Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

esources, much time dedicated to training teachers and parents on program methods, and
much time dedicated to implementing program methods. Such a comprehensive approach
to intervention implementation is desirable but not always feasible, particularly if
preschool programs have limited funding for such endeavors. Effective intervention
methods requiring minimal resources, minimal training, and minimal implementation
time could prove useful for preschool programs, and particularly programs with limited
resources, in readying young children for school.
Throughout the preschool day, teachers‘ conversations with children mark
potential opportunities to simultaneously enhance children‘s literacy and social-emotional
development. During free play, meal time, and book reading, for examples, Gest et al.
(2006) found that teachers who demonstrated the highest rates and most challenging
forms of talk were rated by observers as warmer and more sensitive. Further, teacher talk
during book reading was rated as the richest (i.e., average use of new vocabulary; varied
grammar; challenging concepts; and talk about people, places, things, and events not
present) and most sensitive (i.e., availability, warmth, conversational balance, and
responsiveness) when compared to teacher talk during free play and meal time (Gest et
al., 2006). Because storybook reading is a common practice in preschool classrooms, and
because dialogic reading techniques can successfully be implemented within varied time
frames (e.g., 1 month, Whitehurst et al., 1988; 7 months, Whitehurst et al., 1994, 1999)
and require minimal training (see Arnold & Whitehurst, 1994), dialogic reading can
prove a time- and cost-effective means of enhancing children‘s literacy skills in the
preschool classroom context.
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