Abstract:
This study explores differences in students’ reading comprehension of International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in a South African financial reporting class with a
heterogeneous student cohort. Statistically significant differences were identified for prior
academic performance, language of instruction, first language and enrolment in the
Thuthuka programme. Where students, in a heterogeneous financial reporting class, require
additional interventions to develop their reading comprehension, instructors may need to
consider implementing differentiated instruction. Although this study considers South African
students, the results may be of interest in other multicultural or multilingual environments,
particularly where students also have diverse traits and backgrounds and have to
comprehend learning material in a second language.
