Threshold concept learning: Emotions and liminal space transitions

Abstract

This article explores how learners transition through the liminal space when they engage with and master threshold concepts. We investigate this question through a qualitative study of undergraduate students as they grapple with the threshold concept of Evidence-based Management as a disciplinary way of thinking and practising. Our findings elaborate threshold concept learning as a cumulative process of learner engagement with the troublesome, integrative-and-bounded, irreversible, and transformative elements of a threshold concept. Through this elaboration, we show how transitions through liminal spaces in threshold concept learning play out as an interrelated cognitive and affective process. We identify key transition points and mechanisms related to doubt, high-activation negative emotions, regret, and emotional resolution that trigger entry into, progression through or getting stuck within, and exit from a liminal space when a learner engages with and masters a threshold concept. Our research therefore contributes processual insight into liminality in threshold concept learning by opening up the transitions and emotions that play out for learners in the liminal space. We also contribute to wider debates about student engagement with disciplinary ways of thinking and practising in management.

Management Consultants Navigating Competing Systems of Engagement

“…They liken the transition between not knowing and knowing to a liminal ritual where the learner grapples with emotions such as doubt and uncertainty as symbolic monsters with which they must come to terms to progress through the liminal phase. Irving, Wright and Hibbert (2019) in their later study of leadership undergraduates emphasize that it is the negative rather than positive emotions that facilitate entry into and progression through liminal transition but that emotions such as panic, or lack of focus may cause the liminar to become stuck within liminal space. This has implications for management consultants who face anxiety about being seen to be competent and knowledgeable and have to overcome doubts as to how they are being perceived.…”

Conditions for reflexive practices in leadership learning: The regulating role of a socio-moral order of peer interactions

“…Reflexive practices in MLDPs are clearly dependent on more than just the pedagogical design (Corlett, 2012; Hahn and Vignon, 2019; Holton and Grandy, 2016), the atmosphere in the room (Hibbert, 2013) and the available conceptual resources (Irving et al, 2019; Schaupp and Virkkunen, 2017). The extent to which participants are willing to challenge each other and engage as co-authors of the organisational reality also depends on how these actions resonate with the socio-moral order of interactions.…”

“…Peer interaction is also typically portrayed as important for developing capacities for reflection and reflexivity (Cunliffe, 2002; Hahn and Vignon, 2019; Hibbert, 2013; Raelin, 2001; Reynolds, 1998; Yip and Raelin, 2012), which are central to management and leadership development. Learning and development of reflexivity is enabled by adequate pedagogical designs (Gray, 2007; Hahn and Vignon, 2019; Holton and Grandy, 2016) and relevant conceptual resources (Irving et al, 2019; Schaupp and Virkkunen, 2017). However, engaging in reflexive practices still seems to be a challenge for participants, as echoed in the emphasis researchers put on the need for facilitation (Holton and Grandy, 2016; Schedlitzki et al, 2014) of participant discussions,…”

«Dette er det vanskeligste av alt: å være seg sjøl – og synes at det duger»

“…For å gå tilbake til Hegels (1994) teori innebaerer rollen som trell, eller student, at vi befinner oss i en «liminal space», på terskelen mellom to tilstander (Irving, Wright & Hibbert, 2019), og hvor vi som subjekt er «verken eller» og på vei mot noe annet. Trellen er laerlingen og mesteren definerer hans eller hennes vilkår for eksistens.…”