A lack of research in adult literacy for both native speakers and speakers of English as a second language led to the development of the Test of Affixes in Syntactic Structures (TASS) for use in a pilot study (Dogger, January 1978) in which knowledge of derivational morphology was tested to determine its possible relationship with reading for English as a second language students. Test construction was followed by a thorough verification procedure which is the purpose of this study. In September 1978 the following measures of test strength were established: construct validity, content validity, item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, rational equivalence, and concurrent validity. The degree of relationship between reading proficiency, as demonstrated by subject performance on the Iowa Silent Reading Test, Level III (ISRT,III), and knowledge of derivational affixes, as demonstrated by subject performance on TASS, was also established. Results show that successful performance on the ISRT, III includes reading strategies beyond those required for successful performance on TASS. In other words, mastery of language structures as represented by English orthography is necessary but not sufficient for college-level reading proficiency.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4730.pdf: 5462519 bytes, checksum: cd2a52f2234bea99e7f5b85f60a90f50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-17 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Since its dawn, Behavior Analysis stood out in the search for ways of teaching complex repertoires to persons with intellectual retardation. Procedures built on stimulus equivalence have proved highly effective and economical, especially with regard to academic and symbolic skills. In Brazil, there is a tradition of successful research concerning the teaching of reading and spelling skills for children with learning disabilities. One of these computer presented procedures has recently been adapted for application to children with intellectual retardation, with excellent results, similar to those encountered by previous studies with other populations. However, to initiate the training in reading, based upon arbitrary MTS and CRMTS tasks, those children had to show a series of prerequisites skills, skills which commonly are to be found missing on people with higher levels of intellectual disabilities. It is urgent, then, to insert the teaching of those skills in the programs, so that more children can benefit from the reading instruction. The objectives of this study were: to identify which prerequisite skills are necessary for teaching reading based on a behavior network; to verify which strategies would be needed to teach such skills to students witch deficits in those repertoires, and finally, to build as a final product a comprehensive education program, to meet the difficulties of the largest possible number of students with intellectual disabilities. Four consecutive studies were designed, pursuing these goals. The first study investigated the possibility of building such a teaching program for prerequisites based on the strategies used by the regular reading program (CRMTS and MTS), and its results showed a relative success to the four participants. Study 2, attempting to expand the strategies to teach prerequisites skills, enrolled three other students in a new learning program, now using techniques such as Observing Response and Fading, and a new strategy, called Dragging-to-Sample. Its data showed higher rates of success, supporting the decision to introduce the new strategies, although flaws in the programming show a possible lack of control. Thus, Study 3 was implemented aiming to correct those flaws, in addition to program the teaching of new skills to the same three children from Study 2 and two other new students. Their positive results showed that the teaching programs successful taught the prerequisites for all but one student. Finally, Study 4 gathered all students who had finished the procedures from previous Studies, and its goal was to enroll them on the reading program, to thus verify the effectiveness and adequacy of the prerequisite programs built here. Their positive results indicated that the teaching programs actually taught the necessary prerequisites for students to enroll on a reading program. The data also clearly show the superiority of the last teaching program (Study 3) when compared to the first program (Study 1), corroborating both the prerequisite skills and support strategies chosen. The final product of the four studies was a prerequisite teaching program which could effectively help children with intellectual disabilities to achieve higher levels of reading comprehension. / A Análise do Comportamento, há muito, tem se destacado na busca por modos de ensinar repertórios complexos a pessoas com deficiência intelectual. Metodologias com base em equivalência de estímulos em particular têm se mostrado altamente eficazes e econômicas, especialmente com relação a conteúdos acadêmicos e habilidades simbólicas. No Brasil, uma tradição de pesquisas tem alcançado muito sucesso no ensino de leitura e escrita para crianças com fracasso escolar e dificuldades de aprendizagem. Um destes programas de ensino, computadorizado, foi recentemente adaptado para aplicação a crianças com deficiência intelectual, alcançando, também, altos resultados, similares aos verificados pelos estudos anteriores, com outras populações. Entretanto, para dar início ao treino em leitura, composto primariamente por tarefas de MTS e CRMTS arbitrário, fazia-se necessário que as crianças apresentassem uma série de pré-requisitos, comumente em falta no repertório de pessoas com níveis mais comprometidos de deficiência. A inclusão, nestes programas, de tarefas que ensinem tais habilidades para que mais crianças possam se beneficiar da instrução de leitura se faz, portanto, imperativa. Os objetivos deste estudo foram, então: identificar quais seriam as habilidades de pré-requisito necessárias para o ensino de leitura com base em uma rede de relações comportamentais; verificar que estratégias seriam necessárias para ensinar tais habilidades a alunos que apresentassem déficits nestes repertórios; e finalmente, construir como produto final um programa de ensino amplo, capaz de atender às dificuldades do maior número possível de alunos com tal perfil. Quatro estudos consecutivos foram delineados, perseguindo tais metas. O primeiro estudo verificou a possibilidade de construir tal programa de ensino de pré-requisitos a partir das estratégias empregadas pelo programa de leitura regular (basicamente MTS e CRMTS), e seus resultados mostraram sucesso relativo para seus quatro alunos. O Estudo 2, na tentativa de expandir as estratégias empregadas para o ensino de pré-requisitos, expôs outros três alunos a um novo programa de ensino, agora utilizando técnicas consagradas na Literatura como Fading e Resposta de observação, além de uma nova estratégia construída, o Dragging-to-Sample. Seus dados mostraram maiores índices de sucesso, corroborando a decisão de introduzir as novas estratégias; porém uma falha na programação deixou um possível controle espúrio se desenvolver. Assim, o Estudo 3 foi implementado, com o objetivo de corrigir as falhas encontradas no estudo anterior, além de programar o ensino de novas habilidades, para as três crianças provenientes do Estudo 2 e outros dois alunos novos. Seus resultados mostraram alto sucesso do programa de ensino de pré-requisitos, para todos menos um aluno. O Estudo 4, por fim, teve por participantes os alunos que terminassem os estudos anteriores, e seu objetivo era aplicar o programa de leitura a eles, verificando, assim, a eficácia e suficiência dos programas de pré-requisito aqui construídos. Seus resultados positivos indicaram que os programas de ensino de fato ensinaram os pré-requisitos necessários para que os alunos pudessem realizar um programa de leitura. Os dados ainda mostram claramente a superioridade do último programa de ensino (Estudo 3) com relação ao primeiro (Estudo 1), e corroboram para a escolha tanto das habilidades de pré-requisito quanto das estratégias de apoio inseridas. O produto final dos quatro estudos foi um programa de ensino de pré-requisitos eficaz para guiar as crianças com deficiência intelectual a alcançar níveis mais elevados de compreensão da leitura.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field studying computer processing of human language. Recently, neural network language models, a subset of machine learning, have been used to great effect in this field. However, research remains focused on the English language, with few implementations in other languages of the world. This work focuses on how NLP techniques can be used for the task of grammar and spelling correction in the Swedish language, in order to investigate how language models can be applied to non-English languages. We use a controlled experiment to find the hyperparameters most suitable for grammar and spelling correction on the Göteborgs-Posten corpus, using a Long Short-term Memory Recurrent Neural Network. We present promising results for Swedish-specific grammar correction tasks using this kind of neural network; specifically, our network has a high accuracy in completing these tasks, though the accuracy achieved for language-independent typos remains low.

L'orthographe du français : usages et représentations d'adultes socio-différenciés. Approche pluridisciplinaire.Dans une perspective linguistique, psycholinguistique, sociolinguistique et didactique, qui intègre le plan cognitif et les facteurs sociaux, ce travail de thèse porte sur l'étude de la variation orthographique dans les pratiques et les représentations de l'orthographe du français d'usagers de la langue qui, par obligation professionnelle ou scolaire, écrivent quotidiennement : des scripteurs adultes en cours d'apprentissage (élèves de lycée professionnel) et des scripteurs experts (secrétaires, DRH et futurs enseignants du secondaire).Le questionnement de cette recherche sur l'enjeu social de l'orthographe se centre plus précisément sur la manière dont les usagers de la langue écrite, en difficulté ou en relative sécurité, se construisent des savoirs orthographiques et se représentent l'orthographe ; il pourrait se formuler en ces termes : Face au système complexe de l'écriture du français, quels sont les secteurs de fragilité ou d'insécurité orthographique des scripteurs experts et des scripteurs en difficulté ? En d'autres termes, ces secteurs recouvrent-ils les zones d'instabilité du code graphique ? Quels jugements les scripteurs portent-ils sur l'orthographe et sur leurs pratiques orthographiques, ainsi que sur les propositions d'une nouvelle réforme ?Les objectifs que recouvrent ces questions sont nombreux, cette recherche essaie d'apporter des éléments de réponse sur 1/ la variation orthographique dans les écrits formels afin de déterminer les secteurs de fragilité orthographique des usagers de la langue écrite ; 2/ les patrons ou schémas intériorisés, responsables des variantes orthographiques ; 3/ l'existence d'une demande sociale ou non, de la part des « professionnels » de l'orthographe, en matière d'une réforme orthographique.Somme toute, cette recherche permet de comprendre les difficultés orthographiques d'un certain nombre d'adolescents et d'adultes dans une société où l'on produit de plus en plus d'écrits et où la compétence de lecture et d'écriture est déterminante pour l'insertion sociale et professionnelle. Les analyses tant qualitatives et quantitatives menées ont permis de dégager un profil général de chacun des publics observés au regard des données croisées de leurs compétences orthographiques et de leurs représentations.Enfin, ce travail offre, en ouverture, une réflexion renouvelée sur l'orthographe actuelle et propose des suggestions dans une perspective de formation des enseignants à la variation orthographique - informer des tendances fortes repérées, apporter des outils théoriques pour favoriser les apprentissages. / Uses and Representations of French Spelling in Socially Differentiated Adults.A Multidisciplinary ApproachThis thesis examines orthographic variation from a linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and didactic perspective, integrating both cognitive and social factors. More specifically, it focuses on this variation in the French-spelling practices and representations of language users who use the written medium daily, due to either professional or educational obligations. The users in question are adult writers in the process of learning (sixth form students at a vocational secondary school) and expert writers (secretaries, human resources managers and future secondary school teachers). This research questions the social stakes of spelling, focusing more specifically on 1/ how users of written language, whether they have difficulties or are relatively secure in their uses, build orthographical knowledge and 2/ the representations they have of spelling. The key question could be expressed in the following terms: in the face of the complex French writing system, what are the areas of fragility or orthographical insecurity among expert writers and writers with difficulties? In other words, do these areas overlap with the areas of instability that exist within the French writing system? What judgments do these writers make regarding spelling and their own orthographic practice, and regarding suggestions for a new reform of the spelling system?These questions address a number of aims and this research attempts to provide some answers concerning 1/ spelling variation in formal writing, in order to determine areas of spelling fragility among users of written language; 2/ the internalised patterns or schemas that are responsible for spelling variants; 3/ the existence of social demand for spelling reform on the part of spelling “professionals”. In sum, this study allows an understanding of the spelling difficulties faced by a certain number of adults and adolescents in a society in which more and more written texts are produced and in which competence in reading and writing is a determining factor for social and professional integration. The qualitative and quantitative analyses conducted allow a general profile of each of the groups of writers observed to be drawn up, on the basis of cross-referenced data about their orthographic competence and representations. Finally, this work opens up the perspective of renewed reflection about current spelling and puts forward suggestions for training teachers in orthographic variation i.e. informing them about the strong tendencies identified and providing theoretical tools to foster learning.

Submitted by Aelson Maciera (aelsoncm@terra.com.br) on 2017-06-01T18:22:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCDPG.pdf: 1800483 bytes, checksum: 3ede350d632357b2aef20a8f90db43ac (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-06-05T12:42:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCDPG.pdf: 1800483 bytes, checksum: 3ede350d632357b2aef20a8f90db43ac (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-06-05T12:42:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCDPG.pdf: 1800483 bytes, checksum: 3ede350d632357b2aef20a8f90db43ac (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-05T12:47:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCDPG.pdf: 1800483 bytes, checksum: 3ede350d632357b2aef20a8f90db43ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-14 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / The current work involves assessing a computerized teaching module grounded within the stimulus equivalence paradigm. This method has been successfully used for teaching reading and spelling skills to children with a poor educational history. The primary tasks employed by the matching-to-sample procedure constitute of matching pictures with dictated words, printed words with dictated words and printed syllables with dictated syllables. The goal is to teach relations between stimuli through the establishment of listening repertoires. Another task is to copy, which involves selection of printed letters conditionally upon the presentation of printed words. Across the 17 teaching steps of Module 1, these four tasks are performed with three different words. Periodic probes measure the emergence of untrained skills, such as reading (textual behavior), writing under dictation control, and conditional relations between the printed words and pictures, and vice versa. Previous studies have shown that upon conclusion of the module, students demonstrate high indicators of success in all emerging skills. The goal of the current study was to examine in detail dictation emerged performances through the 17 teaching steps, describing the acquisition pattern for each participant when writing dictated words. The data of 12 students who completed Module 1 served as a baseline at the beginning of the study. Each step involved the presentation of a word and two attempts of intercalated dictations along with other tasks. Six trials were made for each step, with 102 trials for the whole module. The number of trials and corresponding steps was repeated until an accuracy criterion of 100% was met for each step. Cumulative response curves were categorized into three general patterns of spelling: immediate, progressive (intermediate or late) and oscillatory emergency. For the immediate emergence, the participant produced correct responses across most trials. In the progressive emergence, the student produced several incorrect responses at onset, but shifted to a progressively more accurate pattern with subsequent steps. In the oscillatory pattern, the participant initially produced correct responses but, in subsequent steps, the production of incorrect responses increased. Analysis of writing topographies and average correct percentages on bigrams demonstrated improved performances across writing repertoires compared to the first steps, indicating the emergence of dictation repertoires. Analysis of teaching steps repetitions suggested distributions similar to those presented across the cumulative response curves (i.e., immediate, progressive and oscillatory patterns). Pearson correlations were found across baseline reading and spelling scores, with a strong relationship between the acquisition of reading and spelling repertoires. An inverse relation between initial performances and amount of training and age. Other correlations were observed across scores reached in the initial tasks used to measure the relation between spoken words and printed words (AC relation) and participant’s age to the amount of training needed for participants. In conclusion, it is fair to say that the dictation by composition emerged for all participants, although in different levels. Future research could tackle the variables responsible for the variability of participant’s performances. / O presente trabalho teve como base um módulo de ensino computadorizado, baseado no paradigma de equivalência de estímulos, que vem sendo usado com sucesso para ensinar leitura e escrita a crianças que apresentam histórico de fracasso escolar. As principais tarefas de ensino, conduzidas com o procedimento de emparelhamento de acordo com o modelo, consistem em emparelhar figuras a palavras ditadas, palavras impressas a palavras ditadas e sílabas impressas a sílabas ditadas. Essas tarefas ensinam relações entre estímulos (repertórios de ouvinte). Uma outra tarefa é a de cópia (selecionar letras impressas condicionalmente a uma palavra impressa como estímulo modelo). Em cada um dos 17 passos de ensino do Módulo 1, as quatro tarefas são realizadas com três palavras diferentes. Sondas periódicas aferem a emergência de desempenhos não diretamente ensinados como a leitura (comportamento textual), a escrita sob controle de ditado e relações condicionais entre palavras impressas e figuras e vice-versa. Pesquisas prévias mostraram que ao concluir o módulo, os alunos apresentavam elevados índices de acertos em todos os desempenhos emergentes, estudos minuciosos da emergência de relações não diretamente ensinadas é de grande relevância para compreender a economia da metodologia de ensino empregada no ALEPP, não só gerando aprendizagem diretamente treinado mas relações novas entre os estímulos. Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar detalhadamente a emergência do desempenho em ditado ao longo dos 17 passos de ensino, visando descrever, para participantes individuais, o padrão de aquisição da escrita sob controle de palavras ditadas. Para este propósito foram compilados e analisados os dados de 12 alunos que completaram o Módulo 1 e que apresentavam uma linha de base de 0 a 13% em tarefas de leitura e escrita no início do estudo. Em cada passo eram conduzidas, para cada palavra, duas tentativas de ditado intercaladas sem correção com outros tipos de tarefas, o que soma seis tentativas por passo e 102 no módulo. Esse número aumentava conforme o número de repetições dos passos, até que o aluno atingisse o critério de aprendizagem de 100% de acertos em tentativas de ditado por composição para cada passo. Curvas acumuladas de respostas corretas mostraram três tipos gerais de padrões na emergência da escrita: imediata, gradual (intermediária ou tardia) e oscilante. Na emergência imediata o aluno apresentava acertos na maioria das tentativas, a partir do passo inicial; na gradual, o aluno começava apresentando muitos erros, mas a partir de certo passo, passava a escrever corretamente e mantinha desempenho acurado nos passos subsequentes; na oscilante, o aluno acertava nos passos iniciais, mas passava a apresentar erros em passos mais avançados. Análise de topografias de escrita e de percentagem média de acertos em bigramas demostraram melhores desempenhos nos passos finais do que nos iniciais, o que é um indicador da emergência de repertórios de ditado. A percentagem de acertos em testes extensivos de tarefas de leitura e ditado ao final do módulo replicaram os dados de emergência de ditado, descritos na literatura publicada sobre este módulo de ensino. As pontuações em tarefas de leitura e escrita mostraram uma correlação positiva entre esses dois repertórios. Foi identificada, ainda, uma relação inversa entre escores em tarefas iniciais para medir a relação entre palavras faladas e palavras impressas (relação AC) com a quantidade de treino (total de tentativas, incluindo as programadas e as repetidas) e a idade dos participantes. Como conclusão se pode dizer que o ditado por composição emergiu para todos os participantes, mas com níveis diferentes. Pesquisas futuras poderão elucidar o papel de variáveis responsáveis pela variabilidade entre participantes. / CNPq: 573972/2008-7 / FAPESP: 2008/57705-8

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:47:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luanda Alvariza Gomes Ney_Dissertacao.pdf: 1302951 bytes, checksum: 0084930b669bff09e5270f2e21767a98 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-13 / This research describes and analyses, in data extracted from spontaneous texts, the use of acute accent marks by young primary students. It is debated the relations established, in initial writing, between acute accent marks and children s knowledge about the language prosody. The proposal for attribution of acute accent marks by Bisol (1992, 1994) is the basis of this study. The analyzed corpus is comprised of 3161 words (not verbs) which receive acute accent marks, according to spelling norm, and 222 words where the words received acute accent marks when, according to the norm, it is not necessary. The resulting data were obtained by research made with 987 texts produced by children in two schools, a private and a public in the city of Pelotas/RS. The data were submitted to qualitative and quantitative analysis having into account two categories: correct answers and mistakes. The results demonstrate that: i) the majority of correct answers referring to acute accent marks occur in oxytone words and tonic monosyllables, mainly when the stressed vowels are the medium o and e ; ii) when stressing inadequately, children end up revealing coherent hypothesis related to phonetics and also to language prosody, because, in most of these cases, the acute accent marks, besides coinciding with the tonic syllable of the word, it is used for indicating open vowels; iii) the data of omission of acute accent marks represent 84% of the mistakes registered; iv) when the acute accent mark takes place in the changed syllable, it is verified a tendency in stressing as tonic the penultimate syllable, which characterizes the general rule of prosodic acute accent mark in Portuguese. The data confirm also that the progress in education constitutes an important factor for appropriation of rules of acute accent marks use by young learners, mainly, in private schools. Keywords: acute accent marks, prosodic accent marks, writing acquisition. / Esta pesquisa descreve e analisa, em dados extraídos de textos espontâneos, o uso da acentuação gráfica por crianças das séries iniciais. Discutem-se as relações estabelecidas, na escrita inicial, entre o acento gráfico e o conhecimento que as crianças possuem sobre a prosódia da língua. A proposta para atribuição do acento de Bisol (1992, 1994) serve de base para o estudo. O corpus analisado é constituído de 3161 palavras (não-verbos) que devem ser grafadas com acento, conforme a norma ortográfica da língua, e 222 palavras em que houve a grafia do acento quando este, segundo a norma, não é necessário. Os dados foram obtidos a partir do levantamento feito em 987 textos produzidos por crianças de duas escolas, uma pública e outra particular, da cidade de Pelotas/RS. Os dados foram submetidos à análise quali-quantitativa, considerando-se duas principais categorias: acertos e erros. Os resultados mostram que: i) o maior número de acertos referentes à grafia do acento ocorre em palavras oxítonas e monossílabos tônicos, principalmente quando as vogais acentuadas são as médias o e e ; ii) ao grafarem acentos indevidos, as crianças acabam por revelar hipóteses coerentes com a fonética e com a prosódia da língua, pois, na maioria desses casos, o acento, além de coincidir com a sílaba tônica da palavra, é utilizado para indicar vogais abertas; iii) os dados de omissão do acento representam 84% dos erros registrados; iv) quando ocorre grafia do acento na sílaba trocada, verifica-se uma tendência em marcar como tônica a penúltima sílaba, o que caracteriza a regra geral do acento prosódico do português. Os dados atestam ainda que o avanço na escolarização constitui um fator importante para a apropriação das regras de utilização do acento gráfico pelas crianças, sobretudo, na escola particular.

This thesis investigates how high school students collaboratively solve naturally occurring spelling problems in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in Stockholm, Sweden. The study is motivated by the scarcity of research on spelling solving, both in terms of the observable spelling practices adopted by the students and in terms of the collaborative management of spelling issues in the second/foreign language classroom. The theoretical and methodological framework is multimodal ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA). The data consists of video recordings of ten EFL lessons that took place during five consecutive school days. The thesis focuses specifically on three spelling solving episodes and analyzes at the micro level the process by which the students go from initiating to closing the spelling solving sequence. In providing fine-grained accounts of the students’ verbal and embodied actions as they collaboratively attempt to solve the spelling problems, the thesis respecifies spelling solving strategies as observable spelling solving practices. The analysis demonstrates how the participants orient to spelling solving as an important form-focused activity. Moreover, the analysis shows how the students integrate different verbal and embodied resources as well as cultural artifacts to accomplish the spelling solving. Finally, the analysis demonstrates how the students’ relative orientations to individual versus collaborative achievements and their management of epistemic rights and responsibilities in completing the task influence the sequential organization and the outcome of the solving sequences. The thesis discusses the findings in relation to prior work on spelling solving and also points out potential implications for second/foreign language instruction that may be of use for current and future EFL instructors.

The aim of this study is to discover if Swedish writers use American or British spelling, vocabulary and grammar when writing a text in English. The focus is on differences in spelling categories, lexical variation between the two varieties as well as differences in the usage of non-finite complementation. This is a quantitative study based on material from the Swedish in English Newspapers Corpus (SWENC), the Blogs in English by Swedes Corpus (BESC), and the Corpus of English Tweets by Swedes (CETS). The results show that Swedish writers of English prefer to use British English spelling, American English vocabulary and that they tend to imitate American English grammar usage when it comes to non-finite complementation. The conclusions are that the English of Swedish writers is affected by the standards of the English used in at least two of the countries in the Inner Circle, i.e. American and British English, and that it seems to be influenced both by what is taught in school and what the writers see and hear in the media.

This essay is a theoretical qualitative study, which examines the possibility for a spelling reform into English. The history of orthographical changes into British English, as well as Brown’s categorisation of spelling reforms, is reviewed. Four spelling reform proposals are analysed and compared.  Additionally, the social discourses of Eira, which are relevant to a spelling reform, are analysed and discussed with regard to English. There is only speculation as to why no modern day spelling reform has been implemented in British English, but it is connected to its historical events, the social discourses and the implementation process. Spelling reform into English is theoretically feasible, but it depends on the implementation strategies and support from those who wish to perform such a change.