You are cordially invited to
Aek Phakiti's Painting Auctions for ALTAANZ Student Travel Grants
The inaugural Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) Conference will take place from November 9-10, 2012 in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
The Conference Theme is
"Innovative Language Assessment: Challenges and Complexity"
As a language tester, researcher and educator, and an artist, it is a great pleasure for me to paint four cubist oil paintings with the theme "Challenges and Complexity in Language Testing" for a charity auction.
As I believe language testing and assessment students today are the future of our language testing community and society at large, I would like to donate the money from this auction to ALTAANZ to contribute to the future funding of student conference travel grants. It may not be a lot of money, but it will surely have a long-term benefit for our society. There are only 4 paintings to be auctioned.
Auction Date: Saturday 10th November 2012
Auction Time: 12.30 p.m.
Auction Venue: Common Room 401, Faculty of Education and Social Work
The University of Sydney (see Map below)
The four cubist paintings reflect my past and current paths as a test-taker (Painting 1), a language testing student (Painting 2), a language tester, a researcher, and educator (Painting 3). Ultimately all these paths form my multiple-identities as a person (Painting 4). I am sure many people have shared at least one path.
As a language test-taker, we have no other choice but to take tests or exams. As a language testing student, we had a choice to learn how to make a test as valid and fair as possible because we would like to make a different to society. We have been inspired by the many great language testing researchers and professors. As language testers, we have a choice to use the best of our knowledge to make our test reliable, valid and fair for not only test-takers, but also other stakeholders in society. It is our responsibility to deliver the best possible test or assessment practice.
I hope that each of these paintings will help to remind us of "who we were, have been and will be." I hope they will go to a good home and continue to symbolise "challenges and complexity in language assessment"
(Click on the picture for a larger view)
Painting # 1
Title: "The Test-taker"
Medium: Oil on canvas (framed)
Size: 74 cm x 58 cm
Auction Price (Reserve): AUD$500
Description of the Artwork
In a typical language testing situation, a test-taker is to respond to a set of test tasks or answer test questions. In fact, it is more than answering test questions. Tests and the use of tests can affect an individual test-taker or his/her future. Tests are social tools with a gate-keeping function. Often tests determine the future of a person, whether it be giving up learning a foreign language; or having a better chance for future study/career opportunities. There are stakes in language tests (low or high). This painting reflects just this from a language test-taker's points of view: Questions are not equal to answers and some answers can be true or false. All this depends on the test-taker's language ability, test-method facets, her characteristics and random errors. She is uncertain about her future. She is questioning the reasons for and significance of taking this test. She asks "will this lead to my 'flexible or variable future'? There is social pressure around her. An external hand is pushing her to finishing off this test, given the remaining time. Will she make it?
Painting # 2
Title: "The Language Testing Student"
Medium: Oil on canvas (framed)
Size: 63 cm x 53 cm
Auction Price (Reserve): AUD$500
Description of the Artwork
This language testing student brings with her some experience of language learning and test-taking. It is here when she realises the complexity of language testing and assessment. While she is excited about gaining some technical knowledge that will be applicable for her future career, she is figuring out the basic principles of the "psychometric properties versus validity and fairness". They are complex yet important and stressed by her professor. There are so many ways and perspectives to look into these issues. There are also politics in language test use. Will she understand them by the end of the semester? Or will she have to continue learning about them for the rest of her life?
Painting #3
Title: "The Language Tester"
Medium: Oil on canvas (framed)
Size: 74 cm x 58 cm
Auction Price (Reserve): AUD$500
Description of the Artwork
Now she has obtained a postgraduate degree in language testing and assessment. She is now a language tester. She develops many language tests for use. To the best of her knowledge, she considers the issues of reliability, validity, practicality, ethics and fairness of test use. In the back of her mind, she is thinking about her test-takers. More immediately, she is dealing with technology and test resources. She is, however, constantly under time pressure. The clock on the wall is telling her she only has five minutes left to finish off this test. It seems she has never had enough time to develop an ideal test. This confirms to her that she has been in the "culture of giving and taking language tests". Is she trapped or is it her choice?
Painting #4
Title: "My Identity"
Medium: Oil on canvas (framed)
Size: 74 cm x 58 cm
Auction Price (Reserve): AUD$500
Description of the Artwork
She has been a test-taker, a language testing student, a language tester, a language testing researcher and a language testing professor. She has learnt so much from her past involvement in test development and experiences dealing with other stakeholders. It has been in a "thrilling world of language assessment". She has come to realise that she has lost her identity as a person. As time is still ticking, she is now in search of her actual identity: "My identity?" Will she find it?
Paintings on the wall
Each of the paintings are professionally framed with high quality materials.
Exhibition of these paintings
These four paintings will be available for public viewing in Common Room 401 in the Education Building on Friday 9 to Saturday 10 November 2012 between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.
Aek Phakiti's bio
Aek Phakiti is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL. His research interests include language testing and assessment and second language acquisition. Aek self-taught how to paint and paints in his free time to relax. He has exhibited his oil paintings at TAP Gallery, Sydney. He was a finalist in the Gallipoli Art Prize in 2012 (The Reflective Soldier).
Registration for bidding
Interested buyers will need to fill out a simple form and provide proof or your identity and address. You will be given a client card.
How much will it cost?
At auction the price a lot is determined by the bidder - you and others competing. With an auction there are no fixed prices as in a shop but occasionally a vendor (seller) may request a minimum price (or reserve) be placed on a lot. However the decision you have to make is how much you are prepared to bid.
How to bid
The best way to learn how to bid is to attend an auction. The auctioneer will introduce each lot in turn and ask for a price. To make an initial bid clearly indicate your interest to the auctioneer by holding up your client card. Once you have the auctioneer’s attention you only need to nod your head for further bids until the bidding stops.
The sale is confirmed by a tap of the auctioneer’s gavel (or the like) and you will then be asked for your client number. Once the gavel has fallen the sale is legally binding and the goods are at your risk.
Bidding increases in the following increment:
AU$400 - $500 in $20 bids
Be aware that the bidding process can be very quick.
How to Pay
We are able to accept payment in cash or payment direct into our bank. Ask at the counter for further details.
How to Collect
It is important to collect your painting promptly at the end of the auction.
Map to Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney
The Faculty of Education and Social Work is located on the Camperdown Campus. Common Room 401 is in the Education Building (A35) on Manning Road and is between the Old Teachers’ College and Manning Bar. To obtain a map, visit:
