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

comprehensive approach to enhancing both skill sets. A comprehensive approach,
however, is not always feasible, particularly for preschool programs with limited
resources. For these programs, effective intervention methods requiring fewer resources
and time to implement may prove especially beneficial. Previous research has
demonstrated that dialogic reading is effective in enhancing children‘s literacy and social
cognitive development (Zevenbergen et al., 2003); thus, dialogic reading may prove a
useful tool in simultaneously enhancing children‘s literacy and social-emotional
development. Further, because preschoolers of varying age and socio-economic
circumstance may participate in preschool programming at various rates throughout the
academic year (e.g., participation in a full- versus half-day programming, extensive
programming absences), dialogic reading research portraying positive emergent literacy
and social-emotional outcomes for children with varying preschool program participation
rates could prove useful for future intervention research, early childhood education
programs, and curricula development aiming to simultaneously enhance children‘s
emergent literacy and social-emotional skills.
The Current Research
The enhancement of children‘s literacy and social-emotional skills begins long
before kindergarten entry (Denham, 1998; Lonigan, 2006; Morrison et al., 2006); thus,
the preschool classroom context provides a pristine opportunity to serve this purpose. The
proposed intervention aimed to simultaneously enhance children‘s literacy and social-
emotional skills through the use of dialogic reading of emotion-laden storybooks. By
replicating methods previously implemented by Whitehurst et al. (1994, 1999), this
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