Language and learning in the Master of Accounting at Macquarie University

Anil, like many other postgraduate accounting students at Macquarie University, sees that her future professional life may take her anywhere in the world. The introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards in 2005, and action by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) and CPA Australia to seek international recognition for their members are moves that are helping to increase international opportunities for Australian accounting graduates. While acknowledging that students cannot rely solely on their university education to achieve transnational mobility (Singh, 2003), it is clear that ‘immigration, multiculturalism and global economic integration’ (Kalantzis & Cope, 2001a:9) have meant that among other educational goals, many professionally oriented university programmes now face the challenges of preparing students to participate in workplaces that are increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse, and where new language demands are being created by organisational and technological change (Johnson & Kress, 2003; Kalantzis & Cope, 2001b). Meeting the first of these challenges means ‘integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery’ of education, as recommended in Knight’s (2004:11) definition of internationalisation. In meeting both, teaching staff in the Master of Accounting programme at Macquarie are coming to see that, rather than simply being desirable outcomes that will prepare graduates for professional practice, communication skills also have a role to play in disciplinary learning.