JOHOR BAHRU, Apr 24 – The Language Academy (LA), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), in collaboration with the Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching (ALLT) Research Group, successfully hosted not one but two back-to-back international seminars on 23 and 24 April 2025, featuring distinguished guest speaker: Dr. M. Faruq Ubaidillah from Universitas Islam Malang (UNISMA), Indonesia. The events attracted vibrant participation from postgraduate students, international scholars, and academic staff.
The first of the two seminars, titled “Telling the Untold: The Use of Narrative Inquiry as a Methodology in Social Science Research,” was held on 23 April 2025. The session showcased the power of narrative inquiry in uncovering hidden voices and constructing meaningful narratives in social science research. Dr. Faruq, who notably completed his PhD in just two years, shared valuable insights on the theoretical foundations and practical applications of narrative inquiry, drawing on personal experiences from his own research journey. The seminar was conducted in a hybrid mode at Seminar Room 2, Block D06, UTM, and streamed live via Webex to ensure broader accessibility and wider participation. The event welcomed more than 50 participants, including international students, staff, and postgraduate researchers. The seminar ended with a lively Q&A session, addressing methodological challenges and best practices in research.
The momentum continued on 24 April 2025 with the second seminar, “Narratives of PhD Journeys & Strategies for Scholarly Publications.” In this session, Dr. Faruq adopted a practical approach, reflecting on the challenges and strategies encountered throughout the PhD journey, with a focus on scholarly publishing. This topic is of great interest to postgraduate research students who need to fulfill the publication criterion as part of their graduation requirements. Additionally, Dr. Faruq presented key insights from his PhD study which explored the evolution of language teacher identity across temporal dimensions. His candid sharing of personal struggles, academic strategies, and empirical findings resonated strongly with the attendees. Like the first event, this seminar was held in hybrid mode at the same venue, attracting over 40 participants, including postgraduate students, international researchers, and academic staff. The participants expressed their heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to Language Academy for organising two seminars packed with theoretical input and practical takeaways, which are particularly useful in helping them prepare for academic publishing and reflective professional practice.
Overall, participants in both sessions engaged actively and benefited tremendously from the rich exchanges and motivational narratives shared. The sessions also fostered a strong sense of scholarly community and inspired many to pursue academic excellence more strategically and resiliently.
Led by Dr. Lee Huan Yik, Language Academy, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities (FSSH), UTM recently signed a Letter of Collaboration (LoC) with UNISMA. Both institutions are currently working towards strengthening this partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the months ahead. These two seminars are part of a series of bilateral initiatives, aimed to promote deeper academic cooperation, research collaboration, and international exchange between both institutions.
The successful hosting of these seminars reflects UTM’s continuous commitment to enriching academic knowledge, fostering global connections, and preparing scholars for impactful contributions in multilingual and multicultural research contexts.
Prepared by Lee Huan Yik and Syadiyah Huda Suhaimi