What characterizes the language choices of untrained student peer reviewers? Undergraduate students ( N = 83) were randomly assigned to provide peer feedback on persuasive presentation manuscripts to three peers from their same and/or different course section. A total of 233 peer reviews were analyzed in terms of politeness, quality, and valence. Content and statistical analyses revealed similar politeness levels and quality regardless of the assessors’ identified gender or section of the assessee. However, students produced significantly more positively valenced reviews for same-section classmates, suggesting that students soften feedback through warmer language for peers with whom they have frequent interaction.

Preparing students to communicate in business has often been an overlooked area within literacy studies. With current calls by Cardon et al. (2024) to focus on core competencies in the business communication classroom with the emergence of generative AI, it is more important than ever to remember Berkenkotter and Huckin’s (1994) explanation that students will always learn in a form of “situated cognition embedded in disciplinary activities” (p. 3). This project, as a result, provides a framework to explore student experiences with business communication before students arrive on a college campus to better inform higher education stakeholders.