategies, timing strategies, and differences between strong and weak students. In addition, in each of these areas, we identify important and interesting questions to direct future research.

Keywords: Textbook, Reading, Study Strategies, Grounded Theory, Qualitative Research

JEL Classification: A23, M40