Sophia Ge

December 8, 2014
WRTG 1010
Literacy Practices Report
The David Eccles School of Business
The David Eccles School of Business is a learning community that offers handson learning opportunities that prepare students for leadership in the modern world. The
school of business offers programs that all share a few common core traits, including a
strong emphasis on technology, innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship. The
school of business strives to make an impact through four pillars: impact on Academy,
impact on society, impact on students and synergistic impact. In order to draw in
students interest, the school of business utilizes various literacy practices to intrigue
ones attention and interest.
This report examines the literacy practices used by the David Eccles School of
Business and how they affect not only the community close to home but also outside the
universities boundaries. As David Barton and Mary Hamilton define in Situated
Literacies, literacy practices are what people do with literacy [They] involve values,
attitudes, feelings and social relationships (7), and this is why the David Eccles School
of Business is designed to give students the tools needed to not only succeed but to
surpass ones own expectation.
The literacy practices reflect the business schools expectations and standards as
well as the real worlds expectations. A major role in literacy practices being consistently
used not only in the business school itself and in the community around it, but also in the

real business world, is language. A common language being used is accounting, the talk
of numbers and finances. Some would say that its the language of business. For
example, Karen Quach, a sophomore majoring in marketing at the David Eccles School
of Business, says, every business will have to do with finances, and if there is a firm
understanding of accounting, one can essentially run a business.
The major role of its literacy practices found at the business school is to inform
and educate. Among the literacy artifacts, the finding of information is the most viable
and dominant in the community since students can easily access them online or in the
office of the community located in the business school building. The following is a list of
three major literacy practices. Each of which will be individually analyzed as well as reanalyzed as a whole to explain the effective communication they produce to the
community and the public.
Literacy Practice Inventory List
Literacy Practice

Source

Found/Location

David Eccles School

Of Business
Website

www.business.utah.edu

Internet

Business Degree
Checklist

www.business.utah.edu/sites/default/files/
business_degree_checklist_20142015_0.pdf

Internet & Business

School Office

Stake Holder
Interview

Interview with Karen Quach, Business

Scholar/Marketing Major

Via Email
November 19, 2014

Description/analysis of Literacy Practices:

David Eccles School of Business Website

The website contains all the basic knowledge about the school itself as well as the
different programs and degrees offered by the school. You can find information about
each program in the office located in the business building as well but being able to
access all of the necessary information a few clicks away, makes it more effective and
efficient. The website shows upcoming events that detail the description, time, and
location so that the public, whomever may be interested, can participate. The website also
highlight articles or themes to keep the public up to date with what is going on in the
community. Each tab has links that provide more specified information such as a the
degree program tab, where its breaks down to list the different degrees offered, and
from there breaks down to the different majors and minors offered and the requirements
and application for each program. The website establishes the core values as well as the
four pillars that build the foundation for ethical business leadership within the community

from its own perspective. The School of Business does have a newsletter where the
community can sign-up to receive news and information via email, that way they can
effectively target those who are interested in that community. You can find the Business
Degree Checklist on the website as well as copies available in the office.
Business Degree Checklist

Each year the school publishes a degree checklist of required courses for prebusiness students, open upper division, closed upper division, general education
requirements, university bachelor degree requirements, as well as the requirements for
each program. Just like the website, the checklist allows the reader to get a general idea
of what is expected and required in the specific program or degree so they can take the
initiative to plan ahead.
Decision Maker Interview

The interview with Karen Quach, a business scholar and marketing major, took
place on November 19, 2014 via email. Two general questions asked in the interview are
if there is writing styles preferred within business and how reading is utilized in the
business program. Karens comments on writing styles: [Its] formal and professional.
You have to be clear, concise, authoritative, and ethical. In terms of utilizing reading,
Karen states, reading is utilized in the business program to not only let the reader
understand the concepts, but must also be used to make connections and understand the
Big Picture. She emphasizes that students must be able to take a case study, analyze,
delve in deep, connect the dots, and convince our audience by utilizing the reading
material for whatever objective they desire.

Overall analysis and conclusion:

In Situated Literacies, Barton and Hamilton state that, literacy practices are
purposeful and embedded in broader social goals and cultural practices(8). In todays
day and age of technology, being able to access information and knowledge at a click of a
button is a literacy practice rapidly being embedded into our culture. Having all of that
knowledge in the palms of our hands is a social goal people strive for; its efficient, and
effective if used to ones advantage; as many people believe, knowledge is power.
Barton and Hamilton state that literacy practices change and new ones are
frequently acquired through processes of informal learning and sense making(8), and we
live in an age of checklists and to-do lists. In todays society, visually seeing things
checked off their to-do list is a huge motivator to continue doing so; it helps to see how
far theyve gone and what is left to do. The School of Business uses this as an advantage
for students to stay on track and kept up-to-date on what they have left to complete.
Utilizing readings and writing in a certain style can be seen as social practices,
and according to Barton and Hamilton, literacy is best understood as a set of social
practices(8). Acknowledging, understanding, and using these social practices within the
community help benefit in the real business world.
Each of the literacy practices intertwine to inform, motivate, and prepare the
community within the business school as well as the public. These literacy practices
combine to make an impact on the communitys awareness of what the business school
has to offer.

Source Cited:

Barton, David, and Mary Hamilton. Situated Literacies: Reading and

Writing in Context. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.

"David Eccles School of Business." David Eccles School of Business.

Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://www.business.utah.edu>.

Interview.