Cadet Derek Tremblay
Major Garriott
ERH-101-03
18 July 2016
Discourse Community Analysis of how Southern Virginia University
Extends Affiliation in the Business Disciple
Discourse communities are groups of individuals, from different or similar backgrounds, who unite under a common purpose, goal, or characteristic. The Economics and Business department at universities, such as Southern Virginia University (SVU), is an example of an institute of learning participating and/or creating a specific discourse community. In the SVU business department they use an “educational model that provides the creativity, the critical thinking skills, and the articulation skills essential to success in a highly dynamic, constantly changing and competitive business world.” Seasoned professors with “professional, real world experience” (Excellence in Teaching), guide SVU’s business discourse community. However, SVU’s discourse extends outside the secular world and into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) community.
The SVU website lays out a plan for the business program using examples of classes someone would take and statistics showing the effectiveness of the program. Examples of former students that benefited from SVU aid the mission of the text, which is to reach out to people of different communities to make the business program attractive to potential students. The Southern Virginia University business page asserts affiliation with multiple discourse communities by integrating The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints values along with the secular principles of university Economics and Business. SVU links the two discourse communities by having religious graphics on the website and by the mission statement of the university, outlining LDS values of the school, however, they separate the use of LDS and business lexis on the business page. I will use John Swales’ theory on discourse communities as framework for this paper to analyze SVU’s use of discourse community, I judge that Southern Virginia University is able to affiliate with many discourse communities within the business/economics field, by using proper business lexis and appealing to people of different religious, ethical, and economic backgrounds.
According to Swales and his “six defining characteristics necessary and sufficient for identifying a group of individuals as a discourse community”, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.” As well as the business discourse community Southern Virginia participates in other discourse communities such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Religion along with academics are a large part of SVU’s values and mission. “Students, faculty, and staff at Southern Virginia University are committed to being academically or professionally accomplished, spiritually rooted, service oriented, and self-reliant. Southern Virginia University seeks to establish a replicable self-sustaining model of higher education that can serve Latter-day Saints throughout the world.” (Mission Statement)
The introduction of the business program starts with SVU boasting of success against other schools in business tests stating that “graduating business seniors at Southern Virginia University have collectively scored in the 90th to 95th percentile of the national ETS Major Field Test in business”(A Remarkable Achievement) and that “Southern Virginia business major students placed in the top five to ten percent nationally when compared with over 80,000 graduating seniors at over 560 other colleges and universities”(A Remarkable Achievement). They then appeal to the average person saying there are “no restrictions on who can be a business major at Southern Virginia” (A Remarkable Achievement). SVU offers open enrollment into the business program in an attempt to grow the university and appeal the business discourse community to outsiders.
The majority of intercommunication at SVU is person to person between professor and student. “Southern Virginia professors listen: they counsel, engage, advise, and mentor. This keeps the committed student focused, moving forward, exploring and expanding horizons” (Excellence in Teaching). Having small classrooms, like SVU, allows for greater engagement within the discourse community from its members.
The business department website of SVU does a good, but subtle, job bridging the two discourse communities of the secular world of business and The Church of Latter-day Saints. Southern Virginia University stays on the secular path while outlining the business program they offer. They explain the advantages of attending the school and taking the business program just as any other secular school would. The relation SVU uses to appeal to The Church of Latter-day Saints starts with the background of the business home screen. It depicts a student with a backpack and a stack of bibles on top of notebooks. I didn’t notice it at first, but small changes such as this one are used to keep affiliation with The Church of Latter-day Saints community.
The professors at SVU, for the most part, went to a Mormon university to receive their degree, they also have a brief statement about their families in their biography on the website. SVU uses this to be engaged more in The Church of Latter-day Saints discourse community of the university. Secular universities who are not a part of The Church of Latter-day Saints community do not mention family or religion in their professors’ biography.
Coursework requirements, as outlined on the website, are the same as any other school, indicating SVU’s commitment to the secular discourse community of Economics and Business. “Southern Virginia’s business major(s) are expected to attain a knowledge of the fundamental theories, practices, and environments of the core fields of economics and business” (Business Management & Leadership Major & Minor). In the course requirements SVU outlines seven learning objectives for business; accounting, economics, management, finance, marketing, legal and social environment, and international issues. These learning objectives are very atypical of a business discourse community.
The common goal of the SVU business page is to educate students and make the well-versed in business while maintaining an LDS view as outlined by the university’s mission statement. Members of the faculty at SVU deliver with relevant content and experience in the business discourse community, as well in most cases, experience in the LDS community.
Proper and specific business lexis is used in establishing SVU’s business expertise. The business page, however, does not use LDS lexis. Their failure to explain how the LDS church plays a part in receiving a business degree from SVU is puzzling. SVU is trying harder, at this point, to appeal to the outsiders of the LDS community, as they focus only on the business aspect of the program to attract students interested in a good business program. SVU uses genres such as the biographies of the professors and the course requirements to communicate it’s aims to students. I found that listed on the course requirements there are classes required for a business degree that you would not find at a secular school such as a leader-servant course. The LDS part of SVU is an inevitable part of attending the university much as the military is at VMI. While outsiders to such communities might only be interested in academics, they must engage in multiple discourse communities just like SVU does with business and LDS.
Intercommunication at SVU is mostly between the professors and students. The group of business students communicate in the classroom and meet and form a discourse community at SVU.
Proper lexis used on their website in both the LDS community and the business community show the expertise of SVU in these discourse communities. Expertise is important when prospective students look for a school. SVU markets themselves as one of the top schools for both LDS and business.
