Argument not optional: The language of alternatives and recommendations in the case analysis genre

Abstract

The case analysis is a common assignment in business courses that requires students to use their disciplinary knowledge to identify a company's problems and propose logical recommendations to solve them (Gardner, 2012; Nathan, 2013). When writing the recommendations section of a case analysis, students are often required to discuss alternatives to their preferred recommendation as part of their argument for it. Despite the central importance of the recommendations section in case analysis writing, there is limited research on how to effectively help students write it. In this paper, we use SFL-based genre analysis to analyze how effectively students incorporated and rejected alternatives in a case proposal assignment in an Organizational Behavior (OB) course at an American university's branch campus in the Middle East. Unlike other research that focuses only on exemplar or successful student writing (e.g., Nathan, 2016; Nesi & Gardner, 2012; Szenes, 2017, 2021), we show a range of representative text patterns, from students who neglected to take a position on a preferred recommendation, to students who effectively supported a clear position. Our analysis has implications for a range of genres where students need to maintain a consistent stance while arguing for a preferred solution among alternatives.