Abstract
Early word-reading ability is an important predictor of later literacy and overall academic achievement. Predictors of bilingual reading ability are particularly under researched for children attending bilingual immersion school. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the impact of inhibitory control, phonological awareness, and vocabulary on Spanish and English word-reading within- and across-language among 50 children between kindergarten and 2nd grade attending a 90/10 bilingual immersion school. The results of the hierarchical regressions revealed that inhibitory control was not related to word reading in either language. When examining oral language skills, the models indicated that vocabulary and phonological awareness predicted word-reading within-language. When controlling for all other variables, the final models revealed that English reading, phonological awareness, and Spanish vocabulary were significant predictors of Spanish reading. Conversely, only Spanish reading and grade level were significant predictors of English reading. These findings largely support the Cummins Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis.