Accounting Student or Asian Learner? The Moderating Impact of English Proficiency on Accounting Learning Outcomes in Australia

Australia has a high percentage of international students, mainly from Asia, undertaking higher education. The paper aims to better understand how Asian students achieve their desired learning outcomes, exercising their perceptions of the relative influence of factors affecting their learning. We examine the moderation effects of English language proficiency on the relationship between learning methods and teaching methods with learning outcomes of international postgraduate accounting students. The results show that English language ability critically moderates various learning constructs. Contrary to stereotypes of the Asian learner, lower levels of English ability encourage higher levels of desire to engage with, which results in improved learning outcomes. Although deep learning approaches were preferred by Asian students, lower English ability forced them to spend more time preparing for class and confined them to surface learning methods. The study broadens the meaning of learning outcomes beyond grades awarded to encompass other critical success factors such as skills, knowledge, and personal development for employability.