DIVERGENT COGNTIVE STYLES DEMAND DIFFERENT STRATEGIES IN IEACHING ACCOUNTING

Abstract

This study aims to identify the diversity of cognitive styles of undergraduate accounting students in Brazil. A survey method was used to a sample of 420 students enrolled in accountancy from 3 different Accounting programs. By using multifactorial analysis of variance (ANOVA), mean and standard deviation, a significant difference in the GEFT scores of the study population was observed. The study concludes that students from FEA-SP (São Paulo city) tend to score higher (Field Independent) than the average values of the accountancy students from FEA-RP and UNIRG-TO. Most of the students from UNIRG-TO are Field Dependent. Regarding the age and gender significant different was not observed for the entire sample. From these cognitive differences, it is possible to implement actions and improve the teachers/students relationship, seeking the effectiveness and quality of the teaching-learning process.