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An investigation of postgraduateBusiness students' multimodal literacyand numeracy practices in Finance: amultidimensional explorationHesham Suleiman Alyousef a ba Discipline of Linguistics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide,Australiab Department of English & Literature, King Saud University,Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaVersion of record first published: 12 Nov 2012.
To cite this article: Hesham Suleiman Alyousef (2012): An investigation of postgraduate Businessstudents' multimodal literacy and numeracy practices in Finance: a multidimensional exploration,Social Semiotics, DOI:10.1080/10350330.2012.740204
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
An investigation of postgraduate Business students’ multimodal literacyand numeracy practices in Finance: a multidimensional exploration
Hesham Suleiman Alyousefa,b*
aDiscipline of Linguistics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; bDepartment of English &Literature, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(Received 20 May 2010; final version received 17 July 2011)
Empirical research studies of finance have investigated students’ performance inPrinciples of Finance courses and the effect of class attendance on students’performance. Similarly, accounting research has been directed at readability ofaccounting narratives and lexical choices. However, no published study hasexplored and analysed the multimodal literacy and numeracy social practices ofinternational students in a core business module, and within a multidimensionalresearch framework. This study is of interest as most international ESL/EFLstudents in Australia and elsewhere are enrolled in business programmes. Thispaper explores the literacy and numeracy social practices of 10 first-year Masterof Commerce Accounting international students in a Principles of Financemodule. It is underpinned by the proposed multidimensional framework which isframed by Halliday’s systemic functional linguistic theory and by O’Halloran’smultisemiotic framework for the analysis of mathematical symbolism. Thefindings are presented in terms of (1) the epistemologies of Principles ofFinance, (2) a Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA)of the experiential meanings in students’ capital budgeting management reports,and (3) a description of the actual practices the participants engaged with tocomplete the assignment and their explanations of their texts. Implications ofthese findings and the research framework presented. The SF-MDA contributesto the description of experiential meaning in financial tables and graphs. Itindicates a potential research tool for the systemic functional analysis ofmultimodal finance and accounting discourses. The multidimensional explorationof participants’ literacy practices presented here could also provide a frameworkfor similar investigation across a broad range of educational settings.
Keywords: literacy practice; experiential meaning; systemic functional multi-modal; discourse analysis; multimodal; business discourse; finance literacies
1. Introduction
This ethnographic study explores and investigates the literacy and numeracy
practices of 10 first-year Master of Commerce accounting international students,
divided into three groups, who worked on a key topic in the Principles of Finance
module, capital budgeting management report: Abdulhadi, Saud, Jim and Cathy
(Group 1), Abdulrahman and Jiang (Group 2), and Ibrahim, Hasan, Sharon and
Tracey (Group 3). This study is part of a larger investigation into the numeracy and
literacy experiences of 19 Master of Commerce international students at a South
*Email: [email protected]
Social Semiotics
2012, 1�29, iFirst article
ISSN 1035-0330 print/1470-1219 online
# 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2012.740204
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Australian university which is supported by a long-term ethnographic engagement
with academics and students both inside and outside the campuses.
The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the multimodal and
multisemiotic meanings that are construed in a key topic in Principles of Finance
Master of Commerce foundation module. This includes investigating the social
practices, events and texts. It aims to investigate (1) the social academic literacy and
numeracy practices postgraduate students are expected to engage in while perform-
ing the assigned Principles of Finance capital budgeting management report; (2) how
ESL/EAL postgraduate students studying in Australia represent the experiential,
conceptual financial knowledge; (3) how mathematical symbolism is represented and
interwoven into natural language in management reports; and (4) the social practices
Saudi EAL postgraduate students engaged in to complete the capital budgeting
management report.
Most of the academic literacy studies have focused only on specific aspects of the
writing tasks, rather than providing a systemic interpretive analysis of students’
discursive practices and experiences. As Garzone (2009, 156) points out that ‘‘so far,
contributions from linguists specifically dealing with multimodality in business
discourse have been relatively few, and most of them have been based on the analysis
of single cases or genres.’’
Lea and Street (2006) argue that multimodal analysis reveals the range of
meanings expressed in learners’ activities and genres. As they put it, multimodal
analysis aids in theorising ‘‘the multimodal nature of literacy, and thus of different
genres, that students needed to master in order to represent different types of
curriculum content for different purposes, and therefore to participate in different
activities’’ (Lea and Street 2006, 373). Tools for the systemic functional description
and analysis of capital budgeting management reports are not yet developed.
Empirical research studies of finance have investigated major and non-major
students’ performance in Principles of Finance courses (Sen et al. 1997) and the effect
of class attendance on students’ performance (Chan, Shum, and Wright 1997).
Similarly, accounting research has been directed at readability of narratives in
financial accounting textbooks over the past years, as measured by word and
sentence length (Davidson 2005) and lexical choices as measured by word choice and
frequency of use (Conaway and Wardrope 2010; Hyland 1998; Rutherford 2005).
Baskin (2000, 70) states, although there are divergent applications of literacy across
the business professions, ‘‘there remains a distinct lack of consensus over the
meaning of literacy in higher education communities.’’ In his final editorial for
English for Specific Purposes (1994), Swales appealed for more data-based
investigations into business English, which may be valuable for English for specific
purposes (ESP) teachers. Although management reports utilising capital budgeting
techniques are one of the most commonly used genre in Principles of Finance
module, there is a lack of multidimensional research framework that explores and
analyses international students’ multimodal literacy and numeracy social practices
that construe such reports. Kress (2000, 157) argues that ‘‘the single, exclusive and
intensive focus on written language has dampened the full development of all kinds
of human potentials.’’ This study is pertinent as most international ESL/EFL
students in Australia and elsewhere are enrolled in business and commerce
programmes (Alyousef and Picard 2011).
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Numeracy practices are conceived as ‘‘literacy practices involving ‘numerate’
texts’’ (Barwell 2004, 21), a sub-set of literacy practice, since they are social processes
of making meaning with numerate text. This ethnographic research study is
underpinned by the proposed multidimensional framework for the investigation of
literacy practices. The Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis
(SF-MDA) of participants’ capital budgeting management reports is framed by
systemic functional linguistics (Halliday 1985; Halliday and Martin 1993) and by
O’Halloran’s (1999, 2000) multisemiotic framework for the analysis of mathematical
symbolism. The SF-MDA aims to analyse the experiential meaning in the
multimodal texts, which encompass financial tables and graphs.
The multidimensional exploration of students’ literacy and numeracy social
practices is presented in terms of (1) the epistemologies of a Principles of Finance
module, (2) an SF-MDA of the experiential meaning in students’ capital budgeting
management reports and (3) a description of the participants’ actual practices they
engaged with to complete the assignment and their explanations of their texts. This is
followed by the discussion and the conclusion (Section 5), followed by the
implications (Section 6).
2. The epistemologies of the Principles of Finance module
This section describes the epistemologies of a Principles of Finance module which
encompass the social context of the study (2.1), materials (2.2), an overview of capital
budgeting techniques (2.3), the graduate attributes and learning outcomes (2.4), and
nature of the participants’management report assignment task sheets (2.5).
2.1. Social context
Context encompasses the research site and the participants. The setting of this study
was the University of Adelaide in South Australia. This study explores the literacy
and numeracy social practices of 10 first-year Master of Commerce Accounting
international students, who were given the pseudonyms: Abdulhadi, Saud, Jim and
Cathy (Group 1), Abdulrahman and Jiang (Group 2), and Ibrahim, Hasan, Sharon
and Tracey (Group 3). The participation of five of these students was non-focal as
they only consented to the analysis of their written assignments which was completed
with the other five focal Saudi participants: Abdulhadi, Saud, Abdulrahman,
Ibrahim and Hasan. To enrol in the Master of Commerce Accounting programme,
the students needed to achieve six or more in the International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) examinations, thus they have a ‘‘generally effective
command of the language, despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and mis-
understandings’’ (IELTS 2011). Since they completed their Accounting under-
graduate programme in Saudi Arabia they did not have opportunities to practise
their English outside the school or at the university. Unlike his peers, Hasan’s
undergraduate study programme in Saudi Arabia was not related to business, but to
computer science. All the five participants enrolled in an English course when they
arrived in Australia, and which ranged between 37 and 55 weeks.
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2.2. Materials
The corpus is composed of three assignments written in English (7844 words) in the
field of business finance, capital budgeting management report genre: text 1 (2483
words), text 2 (1975 words) and text 3 (3386 words), excluding the cover sheet, table
of contents and the appendices. It also includes three task sheets, the study-guide (or
information booklet), Fundamentals of Financial Management textbook (Brigham
and Houston 2009), structured and unstructured interviews with Saud (Group 1),
Abdulrahman (Group 2) and Ibrahim (Group 3) and an unstructured interview with
one of the tutors, Janet (March 4, 2010). The interviews were transcribed in situ talk.
The aim of the interview was to explore students’ socio-cultural practices and
experiences and their perceptions of disciplinary conventions in the Principles of
Finance module. The structured interviews with the participants were guided by a
number of questions, whereas the unstructured were guided by prompts, such as the
use of capital budgeting, spreadsheets, financial calculators and the textbooks/sites.
The assignment is individual/group work on a key topic in the Principles of Finance
module, capital budgeting techniques. It is allotted 15% of the total mark for this
course. The three written assignments were performed by three groups of two to four
students. Though the three groups had different assignment task sheets, they were
comparable since the main topic underlying the tasks is similar, except for the
second part of the Group 1 task sheet (portfolio management) which was
excluded. Henceforth, each group will be referred to by the group numbers displayed
in Table 1.
Before describing the requirements of each task sheet, the learning outcomes and
the graduate attributes of capital budgeting management reports it is worthwhile to
overview the fundamental financial theoretical aspects underlying capital budgeting
techniques.
2.3. An overview of capital budgeting techniques
The term capital refers to ‘‘long-term assets used in production, while a budget is a
plan that outlines projected expenditures during some future period’’ (Brigham and
Houston 2009, 336). Thus, capital budgeting refers to a process in which a business
determines which project is worth pursuing. In capital budgeting, valuation
techniques are used to analyse the impact of real assets instead of financial assets.
As a result, future cash inflows and outflows are estimated to decide the economic
feasibility of a prospective investment. Management reports should thereforedetermine which project will yield the most return over an applicable period of time.
Mutually exclusive projects (Brigham and Houston 2009) mean that the
acceptance of a project entails rejecting the other one(s). The major capital budgeting
decision criteria are net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), multiple
Table 1. The distribution of the three groups in the finance module.
Participants Group number
Abdulhadi, Saud, Jim and Cathy 1
Abdulrahman and Jiang 2
Ibrahim, Hasan, Sharon and Tracey 3
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internal rates of return (MIRR) and payback period (PP). PP (Brigham and Houston
2009) refers to the time it takes to recovering the costs of an investment. NPV and
IRR are the two most widely used measures of project worth. NPV is used to
determine how much value an investment adds to a company. It is equal to thePresent Value (PV) of an investment in ‘‘today’s dollars’’ of the future net cash flows
(CFs) discounted at the cost of capital. IRR is an estimate of the required rate of
return that forces PV of inflows to equal the cost, and the NPV to equal zero; any
project should be avoided if the cost of capital exceeds this rate. The analysis of
mutually exclusive projects with unequal lives could be adjusted either through the
equivalent annual annuity (EAA) model or the Replacement Chain (common life)
approach. When comparing investments with unequal lives, the one with the higher
EAA should be chosen. Next, a sensitivity analysis is applied to assess riskiness ofCFs. Sensitivity analysis focuses on analysing the effects of changes in key variables
on the project’s IRR or NPV.
Having introduced the mathematical demands and the financial concepts
underlying capital budgeting techniques, in the next section I describe the graduate
attributes and learning outcomes of the management report task.
2.4. The graduate attributes and the learning outcomes of the management report task
The purpose of the assignment is to apply into practice the theoretical framework for
project valuation. Students are required to write a management report in a group of
two to five students. As stated in the Group 2 task sheet, the specific objectives
underlying the group task were to:
� develop dynamic group skills;
� learn to communicate and cooperate with peers;
� develop problem-solving skills; and� improve interpersonal communication skills.
Indeed the Business School insists in its Communication Skills Guide (Hancock 2006)
on the overriding importance of communication for success during tertiary study and
beyond. Similarly, Jackson and Durkee (2007, 91�92) argue that ‘‘owing to the ever-
changing demands on the accounting professional, the professional community
considers it imperative that accounting educators incorporate into their curricula a
focus on life-long learning skills.’’ The module’s study-guide lists the objectives andthe graduate attributes (or qualities) of Principles of Finance in terms of (1)
knowledge and understanding; (2) learning outcomes; and (3) communication skills.
Judging from the task sheet, it seems that the tutor places high value on
communication and problem-solving skills since these will enable students to gain
disciplinary-specific knowledge in financial management, and in turn provide them
with relevant and meaningful life-long learning experiences that will most likely help
them succeed in their future work. The objectives of capital budgeting task/topic and
their corresponding graduate attributes are listed in Table 2.The graduate attributes of communication skills include exhibiting analytical and
critical thinking, working in teamwork and engaging in life-long learning. Based on
the course objectives outlined in Table 2, the purpose of this task is to display
knowledge and understanding by:
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� applying the fundamental theoretical aspects of financial management within
the accounting profession and
� understanding modern finance theory in order to make sound financial
decisions in the ever-changing field of information and communicationindustry.
Table 2. The objectives and the graduate attributes of capital budgeting management reports.
Criteria Objectives Graduate attributes
(1) Knowledge and
understanding
- Applying the fundamental
theoretical aspects (particularly
valuation issues) of finance
within the accounting
profession.
- Understanding modern Finance
theory in order to make sound
financial decisions in the ever-
changing field of information
and communication industry.
- An appreciation of basic
principles and tools necessary to
pursue further studies in the
broad field of commerce.
- An in-depth understanding of
the methods of techniques
applied in accounting, finance or
marketing.
- An understanding of the
underlying theories and concepts
that inform alternative
perspectives adopted in
approaching issues and problems
in accounting, finance or
marketing.
(2) Learning
Outcomes
- Explaining the importance, role
and techniques of capital
budgeting in a firm.
- Understanding how to determine
the cost of capital in a firm.
- A commitment to high levels of
academic scholarship.
(3) Communication
Skills
- The continuing development of
good interpersonal and
communication skills.
- Developing students’ abilities to
work in groups, make a group
presentation and write a group
management report.
- High-level critical thinking and
problem-solving skills.
- Ability to evaluate and
synthesise information and
existing knowledge from a
number of sources and
experiences.
- Capacity to design and construct
a logically compelling
management report.
- Capacity to participate in
teamwork.
- High-level oral communication
skills.
- High-level written
communication skills.
- The capacity to engage in life-
long learning.
Source: The Principles of Finance study-guide (3�4), Business School, University of Adelaide.
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Capital budgeting literacy could be defined in terms of the objectives of the three
tasks. In the next section, I therefore investigate the literacy and numeracy
requirements of the three task sheets.
2.5. Nature of the management report assignment task sheets
The assignment task sheets present the social purpose which in turn determines the
schematic structure of management reports. The social purpose of the three tasks is
to evaluate the best investment alternative through the application of capital
budgeting techniques, and to present the findings in the form of a management
report (Table 3).
The three groups were required to evaluate the best investment alternative. They
were also required not to exceed the 2000 word limit, excluding appendices. The
Group 1 task sheet requires students to take the position of the CEO of Voortco, a
leading maker of electric and acoustic guitars, and decide the best choice of the three
investments: continuing with business as normal, upgrading existing equipment, or
discontinue using current equipment and building a new production line. The Group
2 task sheet requires students to evaluate whether it is worthwhile to install tanning
equipment in a full-service salon and day spa and if they assess it is, they should
decide which of the two types of tanning equipment, Dome Unit and Tanning Bed, is
more suitable. The Group 3 task sheet includes one case study. The scenario in the
task was to choose one of the three alternatives: (1) the closure of one of the two
factories in Australia and relocating operations to Thailand; (2) installing new IT
system for the two factories; and (3) to develop new product designs and to improve
quality control. Pardoe (2000, 130) argues that although aspects of experience ‘‘may
represent merely one set of practices among many’’ within the profession, explicitly
attaching a particular activity or experience to a particular professional scenario is
central to students’ understanding of the profession.
The task sheets state the minimum information students are supposed to present.
Since each group enrolled in this module in different semesters, the task sheets’
requirements differed accordingly. Group 1 was given complete freedom with regard
to the arrangement of the steps. This group’s task sheet explicitly required students to
be concise by using multi-semiotic texts such as graphs and tables where relevant, i.e.
when examining the discount rate, sales growth, machine costs and cost of goods
sold (COGS). This was repeated two times, as shown below.
You are required to complete a detailed report assessing the viability of the investmentproposals. As a starting point determine the Net Present Value for the business as stands
Table 3. The scenario and the word limit of the three task sheets.
Group
number
Task
sheet Scenario Word limit
1 1 Three investment proposals for a leading maker of
electric and acoustic guitars
1500�2000
words
2 2 Two investment proposals for salon and day spa 2000 words
3 3 Three investment proposals for two manufacturing
factories
2000 words
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today. Then begin your analysis on the other investment proposals. In yourrecommendations be sure to provide relevant and concise data tables, graphs andoutline any assumptions made.
In addition to the report of the above information provide a one page sensitivitiesanalysis. Examine the discount rate, sales growth, machine costs, and COGS. You willneed to make this as concise as possible so be sure to use graphs and tables whererelevant. Further details of this will be made available during lectures.
Group 1 needs to be ‘‘as concise as possible’’ by largely providing its explanations
through tables and graphs. The Group 1 task sheet includes explicit semiotic
processes that require action, decision and an understanding: ‘‘Complete a detailed
report,’’ ‘‘Determine,’’ ‘‘Provide’’ and ‘‘Examine.’’
In contrast, both Group 2 and Group 3 task sheets stated the minimum
information the management report should include. The requisite to include multi-
semiotic texts in the report occurred only once in Group 2 and Group 3 task sheets,
as shown in Table 4.
Students are expected to read the scenario and engage in social communication
skills with their group members in order to apply the theoretical aspects of financial
management and understand modern finance theory to make sound financial
decisions in the ever-changing field of information and communication industry.
Having introduced the requirements underlying the successful completion of
capital budgeting management reports, I present in the next section the SF-MDA of
management reports. As stated earlier in 2.1, the three reports were written by three
groups: Group 1, Abdulhadi, Saud, Jim and Cathy, Group 2, Abdulrahman and
Jiang, and Group 3, Ibrahim, Hasan, Sharon and Tracey.
Table 4. The requirements in Groups 2 and 3’s task sheets.
Group 2 task sheet Group 3 task sheet
1. A schedule of operating CF forecasts for
the relevant lives of each type of tanning
equipment using 100% (best case), 70%
(most likely case) and 40% (worst case)
occupancy estimates for each tanning
option.
2. The NPV, PP and the IRR for each tanning
option under the various scenarios.
3. An analysis of your findings, recommending
which of the two units would provide the
greatest economic benefits to Patsy? Why?
4. Sensitivity analyses for both tanning
options (using the most likely case � 70%
occupancy estimates).
5. What are some externalities and other
relevant issues that could affect the
decision?
6. Assumptions related to your calculation
and findings.
1. A schedule of incremental after-tax net
operating CF for all three proposals.
2. Use appropriate capital budgeting decision
criteria to evaluate the three alternatives.
However, your decision should be based on
at least 3 criteria such as the NPV, PP and
the IRR.
3. An analysis of your findings and a
recommendation of which proposal would
provide the greatest economic benefits to
the company? Provide justifications.
4. Sensitivity analyses for all three proposals.
5. Other intangible or qualitative factors
relevant for all three proposals.
6. Assumptions related to your calculations
and findings.
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3. An SF-MDA of the experiential meaning in capital budgeting management reports
Students construct disciplinary-specific finance knowledge through meaning-making
processes which involves the interaction of the experiential, the interpersonal and the
textual meanings. The SF-MDA of the experiential meaning seeks to provide an
account of how capital budgeting management reports are typically constructed and
how they relate to their contexts of use through the social purposes. The socio-
cultural context of the three tasks is represented in terms of the three register
variables of FIELD, TENOR and MODE:
� FIELD: accounting and finance mathematical calculations of investment
proposals, using specialised technical terms related to capital budgeting
techniques that are only known by specialists in the field.
� TENOR: students formally engaged with an assessment genre which will only
be read by the tutor (the assessor).Type of interaction: monologue/occasionally
dialogic through the declarative mood element.
� MODE: written to be assessed by a finance academic tutor.Multimodal
discourse: texts, tables and graphs: the latter two are multisemiotic since theyencompass language (titles and labels) and mathematical symbolism.Medium:
print, accompanied by other semiotics (spreadsheets and graphs).Site of
display: assignment submitted on A4 paper.Frame: informative expository
report.
In order to successfully complete the capital budgeting management report students
need to manage the expressions of FIELD, TENOR and MODE through
experiential, interpersonal and textual language metafunctions. Due to space
constraints I investigate here only the way ESL/EAL postgraduate students represent
the experiential, conceptual financial knowledge (3.1). The study of the three
metafunctions in management reports, however, is part of a larger investigation into
the numeracy and literacy experiences of 19 Master of Commerce international
students. In the next section I conduct an SF-MDA of the experiential meaning in
the three groups’ texts (3.1). I also explore the participants’ intuitive interpretations
of the conceptual and procedural capital budgeting procedures (3.2), in addition to
expansion of the experiential meaning (3.3). Group one, two and three management
reports will be labelled, hereafter, texts one, two and three.
3.1. The experiential meaning in capital budgeting management reports
In this section I investigate students’ experience of reality through the TRANSI-
TIVITY choices: their use of participants and process types (material, mental,
verbal, existential, relational and behavioural). The analysis of the TRANSITIVITY
patterns in the three groups’ texts contributes to understanding how the language of
finance construes participants’ experience of the world through technicality
(participants), process types and circumstances. The experiential meaning is also
revealed by investigating structural condensation in mathematical symbolism. The
logical metafunction concerns the representation of the relations between one
process and another, i.e. between clauses. This is achieved through the conjunctive
relationships that are beyond the scope of this paper.
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Table 5. The frequency percentage of process types in the three texts.
Process
Relational
Identifying
Text Material Attributive Explicit Implicit Total Behavioural Existential Mental Verbal Total
One 79 35 55 257 312 6 1 24 1 458
17.25% 7.64% 12.00% 56.12% 68.12% 1.31% .22% 5.24% .22% 100%
Two 68 27 20 183 203 0 1 22 5 326
20.86% 8.28% 6.13% 56.14% 62.27% 0.00% .30% 6.75% 1.54% 100%
Three 153 23 46 440 486 1 12 40 3 718
21.31% 3.20% 6.41% 61.28% 67.69% .14% 1.67% 5.57% .42% 100%
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The TRANSITIVITY analysis of the experiential metafunction construed in the
participants’ texts reveals that the most frequently occurring process is the relational
identifying, as shown in Table 5.The analysis reveals that over 62% of the process types are relational identifying,
while material process is the second most frequently occurring type. It should be
noted here that the appendices in the Excel Worksheets had very high frequency of
relational identifying processes in the financial tables, but they were excluded from
the analysis because Group 1 did not manage to save a copy of this file before
submitting it. The use of relational attributive processes ranged between 3.20% and
8.28%. These processes are used for classification and description. From the
TRANSITIVITY analysis it can also be deduced that the participant roles in Texts
1 and 3 are all occupied by inanimate entities, while the ACTOR roles in Text 2 are
occupied by both humans (the writers and Patsy) and inanimate entities. Over 82%
of the relational identifying processes are implicit since they are found in tables, and
are used to identify the value of accounting and finance key terms. The financial
table discourse is highly metaphorical since its components use the implicit
relationships between Token and Value to refer to the participants in a relational
identifying clause; examples extracted from the three texts are given in Table 6.
This process type is used for identification, rather than location or possession.
Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 234) state that the Token-Value structure plays an
important role in the register of commercial and scientific discourse. Similarly, the
presentation of findings uses the relationship between Token and Value to refer to
the participants in a relational identifying clause; examples extracted from the three
texts are given in Table 7.The three mathematical formulae in Texts 1 and 2 in Table 7 include a number of
material (or operative) processes as discussed in Section 3.3.2. The constituents
‘‘and’’ and ‘‘moreover’’ do not contribute to the experiential meaning, but rather
express textual meanings. As seen in Table 5, Group 1 used more relational
identifying explicit processes (12.00%) than the other two groups. There are also
instances of agentless passives where the writers deleted the ACTORS in passive
clauses because their identity is known to the reader and replaced them with
nominalised abstract technical terms, as in the examples shown in Table 8.
Baratta (2010, 1017) argues that in addition to creating textual cohesion
nominalisations in academic writing ‘‘can assist in maintaining an impersonal
tone, often by deleting a human agent within a given sentence.’’ This seems to be a
Table 6. Examples of implicit relational identifying processes in the financial tables.
Text Token-Identified Process: Relational-Identifying Value-Identifier
One Sales forecast on the basis of 10%
growth rate for the year 2009
[is] 6,600,000
Operating CFs in 2008 [are] 850,000
Two Long-term debt (D) [is] 200,000
The PV of the Dome unit [is] �30588.79
Three Incremental labour cost savings
under the 30% increase from the
base level
[are] 1,378,423
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characteristic feature of finance discourse since the aim is to emphasise the process
rather than the agent who is performing the action. Thompson (2004) considers
nominalised processes as non-finite since the truths they express are not tied to
specific time or observer.
Experience is reconstrued as discipline-specific, and the conceptual implicit
knowledge of the financial concepts is highly complex, since students have to unpack
the interpersonal meanings that exist between them in order to successfully manage
in this course. The experiential world the texts reference is mathematical calculations
of prospective investments. The writers assume that they share with their readers
specialist or expert knowledge, as evidenced by their use of abbreviations and
acronyms of more narrowly technical terms which have technical meanings not
known in the general community, such as WACC, NPV, PP, IRR and EAA. These
specialist terms assume an insider’s or expert’s knowledge and are typically modified
by classifiers that ‘‘tend to be organized in mutually exclusive and exhaustive sets’’
(Halliday 1985, 185). This organisation in turn helps locate a given abstract technical
Table 7. Examples of relational identifying processes in the three texts.
Text
Token-
Identified
Process:
Relational,
Identifying Value-Identifier Circumstance
One and its historical
cost
is 2.2 [million]
After tax
salvage on the
old machine
�[is equal to] 800,000�0.3
(800,000�1,200,000)
Two Machine and set
up costs for
Dome Unit
are (25000�1500 �$26,500) and
(15000�1500 �$16,500)
for Tanning Unit
Dome Unit’s PV
under the base
case
is $30,589 as compared
to $20,567
under the
Tanning Bed
Base Case
Three Moreover, current yearly
revenue
is $ 10 million
and this incremental
outflow
would equal
to
approximately 3.8% of Adelaide
annual sales
contribution.
Table 8. Examples of passive clauses in the three texts.
Text Phenomenon
Process:
Material Range Circumstance
One Gross profit is calculated
Two Depreciation is calculated on a straight line basis
NPV is computed
Three Firstly, all CFs are calculated at the end of each
year.
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term within its subclass: for example, in present value the classifier present puts the
item value in a subclass of values, distinguishing it from future value. The three texts
include some terms which do not assume an expert’s knowledge such as profit,
company, tax, bulbs, working hours, revenue and factory.
3.2. Participants’ intuitive interpretations of the conceptual and procedural capitalbudgeting procedures
Since this qualitative study is underpinned by the interpretive worldview it seeks to
explore how participants describe and understand learning tasks rather than merely
explain what they do (Terre Blanche and Kelly 2002). I therefore unpack in Table 9
the procedures Group 2 performed to successfully complete the management report.
This includes the procedures, mathematical clause complexes) underlying the
formulae and the variables in order to show how a given technical term was
calculated. This explication was elicited from Abdulrahman’s (personal communica-
tion, March 24, 2010) intuitive understandings of the conceptual and procedural
capital budgeting procedures, in addition to my reading of the module’s textbook
(Brigham and Houston 2009).The mathematical clause complexes underlying the formulae are ordered in linear
sequence where each clause is dependent on the previous clause(s), forming what I
call interclausal relations. These relations exhibit the analytical skills since both
participants discern the conceptual ideas underlying the order of the steps. The
Communication Skills Guide for business students (Hancock 2006, 38) states that an
analytical questioning approach refers to students’ ability in ‘‘pulling apart the
elements of the ideas and examining how they operate on each other,’’ while critical
questioning refers to their ability ‘‘in always looking for what is not obvious or for
different points of view.’’ For example, in step 9, critical questioning was experienced
by Group 2 when it decided to use EAA model rather than the Replacement Chain
approach because the longer project (Tanning Dome) does not have exactly twice the
life of the shorter one (Tanning Bed). In addition, intraclausal dependency relations
exist within mathematical clauses. For example, in Step 7 two intraclausal dependency
relations exist between PP and ‘‘investment outlay’’ and PP and ‘‘annual cash
inflows’’ since the calculation of PP is dependent on both ‘‘investment outlay’’ and
‘‘annual cash inflows.’’ Students’ intuitive understanding (or the intended reading
path) of the conceptual and procedural financial processes is contingent upon their
analytical and critical skills to expand the meaning potential by deciphering the
paradigmatic experiential codes underlying interclausal relations and intraclausal
dependency relations. O’Halloran (1999, 23) argues that this results in the semiotic
metaphor, rather than grammatical metaphor, since the ‘‘shifts take place as a result
of movements between semiotic codes.’’ Lemke (1990, 164) states:
Mathematics is a creative art form . . .The knowledge of mathematics consists of twoparts: a practical knowledge of how to perform various manipulations of quantitativeand logical relationships and a theoretical knowledge of how those relationships fittogether to form an overall system within which the manipulations make sense. It is onlythe first part that most people have any conceivable use for, but it is only the second partthat enables you to understand why mathematical procedures work.
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Table 9. The conceptual/procedural calculations in Group 2’s management report.
Technical term Procedures
Mathematical clause complex
(formula)
Using the following
variables
1. WACC E
EþD
� �� Re þ D
EþD
� ��
Rd � 1 � tð Þ
E, Equity; D, Debt; Re,
Pre Tax Cost of Equity;
Rd, Pre Tax Cost of
Debt; t, Tax Rate;
number 1
2. Total
revenue for
each
equipment
Number of
sessions at
100%
occupancy �
Working hours p.a�no. of
sessions per hour
Working hours p. a.,
number of sessions per
hour
Revenue from
tanning under
the two options
Number of sessions at 100%
occupancy�price per visit
Number of session at
100% occupancy, price
per visit
Revenue from
tanning lotion
under the two
options
Number of sessions at 100%
occupancy�Number of bottels
sold
Number of session at
100% occupancy, number
of bottles sold
Total revenue�3% growth rate
Revenue from tanning�Revenue from tanning lotion�3%
Revenue from tanning,
revenue from tanning
lotion, growth rate
3. Total
expenses for
each
equipment
Electricity
expenses
Number of sessions at 100%
occupancy�electricity cost per
session
Number of session at
100% occupancy,
electricity cost per session
Bulb cost per
session
Numberof bulbs needed�cost per bulb
bulb life hrsð Þ�Number of sessions per hr:Number of bulbs needed,
cost per bulb, bulb life in
hours, number of sessions
per hour
Bulb expenses Number of sessions at 100%
occupancy�bulb cost per
session
Number of session at
100% occupancy, bulb
cost per session
Total expenses
for each
equipment
Electricity expences�bulb
expenses�advertisement
expenses
Electricity expenses, bulb
expenses, advertisement
expenses
4. Profit after
tax
Profit Total revenue for each
equip.total expense for each
equip.
Total revenue for each
equipment, total
expenses for each
equipment
Depreciation Prime costunit lifefor each option
Prime cost, unit life for
each option
Net profit Profile before tax �tax Profit before tax, tax rate
Add Back
Depreciation
Net profit�depreciation Net profit, depreciation
5. Incremental
Operating
Cash Flow
(OCF)
Determines the
value of future
cash in today’s
dollars
FV
1þWACCð Þ1þn Future value (net profit
after adding back
depreciation),1,WACC,
1, n, number of year
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To successfully manage capital budgeting techniques, students need to have the
ability to unpack the mathematical idea(s) compressed in a given formula
(intraclausal relation) and relate it to the preceding and/or the following procedures
(interclausal relation). To do so, they need to exhibit both analytical and critical
skills that will enable them to build logically and linearly sequenced mathematical
clause complexes, as evidenced by their intuitive expansion of the experiential
meaning. For example, depreciation is deducted from revenue and then added back
(Step 4) before applying PV formula (Step 5) because it is a non-cash expense. The
PV is determined by discounting the future CF at the appropriate discount rate (the
project’s cost of capital, WACC). Similarly, the idea of NPV (Step 6) is to determine
how much value an investment adds to a company. NPV is calculated by adding
initial investment cost (negative value) to the sum of the discounted CFs. In Step 7,
PP refers to the time it takes to recovering the costs of an investment; it does not take
account of risk and the time value of money. Investments with shorter PP are
preferable since risk is minimised and liquidity is maximised. An alternative to this
approach is the discounted payback. The IRR, Step 8, is the break-even discount
rate, and it refers to the required rate of return that forces PV of inflows equal to cost,
and the NPV equals to zero; any project should be avoided if the cost of capital
exceeds this rate. IRR is the break-even discount rate, and it is found by trial and
Table 9 (Continued )
Technical term Procedures
Mathematical clause complex
(formula)
Using the following
variables
6. NPV NPV
determines the
net value of
future cash in
today’s dollars
after deducting
investment
outlay
PTt�1
Ct
1þrð Þt � Co
S, sum of PVs of CFs
expected from the
project; t, project/
investment’s duration in
years; Ct, OCFs; r,
discount rate/the
required minimum rate
of return on investment;
and Co, investment
outlay (initial investment
made).
7. PP Investment outlay
annual cash inflowsInvestment outlay,
annual cash inflows
8. IRR Similar in many
ways to the
NPV approach
CF1
1þrð Þ1 þ CF2
1þrð Þ2 þ CF3
1þrð Þ3 þ CFn
1þrð Þn ¼ 0 CF �cash flow
generated in the specific
period (the last period
being ‘n’); R, WACC
9. EAAa R NPVð Þ1� 1þRð Þ�n NPV �net PV of the
project; r, rate of return;
n, number of years
10. Sensitivity
analysis
Repeat steps 2-8 but with increase as well as decrease in revenues to the
extent of 10%
Source: Adapted from Group 2’s appendices, the textbook (Brigham & Houston, 2009) and financeformula’s website Bhttp://www.financeformulas.net�aInvestopedia, http://www.financeformulas.net/Equivalent_Annual_Annuity.html
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error. The analyst creates a given set of scenarios to determine how changes in one
variable will impact the target variable. Finally, the investments are evaluated: accept
if NPV �0 and/or IRR �WACC. If IRR exceeds WACC, the difference will be the
bonus which a company receives. In Step 9, EAA refers to the benefit from theproject spread out over the life of the project. Finally, sensitivity analysis (Step 10)
focuses on analysing the effects of changes in key variables on the project’s IRR or
NPV. Scenario analysis (Brigham and Houston, 2009, 378) allows for a change in
‘‘more than one variable at a time, and it incorporates the probabilities of changes in
key variables’’ that may be influenced by market conditions such as sales price,
variable cost per unit, number of units sold, fixed operating costs and WACC.
Abdulrahman’s group conducted scenario analyses for an increase as well as decrease
in revenues to the extent of 10% by repeating Steps 2�8.The next section’s focus is on investigating the way the mathematical symbolism
is represented and interwoven into natural language in management reports.
3.3. Expansion of the experiential meaning
O’Halloran (1999) contends that semantic extensions in mathematical symbolism are
characterised by the introduction of multiple levels of rankshifted configurations of
new participants, new ‘‘operative’’ processes and the deletion of the human agent. In
this section I focus on the semantic extensions in financial graphs and a financial
formula.
3.3.1. The experiential meaning in financial graphs
Guo (2004, 201) states that a statistical graph, unlike the image, is ‘‘an abstract
theoretical entity although it may have material form,’’ i.e. meaning elicited from the
numbers. The underlying meanings are found in the reasoning this material formexhibit. Only Group 1 represented its findings of earnings before interest or tax
(EBIT) in a time series. The graph is constructed in the EBIT time series by plotting
the COGS at different time periods. The vertical axis thus represents the value ($),
while the horizontal one represents the time (t) (Figure 1).
According to Group 1’s interpretation of the graph, EBIT ‘‘fluctuates as [sic]
according the fluctuation in COGS.’’ Both Groups 1 and 3 presented a sensitivity
graph for the prospective investment. In Group 1’s graph (Figure 2), the NPV is
Figure 1. EBIT time series graph in Group 1’s text.
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based on four key variables: WACC, machine cost, sales and COGS. To interpret the
sensitivity graph, the lexicogrammar of the axes and its relation to the intersecting
axes depicting the mathematical relation must be understood.
These slopes represent relational attributive processes, as each one is analysed in
terms of its degree of steepness (Brigham and Houston 2009), in which steep curves
indicate a higher degree of sensitivity to deviations from the original estimates (or the
GOAL). It can be, therefore, deduced that NPV is very sensitive to changes in Sales
and COGS, fairly sensitive to changes in WACC, but not very sensitive to changes in
Machine Costs. O’Halloran (1999, 27) contends that while ‘‘verbal discourse
functions to describe commonsense reality, visual display connects our physiological
perceptions to this reality and in combination with metaphorical shifts, creates new
entities which are intuitively accessible.’’ For example, the sales slope can be
intuitively interpreted in natural language as ‘‘sales will probably deviate highly from
the original estimates’’ and ‘‘machine costs will probably not deviate from the
original estimates.’’ While the multimodal semiotic resources function inter-
semiotically to make meaning, each one makes an individual intra-semiotic
contribution to meaning (O’Halloran 2008).
Participants’ intuitive interpretations of the graphs were analysed for TRANSI-
TIVITY. As can be seen in Table 10, the intuitive interpretation of Figure 2 shows the
existence of five material process types and six relational identifying processes. As in
financial tables, relational identifying processes are used for identification.The SF-MDA of the financial graphs included interpreting and inferring the
underlying experiential meanings. The next section’s focus is investigating how
mathematical symbolism is represented and interwoven into natural language in
management reports.
3.3.2. The experiential meaning in capital budgeting formulae
Students are also expected to use spreadsheets to lay out data and to measure and
describe financial relations through the predefined mathematical formulas for
finance and accounting technical terms. Table 11 illustrates how the mathematical
formula of NPV works in Excel.
Figure 2. Sensitivity graph in Group 1’s text.
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Students enter the values in the cells A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6. Excel includes a
number of preset formulae that are arranged according to the field (e.g. Finance,
Logic and Math). Students tab the FORMULAS button and then choose
FINANCIAL which includes functions such as those given in Table 12.O’Halloran (2005) argues that the grammar of mathematics specifies how
elements of different rank can be combined. For example, Abdulrahman’s group
uses the mathematical symbolism ‘‘fx�SUM(B87:B88)’’ to calculate operating cash
flows (OCFs), where B87 refers to the cell containing ‘‘profit after taxes’’ and B88 to
‘‘depreciation.’’ The structure of this formula is built up from minimal components
Table 10. RANSITIVITY analysis of Group 1’s interpretation of Figure 2.
When all of the inputs are set at their base-case
levels
Recipient Process: Implicit,
Mat.
Goal
their deviations from
the base
are all zero
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
and the NPV is $5,304,861
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
If sales price is set 30% above its expected
price
Recipient Process: Implicit,
Mat.
Goal Circumstance:
Location
the NPV would be �9,000,000.
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
If WACC price is set 30% above its expected
price
Recipient Process: Implicit,
Mat.
Goal Circumstance:
Location
the NPV would be �6,500,000.
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
If machine cost price is set 30% above its expected
price
Recipient Process: Implicit,
Mat.
Goal Circumstance:
Location
the NPV would be �5,500,000.
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
If COGS price is set 30% above its expected
price
Recipient Process: Implicit,
Mat.
Goal Circumstance:
Location
the NPV would be 8,800,000.
Token Process: Implicit,
Rel, ident
Value
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(e.g. fx�SUM,B,87,88) which combine into embedded expressions (e.g. B87:B88),
which combine into operations (e.g.SUM(B87:B88)) which combine into sequences
of operations. O’Halloran (2000, 386) argues that mathematical symbolism and
visual display, unlike natural language, have their ‘‘own unique lexicogrammatical
systems’’ for encoding meaning, especially where meaning is encoded unambiguously
in the most economical manner possible through grammatical strategies of structural
condensation, one of which involves the use of multiple levels of rankshifted (or
down-ranked) configurations of mathematical operative processes and participants.
O’Halloran (2000) argues that though these configurations are analogous to that in
language, they are more sophisticated since they allow for a greater depth of clausal
rankshift. Table 13 illustrates the structural condensation of mathematical symbo-
lism by comparing an Excel formula with its underlying meaning.
Table 11. PV’s formula in Excel.
A B
1 Data Description
2 10% Annual discount rate
3 �10,000 Initial cost of investment one year from today
4 3,000 Return from first year
5 4,200 Return from second year
6 6,800 Return from third year
Formula Description (result)
�NPV(A2, A3, A4, A5, A6) NPV of this investment (1,188.44)
Table 12. Financial functions in Excel.
Function Description
DB Returns the depreciation of an asset for a specified period by using the fixed-
declining balance method
DDB Returns the depreciation of an asset for a specified period by using any method that
you specify
FV Returns the future value of an investment
IRR Returns the internal rate of return for a series of cash flows
NPV Returns the net PV of an investment based on a series of periodic CFs and a
discount rate
PMT Returns the periodic payment for an annuity
PPMT Returns the payment on the principal for an investment for a given period
PV Returns the present value of an investment
Table 13. Sample Excel’s formula from the appendices of text 2.
Excel formula The formula’s underlying representation
NPV �D38/(1�$C$4)^A38
D38 �C38-B38
Net PV �expected net CF } (1�discount rate)n
Expected net CF �cash inflow � cash outflow
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The symbol ‘‘D38’’ refers to the cell containing the ‘‘Expected Net Cash Flow,’’
the symbol (1�$C$4) means adding one to the discount rate located in cell C4, and
the circumflex accent (caret) in ^A38 means raised to the power of the value (the
number of years) in cell A38. The participant D38 refers to an ellipsed operative
process C38-B38. Invoking Halliday’s (1985) system of TRANSITIVITY, O’Hallor-
an (1999) argues that semantic extensions in mathematical symbolism are repre-
sented experientially by participants’ intuitive verbal interpretations of the operative
processes which result in the semiotic metaphor since these processes lead to the
creation of a thing or entities. Operative processes are conceived as arithmetic
operations performed on mathematical objects such as numbers, variable and other
abstract quantities. Since operative processes include multiple mediums (or interact
with an unlimited number of participants) Halliday’s notion of a single central
medium (or participant) may no longer be applicable in mathematical symbolism
(O’Halloran 1999). For example, the Excel formulae in Table 13 consist of the
following ascending rank scale:
Term or ‘‘atom’’: NPV, D38, 1, $C$4, A38, C38, B38 (i.e. word)Expression: NPV, D38, 1, $C$4, A38, �$C$4, C38, B38, �B38 (i.e. word group/phrase)Clause: C38-B38 and (1�$C$4)^A38 (i.e. clause)Clause complex: NPV �D38/(1�$C$4)^A38, where D38 �C38-B38 (i.e. clausecomplex)
Expressions in mathematical statements consist of an implicit relational intensive
identifying process, exemplified by the equal sign: i.e. NPV [Token: Agent, Identified]
equals [Process: Relational, Intensive identifying] D38/ (1�$C$4)^A38
[Value: Mediums, identifier]. The medium, D38/ (1�$C$4)^A38, consists of what
O’Halloran (1999, 5) calls ‘‘multiple mediums connected with operative processes as
opposed to the notion of a single medium found in the process types of natural
language.’’
In addition to the relational intensive identifying process, the mathematical
formula shown in Table 14 includes operative processes of subtraction, exponentia-
tion, addition and division: D38 calculated by subtracting C38 from B38, $C$4 is
added to one, raised to the power of the value (the number of years) in A38, and D38
Table 14. Rankshifted nuclear configurations of mathematical processes and participants in
NPV formula.
Rank Process Participants
Rank 1 (ranking clause) � (Relational) NPV
D38/(1�$C$4)^A38
Rank 2 � (Operative) C38
B38
Rank 3 � (Operative) 1
$C$4
Rank 4 ^ (Operative) (1�$C$4)
A38
Rank 5 /(Operative) D38 (�C38-B38)
(1�$C$4)^A38
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is divided by the result of the previous two operations. The dollar sign ($) is a flag to
Excel to ‘‘lock’’ that part of the reference when copy/pasting the cell. The operative
mathematical processes in the clause complex D38/(1�$C$4)^A38 are material, as
shown below:
1 � (1[Actor]�[Pr: Mat] $C$4 [Goal])
2 � (1�$C$4) [Actor] ^ [Pr: Mat] A38 [Goal]
3 � D38 [Actor]/[Pr: Mat] (1�$C$4)^A38 [Goal]
Since the term ‘‘operative’’ processes does not necessarily encode meanings of doing
(or action), following Halliday (1985), I prefer to annotate them as material. What is
apparent in mathematical symbolism is the narrow range of processes, the multiple
levels of rankshift and ‘‘the absence of a periphery realizing circumstance’’(O’Halloran 1999, 10). Mathematical symbolism in financial formulas consists of
material and relational identifying processes.
In conclusion, the experiential world the text’s reference is that of mathematical
calculations of more narrow technical terms which assume an insider’s or expert’s
knowledge. The TRANSITIVITY analysis showed that the most frequently
occurring processes in the texts are relational identifying, material and mental
processes. It was found that students’ intuitive understanding of the conceptual and
procedural financial processes is contingent upon their ability to expand the meaningpotential by deciphering the experiential codes underlying interclausal relations and
intraclausal dependency relations. In order to successfully manage mathematical
symbolism students should have the ability to encode meanings by decompressing
mathematical symbols and moving between representations (i.e. mathematical
symbolism and natural language). This is achieved through the use of multiple
levels of rankshifted (or downranked) configurations of mathematical material and
relational identifying processes. O’Halloran (1999, 10) argues that ‘‘the grammar of
mathematical symbolism thus functions to condense and compact experientialmeaning’’ in the most possible economical manner.
4. The social practices participants engaged with to complete the assignment
Abdulhadi (Group 1) worked on the assignment individually, as well as with his
group members Saud, Jim and Cathy in three 3-hour meetings at the business
school’s study hubs. Similarly, Abdulrahman (Group 2) attended three 2-hour
meetings with Jiang, in addition to working individually. Ibrahim (Group 3) worked
iteratively (personal communication, March 28, 2011) with Sharon as he met her two
to three times per week for approximately four weeks. He states that her
undergraduate study finance background knowledge complemented his accounting
and Excel knowledge. The third member, Tracey, did only 30% of the work, whileHasan withdrew from the course before the submission deadline and contributed 0%.
4.1. Participants’ literacy and numeracy social practices
The choices Group 1 make are assessed on the basis of evidence of ‘‘complete and
detailed workings/calculations (in appendixes).’’ As the assignment task sheet states
‘‘answers without the evidence of workings will not be given any merit and will
attract zero marks.’’ Similarly, the Group 3 task sheet requires presenting ‘‘complete
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and detailed workings/calculations (attach the excel spreadsheets with appropriate
references),’’ and that ‘‘answers without evidence of workings (in appendices or excel
spreadsheets) will not be given any merit and will attract zero marks.’’
Unlike Group 1, Groups 2 and 3 did not face major difficulties when undertaking
the assignment. Abdulrahman (Group 2) read the task sheet several times and then
wrote down some notes to help him plan his representation of the task. Later on he
decided to meet the tutor to enquire whether he should include the inflation rate of
3% in his calculations or not (personal communication, February 26, 2010).
Although the tutor’s reply was positive, Abdulrahman forgot to add this rate. He
adds that the peer-assisted student support (PASS) sessions helped him with
understanding the module’s content. These sessions are facilitated by students who
have excelled in the module. As Abdulrahman was struggling with this module he
sought the tutor’s help who in turn assigned an assistant to work with him. He often
consults the financial management Arabic textbook which he brought with him from
Saudi Arabia. Abdulrahman states that he learnt how to use the financial calculator
when he started his postgraduate study in Australia. He explains the steps for
calculating NPV and the time value of money (TVM):
. . . to calculate NPV of $3000 earned in two years: enter this amount in future value(FV) key - enter 2 for the time period (NPER/N key) - enter 10% by using the % i key foryour rate because that’s what you’d like to earn. TVM is the number of years it takes toreceive FV, and it is calculated by entering interest rate using the i key, present value ofmoney PV key, and future value of money, FV key.
Abdulhadi (personal communication, March 22, 2010) states that he referred to his
classmates in order to ask for clarification on points he did not understand. Saud
(personal communication, March 29, 2010) states that the textbook and the
module’s study-guide were the main sources they referred to. When asked if Group
1 had faced in difficulties in undertaking the assignment, Saud replies ‘‘Yes,
everything was difficult. The calculation in general and data collection in question
2.’’ Ibrahim (personal communication, March 28, 2011) states that the first thing
he did when he was handed the task sheet was to read the requirements before
looking at the given information in order to gain insights about the topics and the
required volume of work. Ibrahim and Sharon met in the study hubs at the
business school. Interestingly, they used the whiteboard to list each step and its
relevant calculations. Ibrahim argues that most of the groups faced ‘‘difficulties in
decoding the scenario’’: i.e. ‘‘what this and that mean?’’ The tutor arranged a
consultation meeting with the students in order to collect their enquiries and then
he sent an e-mail to all the students to clarify the ambiguities. Both Abdulrahman
and Ibrahim utilised their professional accounting work experience when doing the
assignment.
The academic social practices students performed in order to successfully
complete the tasks are listed below, though they are not an exhaustive list of the
whole range of literacy and numeracy practices participants engaged with:
� Attending Principles of Finance lectures and tutorial discussions regularly;
� Checking the university’s e-mail on a daily basis to see if there are any
assignment-related updates;
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� Working with a small-size group (two to five students) to check understanding
of the task by outlining the minimum required information for each proposal,
dividing roles between members, and thereby developing collaborative
response to the assignment;� Taking notes, typing in a Word processor, drawing tables and graphs, using a
financial calculator, and using Excel to build tables, utilise built-in formulas
and to add, subtract, multiply, divide and work out percentages;
� Reading the assignment task sheet, the module’s study-guide, Principles of
Finance textbook � Fundamentals of Financial Management by Brigham and
Houston (2009); and
� Seeking clarification from the tutor, from peers and asking a friend to
proofread the report.
In a 39-minute unstructured interview with Group 2’s tutor, Janet (personal
communication, March 4, 2010), she commented that the major learning outcome
the task seeks to achieve is practising one of the two capital budgeting models in
order to develop their communication and problem-solving skills, thereby gaining
meaningful life-long learning experience that will enable them to deal with those
offering insights into their future career. She argued that most students overlooked
the following aspects in their capital budgeting analysis:
� Labour (‘‘wage expenses’’) and bulb costs in CF;
� Incorporating inflation into the capital budget;
� External factors that may affect business environment; and
� Ignoring much of the information by not reading the case study carefully.
She also added that she did not have time to give students feedback on this task
because, upon their request, they were granted one-week extension to submit theassignment which coincided with the end of the semester. Finally, the tutor commented
that she assessed students’ work on the basis of the procedures they used and not solely
on the basis of final results, as students construct discipline-specific knowledge
through these successive processes. Ibrahim (Group 3) is aware of this as he (personal
communication, March 28, 2011) states ‘‘the tutor assesses the procedures and not the
final numbers’’ which include the assumptions, calculations, the criteria used to
evaluate, the decision, sensitivity analysis and the conclusion based on the analysis.
4.2. Cross-disciplinary knowledge
The linguistic and numeracy choices participants have made are indicators of the
disciplinary-specific accounting and finance knowledge they have acquired and their
subjective interpretation. As Baker, Street, and Tomlin (2003, 12) noted, numeracy
events are ‘‘occasions in which a numeracy activity is integral to the nature of the
participants’ interactions and their interpretative processes.’’ Cross-disciplinary
knowledge is therefore required to successfully complete the capital budgetingmanagement report. This includes
� Knowledge of key technical terms and the relationships that exist between
them;
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� Knowledge of the literacy and numeracy skills of finance and financial
accounting (e.g. gross profit, depreciations and CF);
� Calculating operating CFs, NPV, PP, IRR and sensitivity;
� Using a financial calculator to compute basic as well as advance financialanalyses;
� Knowledge of spreadsheets (e.g. Excel software) to lay out data and to
measure and describe relations among theoretical aspects. This includes using
the function key ‘‘fx’’ to set up an Excel formula;
� The ability to encode meanings by decompressing mathematical symbols and
moving between representations;
� The use of multiple levels of rankshifted configurations of mathematical
material and relational identifying processes;� The ability to unpack the underlying meanings of technical terms and the
mathematical ideas compressed in formulae and to translate between
algebraic, numeric and geometric representations; and
� Knowledge of the procedures used in determining the financial concepts
underlying capital budgeting techniques.
4.3. Participants’ literacy social practices and future workplace and life prospects
Literacy and numeracy social practices of capital budgeting management reports
require a repertoire of linguistic practices that are based on complex sets of
discourses, identities and values. The range of the complex literacy and numeracy
practices investigated in this paper lead us to enquire about the extent to which these
practices resemble the functional behaviours (or ‘‘competencies’’) valued in the
workplace. How does what is done in this module impact upon students’ perceptions
of their work prospects?
While Groups 1 and 2 believe that they will be able to apply capital budgeting
techniques in their future work, albeit minimally, Group 3 holds the opposite view.
Abdulhadi (personal communication, March 22, 2010) believes that this task will not
be related to his future work since he is studying Master of Commerce in accounting,
and unfortunately this foundation business module is prerequisite for all Master of
Commerce students. Abdulhadi initially planned to major in accounting and finance,
but later he decided to change his major into accounting. Abdulrahman (personal
communication, March 24, 2010) argues that all capital budgeting decision criteria
like NPV, IRR and PP are analysed by computers. One of the members in Group 3,
Ibrahim (personal communication, March 28, 2011) argues that capital budgeting
procedures resemble 80�90% of workplace practices. As he puts it:
I have a reason to say this. I have worked on project biddings in my company but froman accountant view and not finance. Therefore I faced the same problem in thisassignment when my company wants to make biddings for four or five aircrafts. Sinceyou’re facing competitors you have to study the project biddings carefully, and theassumptions are part and parcel of this report.
The range of the complex literacy and numeracy practices investigated in this
paper shows that students seem to have benefited from this task through a number
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of aspects. First, as shown in Section 2.4, this task primarily aims at improving
students’ analytic, critical and interpersonal communication skills through their
interaction with peers. Second, students have practised the schematic structure of
management reports, which was elicited from the social purpose of the task sheet.Third, as Abdulrahman explained, students learnt from this course that capital
budgeting requires taking into account any external factors that are difficult to
quantify and may affect costs and benefits, such competition and timing. As
Visscher and Stansfield (1997) argue, capital budgeting complexities arise from
students’ ability to recognise costs and benefits that are difficult to quantify.
Fourth, they have learnt the use of financial calculators and/or spreadsheets.
Finally, students were apprenticed into the methods of capital budgeting techniques
and their associated abstract complex technical terms. No one can deny thepractical real-world needs of budgeting techniques in assessing project expansions,
funds and portfolios at financial institutions. Moreover, students may utilise part if
not all of these techniques in their everyday practices, for example, in assessing the
PV of future CFs and whether to lease or buy a car. Since the literacy and
numeracy practices students performed in order to complete the tasks resemble
those valued in the workplace, they are more likely to impact upon students’ work
and life prospects.
5. Discussion and conclusion
This study has explored the literacy and numeracy social practices of 10 ESL/EAL
postgraduate students in Principles of Finance module, divided into three groups,
encompassing five focal Saudi students and five non-focal Chinese. This research
paper is significant as it is the first of its kind to research academic literacies from
multiple perspectives.
The investigation of the module’s graduate attributes revealed that the life-longlearning skills the business school intends to achieve include exhibiting analytical and
critical thinking, high-level oral/written communication skills, working in groups and
engaging in life-long learning. In order for students to develop their communication
and problem-solving skills they need to engage in social communication skills that
mimic workplace experiences, thereby engaging in life-long learning. Group work
facilitated the development of these skills. For example, Sharon’s undergraduate
study finance background knowledge complemented Ibrahim’s accounting and Excel
knowledge. Tracey, however, preferred to work individually. Group work givesinformation literate students the opportunity to learn the necessary IT skills.
The SF-MDA was used to explore the multimodal experiential meaning in a key
topic in the Principles of Finance module, capital budgeting management reports.
Since management reports mostly deal with abstract, technical, non-human nouns,
there were instances of agentless passives where the writers deleted the PARTICI-
PANTS in passive clauses because their identity is known to the reader and replaced
them with nominalised abstract technical terms.
The analysis of the experiential meaning in management reports has shown thatthe main processes in the three texts are implicit relational identifying processes that
are factored in tables in order to identify the value of accounting and finance key
terms. It was also found that the second most frequently occurring process type in the
three texts is the material process. A point of interest in the TRANSITIVITY
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analysis is how the frequency of relational identifying processes changes markedly
when factoring in financial tables. Most of the relational process types are used for
identification, rather than location or possession. This finding indicates that in order
for students to be considered literate in capital budgeting techniques they need tomanage the expression of FIELD through the experiential grammar, largely
represented by the implicit identifying relational processes and the structural
condensations of mathematical formulae.
The discourse of financial tables’ genre is highly metaphorical since its
components use the implicit relationships between Token and Value to refer to the
participants (technical lexis and values) in a relational identifying clause. A mental
interpretation of the procedural and conceptual procedures underlying the successful
completion of Group 2’s capital budgeting calculations was presented anddocumented. The findings indicate that the experiential meaning in capital budgeting
discourse is reconstrued as discipline-specific and the conceptual knowledge of the
financial concepts is highly complex since students should have the ability to unpack
the mathematical ideas compressed in formulae and to translate between algebraic,
numeric and geometric representations. This includes unpacking the mathematical
idea(s) compressed in a given formula (intraclausal relation) and relating it to the
preceding and/or the following procedures (interclausal relation). It was also found
that students’ intuitive understanding of the conceptual and procedural financialprocesses is contingent upon their ability to expand the meaning potential by
deciphering the experiential codes in what I have called interclausal and intraclausal
dependency relations. The key features of mathematical procedures and formula in
finance are the intra- and inter-semiotic meanings, the multiple levels of rankshift,
the narrow range of processes (material and relational identifying) and the use of
economy to encode meanings.
6. Implications
Based on the multidimensional exploration of participants’ practices in the Principles
of Finance module I first discuss the theoretical and methodological implications,
then list some of the pedagogical implications for ESP/EAP tutors.
The proposed multidimensional theoretical framework presented here could be
used in the investigation and analysis of students’ multimodal literacy practices
across a broad range of educational settings because it provides a systemic analytical
interpretive analysis of students’ texts, contexts and practices. It is structured interms of three components: (1) the epistemologies of the course under study, (2) an
SF-MDA of texts and (3) the use of literacies narrative technique. While the first
component focuses on the conceptual and linguistic knowledge and skills students
are required to master to meet the demands, the latter two focus on how they
construct multimodal social identities and represent meanings.
First, the epistemologies include a brief description of the social context,
materials, the graduate attributes and learning outcomes, the curriculum, overview
of the conceptual demands and finally the multimodal communicative purpose of thetasks. Second, the SF-MDA includes lexicogrammatical analyses of language
metafunctions and genre analysis of key rhetorical features. The lexicogrammatical
analyses include TRANSITIVITY system, MOOD system, modality, appraisal
system, nominalisation, cohesion, thematic progression, lexical chains and lexical
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density. The multimodal analysis includes utilising participants’ intuitive under-
standing (or the intended reading paths) of the conceptual and procedural processes
of graphs and tables to analyse the underlying experiential meanings and their
interpretation and inference. The genre analysis of texts includes a description of thesocial purpose of a text, channel of communication or medium, and the schematic
macrostructure of students’ written assignments which reveal the expressed purposes
and stages of the texts. The SF-MDA indicates a potential research tool for the
systemic functional analysis of the multimodal finance and accounting discourses.
Finally, this framework focuses not only on linguistic patterns, but also employs
ethnography as methodology for literacies’ narratives of experience. The gap between
text and context is thus narrowed down through a sustained engagement in thick
description and thick participation, thereby providing a systemic analytical inter-pretive description of students’ discursive practices and previous conjunctures of
experiences that underlie the production of texts.
The pedagogical implications for ESP/EAP tutors at English-medium universities:
� Managing the discourse of Principles of Finance capital budgeting manage-
ment report field through lexical strings and the relationships that exist
between them: taxonomic classification or composition, e.g. WACC, NPV,
EBIT;� Understanding the meanings underlying the implicit relational identifying
processes;
� Previously constructed meaning-making practices are socially re-contextua-
lised in other discursive writing settings;
� Encouraging struggling students to avail from PASS sessions that are
facilitated by students who have excelled in their courses;
� Encouraging students to expand the conceptual and procedural interclausal
and intraclausal experiential dependency relations in capital budgetingtechniques by devising exercises that will help develop their analytical and
critical skills; and
� Encouraging students to engage in social communication skills that mimic
workplace experiences, such as group work, meetings, negotiations, and
presentations.
Business communication tutors need to introduce students to lexical strings through
the use of concordances. Since IT skills are essential in completing financial spreadsheetstutors may either provide students with templates or encourage them to attend
workshops. Students should be encouraged to avail from any opportunity that develops
their spreadsheet skills such as using the Help function in spreadsheets. Finally, tutors
need to make the implicit relational identifying processes explicit for new students.
Further research comparing ESL/EAL postgraduate students’ literacy and
numeracy social practices in Principles of Finance course with their English speaking
counterparts is needed to reveal the similar and the different literacy practices.
Notes on the contributor
Hesham Suleiman Alyousef is a lecturer in the Department of English and Literature
at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and an academic editor for the
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Asian ESP Journal (AESPJ). He was nominated by Marquiz Who’s Who in the World
2013 biography. Hesham is completing his PhD dissertation on the literacy and
numeracy practices of Master of Commerce EAL students from the perspectives of
systemic functional linguistics and academic literacies. He completed his MA degree in
applied linguistics and graduated with a high distinction in 2007. His research interests
include systemic functional linguistics, academic literacies, metadiscourse, reading
comprehension, syllabus design, multimodal discourse analysis and the use of Web 2.0
technology in higher education. Email: [email protected]
Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to Peter Mickan and Michelle Picard for their extensive, insightful andhelpful suggestions on the manuscript; and also to the two anonymous referees for theinvaluable comments made on the earlier version. Finally, I would like to thank my daughterSara for her help and guidance through the maze of equations in the document editor.
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