Threshold Concepts in Postgraduate EAP/Study Skills Pathway Programmes Lisa McKenna Paula Sinclair INTO Newcastle University

Outline What is a Threshold Concept? Threshold Concepts in other disciplines Threshold Concepts in Postgraduate EAP/Study Skills Methodology Findings Implications and Conclusion References

What is a Threshold Concept? Concepts that are central to the mastery of a subject without which a learner cannot progress Certain features in common: Troublesome Knowledge Transformative Integrative Bounded Irreversible (Meyer and Land, 2003; 2005; 2006)

What is a Threshold Concept? Liminality Transitional state Oscillation Mimicry Stuck places Gradual move with the concept into ownership (Meyer and Land, 2003; 2005; 2006)

Threshold Concepts in other disciplines Biological Education Evolution was identified as the disciplinary threshold measured against the five-fold criteria Transformative and Troublesome because biological world is both active and mutable, contrary to many people’s cultural or religious perspectives (Kinchin, 2010)

Threshold Concepts in other disciplines Understanding of evolution essential at all levels of biology; therefore, the concept can be seen as Integrative Boundedness was found to be more awkward to apply as there are limits to what is influenced by evolution; however, understanding evolution seems to: “enable individuals, whatever their specialism, to think as Biologists” (Kinchin, 2010)

Threshold Concepts in other disciplines Economics Opportunity/Cost could be considered as the threshold concept of this discipline as: “the concept […] expresses the basic relationship between scarcity and choice” Troublesome as it requires the student to change their thinking about choice as something that is unchangeable (Kinchin, 2010)

Threshold Concepts in other disciplines Transformative and Irreversible as “it fundamentally changes their way of thinking about their own choices, as well as serving as a tool to interpret the choices made by others” In Mathematics the threshold concept is that of limit as without understanding of this concept, other foundations and applications cannot be fully comprehended (Meyer and Land, 2006)

Threshold Concepts in Postgraduate EAP/Study Skills Gap in the research Research carried out into academic subjects but not into EAP or Study Skills Feedback from Newcastle University indicates that students struggle to reach their full potential on Masters Programmes Are there threshold concepts that have not yet been identified in the skills areas of EAP/Study Skills that could have an impact on student achievement?

Threshold Concepts in Postgraduate EAP/Study Skills What are our conceptual changes? Hypothesis Critical reading and writing are the threshold concepts for Pre-Masters Pathway Programme students Critical reading and writing are the underpin of and approach to many subjects at Masters level Therefore, we need to teach students the ways of thinking and practising that they need in order to be a part of the academic community

Methodology Action Research Approach to Curriculum Development Emphasis on the teacher being actively engaged in research into teaching and learning and that the role of a teacher is a dual one: both a producer and user of pedagogical theory The approach is a: “…methodical, iterative approach embracing problem identification, action planning, implementation, evaluation, and reflection” (Riding et al., 1995)

Methodology (McKernan, 1991 cited in Riding et al., 1995)

Methodology Qualitative and Quantitative Research Group interviews with students from all INTO Newcastle University Graduate Diploma groups from September cohort at the end of Semester 1 Students were given the questions to discuss on arrival and given ten minutes to consider their responses. The interviews were recorded for our analysis Qualitative data was collected at the end of Semester 2 Results were monitored and analysed in statistical form and a Standard 2 T-Test was also applied to Study Skills

Methodology When you were first introduced to reading critically, did you find it difficult? Why? Do you still find reading critically difficult? What do you find most challenging about reading critically? Do you think you have now developed the ability to read critically? Has being taught to read critically changed how you read texts? Has being taught how to read critically changed how you now write? Explain. Are you able to synthesise and evaluate source texts in your writing?

Findings “I am still confused with reading critically…what is reading critically. I prepared for IELTS before I came here…it was different…how to scan, not to read critically so it’s really difficult. If we had more time, we can go deep…it depends on the time and we can’t find the main point of an article, that’s the problem” “Basically, I’m moving on but sometimes it’s really tough for me to write and think critically because I have no background about reading-it’s more difficult to think critically-so it’s a problem but compared to when I first came here, I have improved in how to read critically and how to write more analytically”

Findings “ I thought it was very difficult…this was one of the culture shocks…critical reading. If I had to concentrate only on critical reading it wouldn’t have been so difficult!” “It’s very difficult for me because firstly, reading English source is very difficult and if I want to read critically I have to have idea before I reading. I need a lot of background knowledge then I can read critically. The more you read, the more critically you can read” “I thought my reading was ok before I came to Britain because I got a high mark for my IELTS reading but I find reading with questions very difficult…quite different”

Findings “Yes, I think I have. Reading with questions…thinking about the questions before reading” “At first when we can’t rely on a source we just wrote about our own opinion-it’s not critical so being taught we try to find evidence from references and sources to support or prove our ideas. That’s the biggest change” “You know, I remember, we had a test before…when we arrived…we had to write a short essay about transport or something like that and I think I wrote such rubbish but I thought at the time I had written about the advantages/disadvantages…so clever…but now I think it was so childish. I really feel a great improvement. It’s true”

Findings “I think we’ve changed the way that we write now because when we study about critical reading and writing we KNOW we have to be critical about other people’s writing and this has changed our way of writing” “I think that now, when I get any information I will ask “Is that really right or is it just a…rumour?” I need to ask myself what I see is right or wrong when I get something” “Now when I read I look for evidence and see if there is any logical jump”

Findings

Implications and Conclusion If the threshold concepts in EAP/Study Skills are critical reading and writing then this needs to be introduced at the outset of the course and consistently practised and developed over the duration of the course Our hypothesis: the lack of recognition that critical reading and writing are the threshold concepts of Post- Graduate EAP/Study Skills is a major reason why students struggle to achieve their full potential when they progress into an academic environment

References Cousin, G. (2006) ‘Threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge and emotional capital: an exploration into learning about others’ in J. H. F. Meyer and R. Land (eds.) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge, London: Routledge, Davies, P. and Mangan, J. (2005) ‘Recognising Threshold Concepts: an exploration of different approaches’, 11 th European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus, 23 rd -27 th August. Kinchin, I. M. (2010) ‘Solving Cordelia’s Dilemma: threshold concepts within a punctuated module of learning’, Journal of Biological Education, 44/2, Meyer, J. H. F., Land, R. and Davies, P. (2006) ‘Implications of threshold concepts for course design and evaluation’ in J. H. F. Meyer and R. Land (eds.) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge, London: Routledge,

References Meyer, J. H. F. and Land, R. (2003) ‘Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (I): linkages to ways of thinking and practising’ in C. Rust (ed.) Improving Student Learning – Theory and Practice Ten Years On, Oxford: OCSLD, Meyer, J. H. F and Shanahan, M. (2003) ‘The Troublesome Nature of a Threshold Concept in Economics’, 12 th European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Conference, Padova, Italy, 26 th -30 th August. Riding, P., Fowell, S. and Levy, P. (1995) ‘An action research approach to curriculum development’, Information research, 1/1, Available from: