The purpose of this study was to determine if dialogic reading involving diverse kindergarten students would significantly affect narrative language. Various studies have corroborated the effectiveness of dialogic reading instruction on the expressive vocabulary of monolingual children. However, few studies have examined oral narrative language outcomes, especially with diverse students. A total of 142 kindergarten students were randomly assigned to a treatment group or control group. Each child in the treatment group received 14 weeks of whole-class dialogic reading instruction from their kindergarten teacher two times per week for 20 minutes each session in their classroom. The dialogic reading program included explicit target vocabulary instruction based on unfamiliar vocabulary selected from each storybook. The oral narrative language (narrative retells and personal narratives) of each child were assessed using the CUBED Narrative Language Measures subtest (NLM). Results indicated that students in the control group and the treatment group (including culturally and linguistically diverse students) showed no significant difference in their narrative retell scores after the intervention. However, students (including CLD students) in the treatment group demonstrated significant improvement in their personal story generations when compared with the control group after dialogic reading intervention. The current research gives implications for current kindergarten education by indicating that a focus on early dialogic reading can augment oral language skills and therefore academic skills later in elementary school.

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This study explored the reading habits and dialogic book reading practices in parents of preschool-aged children. Early literacy practices in the home influence the development of language skills and academic learning of children. These practices were explored by directly by asking parents to reflect and report on their literacy habits in the home setting. It specifically addresses current reading behaviors that parents implement when reading with their child and observations of their child's attention and involvement during book-sharing sessions. This study was part of a larger study focusing on developing and implementing dialogic reading workshops for parents. A survey with 36 parent-report questions was distributed to parents across the United States via social media. Parents were asked to identify specific demographic variables and rate their perceptions of reading habits, interactive reading strategies used with their child, and library use. Following survey completion, 83 responses were analyzed. Key findings included consistent use of positive parent-child reading behaviors and the influence of parent characteristics. Parents consistently reported feeling confident or somewhat confident in reading with their child and consistent use of reading strategies in the home. Future research should study additional demographic variables. The results from this study will be used to inform a larger study of dialogic reading trainings with parents.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of paraprofessional-implemented dialogic reading (DR) strategies on the comprehension, interaction, and attending abilities of a child on the autism spectrum. The secondary purpose was to understand whether the DR strategies assisted the paraprofessional in establishing meaningful interactions and positive behavioral changes with her student on the autism spectrum. A single subject across behaviors design was implemented with one paraprofessional and her student with autism. Judged from visual analysis of the graphical representation of the data, it was determined that there was a medium to strong functional relationship (depending on the individual strategy) between the education of the paraprofessional on DR and the utilization of DR during shared book reading. The child participant did not exhibit overt gains through traditional DR in appropriate verbal responding but did experience a shift towards more consistent correct responding as a result of the DR prompts. These results provide preliminary evidence that paraprofessionals can effectively implement DR strategies in shared book reading with children who are not typically developing. Future research for this population should address certain aspects of traditional DR that could be adapted to more appropriately cater to the needs of children on the autism spectrum.

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Digital media technologies have been extensively utilized in children's daily lives and many researchers, educators, caregivers, and developers have been interested in finding ways to utilize these technologies in educational settings to facilitate early cognitive development. Among a wide range of media technologies, the accessibility of voice assistants and smart speakers powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) has notably increased. However, there is a paucity of knowledge about how this advanced technology can be used to teach young children important mathematical concepts during shared book reading. The current study aimed to examine whether and under what circumstances shared book reading with an AI voice agent would enhance preschool-aged children's learning of mathematical language, a critical domain-specific language highly associated with early numeracy skills and vocabulary development. Sixty-six participants who were recruited for home-visit and school-visit sessions were randomly assigned to one of three reading conditions to read a storybook with the AI voice agent three times: math storybook reading with dialogic questions, math storybook reading without dialogic questions, and non-math storybook reading with dialogic questions. The findings indicate that shared math storybook reading supports children's target mathematical language learning differently based on their initial understanding of numeracy skills. Children with higher levels of numeracy skills demonstrated greater benefits from simply listening to the story, whereas children with lower levels of numeracy skills showed a tendency to learn better when hearing questions and feedback from the AI voice agent. This study provides implications for the use of advanced technology involving social interaction to support children's learning of key mathematical language that can benefit from repeated reading. / Doctor of Philosophy / Digital media technologies have been widely used in children's daily lives and many researchers, educators, caregivers, and developers have been interested in finding ways to utilize these technologies in educational environments to support children's early cognitive development. Among a wide range of media technologies, more and more families with young children have access to smart speakers using voice assistant technology where users can talk to and give commands verbally. However, we do not know much about how this advanced technology can be used to teach young children important mathematical concepts during everyday activities. The goal of this study is to look at whether and in what condition shared book reading with an AI voice agent would support preschool-aged children's learning of mathematical language such as fewer, fewest, and a little bit which is critical in developing numeracy skills and vocabulary. Sixty-six participants who were recruited for home-visit and school-visit sessions were randomly assigned to one of the three reading conditions to read a storybook with the AI voice agent three times: math storybook reading with dialogic questions, math storybook reading without dialogic questions, and non-math storybook reading with dialogic questions. The findings suggest that shared math storybook reading supports children's target mathematical language learning differently based on their initial understanding of numeracy skills. Children with higher levels of numeracy skills benefited more from simply listening to the story, whereas children with lower levels of numeracy skills showed a tendency to learn better when hearing questions and feedback from the AI voice agent. This study provides implications for the use of advanced technology involving social interaction to support children's learning of mathematical language that can benefit from repeated reading.

This case study examined what happened when a novice teacher worked from a critical, dialogic stance to explore difference in his secondary English classroom. The study focused on a second-year teacher, employed at a suburban middle school, who had been trained in dialogic pedagogy during his teacher preparation program. Methods included lesson planning sessions, daily observations of the participant's classroom instruction, and participant interviews. Multiple data sources, including recordings of planning sessions, interview transcripts, classroom observation field notes, and analytical memos were generated and analyzed to establish new understandings about how dialogic practice affected his and his students' classroom experiences. These understandings suggested that the participant's efforts to enact a dialogic stance both benefited and complicated his practice. Insights generated by this study offer implications for teacher educators seeking to guide teacher candidates towards the translation of pedagogical theory into successful classroom practice in field placements and early-career classrooms. / Doctor of Philosophy / This case study examined what happened when a novice teacher worked from a critical, dialogic stance to explore difference in his secondary English classroom. The study focused on a second-year teacher, employed at a suburban middle school, who had been trained in dialogic pedagogy during his teacher preparation program. Methods included lesson planning sessions, daily observations of the participant’s classroom instruction, and participant interviews. Multiple data sources, including recordings of planning sessions, interview transcripts, classroom observation field notes, and analytical memos were generated and analyzed to establish new understandings about how dialogic practice affected his and his students’ classroom experiences. These understandings suggested that the participant’s efforts to enact a dialogic stance both benefited and complicated his practice. Insights generated by this study offer implications for teacher educators seeking to guide teacher candidates towards the translation of pedagogical theory into successful classroom practice in field placements and early-career classrooms.