Activities

Microclimate in open space affected by the urban layout and spatial forms plays an important role in the outdoor comfort, thus the outdoor activities based on the comfort sensation will directly affected by the spatial forms. An outstanding open space should satisfy different requirements of outdoor activities and create relatively comfortable place.Most studies have been conducted on these relationships only above 0 Celsius degree. However, only few have focused on extreme situations in both hot summer and cold winter. Therefore, from microclimate perspective, taking people’s comfort and spatial behaviors as criterions, this research discussed how the open space forms affect microclimate, thus affect comfort sensation and spatial behaviors. The outcomes may provide some useful insights for planners and architects to understand the relationship among microclimate, open space and people. Results showed that in hot season, shade and air-flow played crucial roles in outdoor comfort. More people tend to stay outside in the shade and the area with higher air velocity. After sunset is popular period for outdoor activities. The ambient temperature lower than 29.6 ℃ , air velocity higher than 1.1m/s and relative humidity higher than 67% is needed to achieve neutral comfort sensation. In cold season, at the same ambient temperature, lower air velocity raised the comfort level. Shade also had influences on comfort sensation but do not affect spatial behaviors significantly. The ambient temperature higher than -14.4 ℃ , air velocity lower than 1.6m/s is the thresholds for an acceptable outdoor environment.

The present study intended to design some materials based on the guidelines of González Davies (2004) for ‘legal texts and correspondence translation’ course of graduate students majoring in translation studies. To this end, first a checklist on the basis of Gentry and Gable's (2001) model was designed to find out the participants’ perceptions of the tasks. Next, the researchers designed related tasks based on Gonzales Davies’ (2004) guidelines inspired by Kiraly’s (2000) constructivist approach. In the third phase, the participants were given the designed tasks published in a book during10-12 sessions. Finally, the researchers held a semi-structured interview with the participants to find out their perceptions towards classroom activities as well as their translation ability. The results indicate that the participants had positive perceptions regarding the designed tasks. The findings have implications for translation classroom courses.

Abstract Formative assessment has been often encouraged recently as a pivot component in the methodology of evaluation but the student's view of how this affects the improvement of language learning in some countries is disregarded in a way. Therefore, the following study investigates the experiences of students (pre-service teachers) in formative assessment and the tools used for its implementation. Teaching and evaluation are based on learning outcomes and students' approach to the activities that students are liable to convey in the course of English for teachers in the Department of Education. The study analyzed students' perceptions and their approach to formative assessment utilization. The Formative Assessment appears as a dignified way to raise the quality of learning, and as a result, the students achieve their goal to pass the exam successfully and get high grades. To acquaint their perspectives, 85 students as study respondents took part in the research in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The quantitative research data from the questionnaire were analyzed through the SPSS platform, while the qualitative research data extracted from the focus group are presented through descriptive analysis, in the form of quotations. The findings of the questionnaires evinced the students' views on formative assessment and further, data from focus group discussions validated the reasonableness of what the students perceived in the questionnaire. Implications recommended that in addition to the tiresome work of continuously preparing during the teaching, EFL teachers are able to meet the individual needs of the students depending on the differences they have among themselves.

Studies addressing such concepts as place, sense of place, place attachment, place identity, place dependence, rootedness, genius loci, topophilia, and place-making can be found in count-less disciplinary and applied fields devoted to the design, planning, stewardship, and restoration of places that vary in kind and scale from homes, neighborhoods, and cities to parks, and ecosystems. This article identifies opportunities and challenges to using sense of place as motivation for long-term stewardship at multiple spatial scales in a rapidly changing world. Sense of place reflects processes by which individuals or groups identify, attach to, depend on, and modify places, as well as the meanings, values, and feelings that individuals or groups associate with a place. The results of research show that An overview of the defined sense of place shows that sense of place is a result of the relationship of Man, his mental imaginations, and environmental characteristics. The concept, on the one hand, is rooted in the subjective experiences such as memories, traditions, history, culture, and society. It can be affected by the objective and external effects in the environment such as design, landscape, smell, and sound, on the other hand. Accordingly, sense of place is a complicated concept of the human feelings and attachment towards the environment that is produced due to the adaptation and use of place by the human. It means that sense of place has not been a predetermined event but results from the human interaction with the environment.