Just a few days before convocation

I will be convocated this Sunday, 14 October. Graduates are able to take their convocation robes starting from Monday until Thursday. Since I was not able to take the robe, I asked my friend to take it for me. I prepared the necessary documents (e.g. graduation fees, official letter for a representative to take the robe and etc.) that need to be brought to the School of Graduate Studies upon taking the robe. She called me just now informing me that the 'S' size was no longer available and she had to take 'M' size. It was the same thing happened to me when I had to wear 'M' for my convocation during my masters degree. By the way, this is my transcript... the grades that graduates obtain as shown in the transcript were not a guarantee that they will pass or fail in their viva. I don't intend to show-off but just to let others know that good grades do not determine our success in the viva examination. So, good luck for those who are waiting for their vivas.

Senate has approved my candidature

Alhamdulillah... the Senate has already approved my phd candidature. So, I'm able to hard bound my thesis. And InshaAllah be convocated on 14 October 2012. My previous entry of the convocation date was wrong...I wrote 23 October. Just 2 weeks for my convocation day. Alhamdulillah.

Waiting for Senate Meeting's result

The meeting was held yesterday 13 September 2012. Before that I called the Graduate School Office (GSO) for many times just to confirm that my name would be in the list for the coming Senate Meeting... I had 2 friends who were not really fortunate when the GSO missed their names for the Senate Meeting. As for today, when I call the GSO, the person at the counter told me that I need to wait for an email letting me know whether or not my doctorare condidature is apporoved or otherwise. Since next Monday; 16 September is Malaysia Day I will check my email again next week. I really hope that the Senate members approved my candidature..then I will be thinking of binding the thesis with hardcover...and finally I hope I can be convocated this 23 October 2012. Please pray for me ;-)

Waiting for Senate Meeting

I have submitted my thesis for Senate Meeting at the Graduate School on the 1st August 2012. The staff said that the meeting is in September. I hope that senate members will approve my candidature. And therefore, I can attend the convocation on the 23 October this year. I pray to Allah that He granted me the opportunity. Ameen.

Presenting Corrections and getting Internal Examiners' signatures

These few days was tiring and frustrating. I was emailing here and there just for the sake of getting the internal examiners' signature as well as to discuss the corrections I made. The worst case was being scolded by my supervisor (he was known for his grumpy attitude-- many people know about this). I was surprised being scolded like a child in front of his staff and some students at his office. The use of the words "useless" as in this sentence, "you're useless" or rather in Malay "you tak boleh pakai" was something that I always remembered in this journey of getting my Phd. I was told by his staff that that day (the day I met him that he was not in a good mood. His 'adik angkat' met with an accident). For any reason, I supposed he was not to treat his student the way I was treated. It damaged his professionalism as a PROFESSOR in the university. There was only some slight mistakes that I did in which I didn't write PROFESSOR (instead I wrote ASSOC. PROFESSOR in the Bahasa Malaysia abstract I wrote for the thesis), the first page of the thesis has a roman number that needs to be deleted, I didn't indent a paragraph in one of the pages of the thesis). I told him that I could print at once what he wanted me to do earlier. Before this incident happened, he made a call stating the things I needed to do for the thesis. As I was in the hospital after my APK (versus LASIK) operation, my conversation with him was rather unclear. He didn't tell me that I needed to print the corrections and hand-in to him during my meeting with him that was scheduled just the day after I talked to him. To shorten the story, after he bombarded me with his scarce words, he told me, "This is easy, I just sign here". In the first place, that was just the thing that he needed to do so. He didn't favour me ever since in the first semester of being supervised by him, I went through the process of getting scolded by him once in a while. Though that was the first time I was scolded by him face-to-face, I seldom was scolded on the phone. I could accept all that was happened to me because I know I was a student (adult one). Nevertheless, I believe that as a university professor, his attitudes was totally unprofessional. For me, you don't have to boost telling everyone that you're A PROFESSOR... instead, people will know that you are one because of your VALUES you show to others. So, professionals - especially supervisors - out there (and of course, I'm reminding myself) if you want to know whether you're really supervising your students, let the students judge you. Don't brag about what you're good at instead the good thing will speak for itself.

I have submitted my correction

It was a gruelling process (ding dong...) of submitting the correction. One person says this and the other person says that. In the end, I'm the one who become the victim of the process. The story goes like this. I asked my friend how to go about submitting the correction. She said I need to see the internal examiners and then go to the Chairperson. This is the common procedure she told me in the university. I also consulted one of the students of my main supervisor regarding this (he's is my main supervisor's favourite student/ teacher's pet). He told me the same. So, I went to see both of my internal examiners. I made an appointment with them. They both agreed on the time scheduled. But, when I see both of them they said I'm supposed to get my main supervisor's signature first before meeting them. While I was ordered the opposite from my supervisor in his email after I went to see the internal examiners. Back to when I met the internal examiners, both of them refused to sign the form and discuss the correction I made... It's like a clock ticking "ding dong"...I go here and there asking for their signatures. To shorten the story, my main supervisor asked me to leave the thesis and the list of correction I made in his office since he will be going to UK. That would be a week.... then only he said he will read. Worst come to worst, I think I need to apply for another month of extension just for the sake of collecting their signatures and discuss the corrections I made. I hope things would not get much worst anymore.

My 2nd article published in English Language Teaching Journal

Check this out for the link to my paper

The title of this article is Second Language Learners’ Attitudes towards the Methods of Learning Vocabulary. Please use this article if the findings are related to what you are investigating. I hope the article will be of value to everyone particularly those who are writing on vocabulary.

http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/viewFile/15933/10695

Doing/ writing the corrections

..is a lazy task that I need to complete whether I like it or not. I was so not in the mood to write.

And if I type something (for the purpose of doing correction) I would be deleting it (I feel that it is not appropriate to write what I write). So, so lazy to do corrections.. with all the things that I need to add, give more explanations, provide supports. Give me all the strength Allah to complete this amanah and I hope I will really put an end to this Phd writing and move on to some other things. Eg. complete the university's research grant .. do lots of community services, internal and external training, present papers in and outside the country.. and the list go on. As for now, first thing first, corrections is the UTMOST PRIORITY!

I passed ...with major correction

Alhamdulillah..I went through the experience of having the viva on 26 March. I thank Allah for the process was smooth. I learnt a lot from the the oral examination. The committee of examiners gave me two mths to do the correction. I mistakenly thought it was three mths. I only realised that i had to do the corrections in two mths when i was reminded by one of my supervisors. I was a little panic..due to this i applied for a mth extension in submitting the correction to the internal examiners. For those who are reading, check carefully when you need to submit the corrections. Back in the viva session, I perceived that my external examiner (he was not present- a native speaker) throughly checked my thesis. He actually requested from my supervisor the soft copy of my thesis before the viva date. He ran again the analysis of the scores that I attached in the appendix. And of course changes needed to be made due to this. Concerning the item analysis especially for MCQ, he commented that the stems I wrote was too close. In fact, he required me to withdraw 2 items from the study. Concerning testing instrument in my thesis, I could say he was not satisfied with it as there was a lot of comments as far as this part is concerned. On the other hand, my internal examiners commented that my conceptual framework was too simple- a consequence that required me to change the title of my thesis... learning vs retention (drop the word learn and replace with retention). One of the examiners required me to withdraw one part of the literature review and replaced it with another heading. They also commented on my chapter 3. One of them told me that the elaboration on validity of the instruments were to shallow. She told me that I needed to respond to the comments made by the persons who checked the testing instruments. In short, the viva session was more of a discussion kind of thing. They were there to improvise my writing. I was really thankful to them. I was nervous before, during and after the viva session. But what I learnt was that you needed to respond to their questions... You might not have the answer which they wanted to listen, what was important was explaining to them of what you did, what made you did as such, your limitation and etc. Above all, always remember, it is your thesis that they are examining. Last but not least, remember that Allah is with you.. Don't be scared and never have the feeling that they are there to condemn you (motivational purpose). Good luck to those who are waiting for your vivas. You can do it! Imagine yourselves successfully underwent this examination...just picture it!

26.3.2012

That's the date for my viva. It'll be at 9am. I couldn't tell how I feel at the moment. So nervous. I hope things will be alright on that day. One of my supervisory committe members asked me to look at threats to internal validity. He also asked me to read the thesis for twice and practice the presentation infront of my collegues. InshaAllah, will be able to do it with few friends tomorrow since there were not many around last week.

Ya Rabb... ease me in the exam. Hope that I will be able to be fluent in giving my presentation and able to provide answers which satisfy the examiners. Not to mention, they will also be confident with my answers.

Reading notes as suggested to be prepared by Rowena in her book. However, will be postponing this reading task since at 4pm I have class...4-6pm class. Still feeling nervous but always remind myself no matter what happens Allah knows best and He'll always be by my side..

After practicing with friends..

I did few few practice with my colleagues. They made some comments. There was a question my friend asked... and she said I was repeating the same thing. So, I gave it another try in answering the question. After that she told me you supposedly you should not use this word, bla bla bla..you should be using other words..again bla bla bla. But one thing for sure I learnt from the presentations was that I need to make things clear of what I mean. Another colleague told me, you present as if we don't know anything. Is that true? In this situation, it was the first time they listened to my presentation. Yet, the panel of examiners have already gone through the thesis. Nevertheless, she had a point there. I need to clarify things.. make it clear to the examiners what I did, wrote...

Waiting for Viva date

It has been almost 3 mths that I submitted my thesis. Now, I am waiting for the viva date. Recently, I had dengue fever also known as breakbone fever. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights after having fever for 5 days. At that time, I didn't read or write anything. Felt so tired and I lost appetite. I always notify myself for the viva date in the postgraduate portal. It was stated that my external examiner had submitted his/ her report to the School of Graduate Office on the first week of February. However, my two internal examiners haven't submitted their responses yet. Meanwhile, I pray hard to Allah that the process of presenting my thesis is smooth.

My paper was published in IJBSR

Alhamdulillah, my paper was published in the International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. It was accepted without changes, alhamdulillah again. I need to submit at least 2 journals in order for me to graduate. And the contents of the papers that are published need to be the findings of the study. The process of submitting was easy and I received prompt replies from the editorial board. Few days ago, I received the journal (in its hard copy form). I have completed writing another journal article and hope to submit it next week, inshaAllah.