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Cited by 3,318Multilingual Education and PolicyLanguage Development and DisordersEFL/ESL Teaching and Learning

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 73 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children

Cummins, James·1979·Review of Educational Research
DOI 10.2307/1169960
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Abstract

The central thesis of this paper is that a cognitively and academically beneficial form of bilingualism can be achieved only on the basis of adequately developed first language (L1) skills. Two hypotheses are formulated and combined to arrive at this position. The "developmental interdependence" hypothesis proposes that the development of competence in a second language (L2) is partially a function of the type of competence already developed in L1 at the time when intensive exposure to L2 begins. The "threshold" hypothesis proposes that there may be threshold levels of linguistic competence which a bilingual child must attain both in order to avoid cognitive disadvantages and allow the potentially beneficial aspects of bilingualism to influence his cognitive and academic functioning. These hypotheses are integrated into a model of bilingual education in which educational outcomes are explained as a function of the interaction between background, child input and educational treatment factors. It is suggested that many evaluations of bilingual education programs have produced uninterpretable data because they have failed to incorporate the possibility of these interactions into their research designs.

Overview

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Crossref · 10.2307/1169960

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Learning two languages will improve the learning process of both, regardless of the orthography type.

    “The main idea of this hypothesis is that learning two languages will improve the learning process of both, regardless of the orthography type (Cummins, 1979).”

    From Cognitive Retroactive Transfer (CRT) of Language Skills among Trilingual Arabic-Hebrew and English Learners (2014) · cites this paper as Cummins, 1979

  • The interdependence hypothesis holds that cross-linguistic transfer exists and is supported by a common underlying learning mechanism used to learn both L1 and L2 skills.

    “The interdependence hypothesis, on the other hand, argues that cross-linguistic transfer exists and is supported by a common underlying learning mechanism used to learn both L1 and L2 skills (Cummins, 1979).”

    From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Cummins, 1979

  • The finding that morphological compounding can be transferred supports the interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1979).

    “The results of path analyses show that morphological compounding can be transferred between Chinese and English, supporting the interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1979 ) and echoing the previous findings (Ke & Xiao, 2015; Lin et al., 2018 ; Xie et al., 2022).”

    From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Cummins, 1979

  • Morphological compounding can be transferred between Chinese and English.

    “The results of path analyses show that morphological compounding can be transferred between Chinese and English, supporting the interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1979 ) and echoing the previous findings (Ke & Xiao, 2015; Lin et al., 2018 ; Xie et al., 2022).”

    From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Cummins, 1979

  • Our findings support the interdependence hypothesis that there are common learning mechanisms supporting some linguistic and comprehension skills in bilingual languages.

    “Our findings support the interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1979) that there are common learning mechanisms supporting some linguistic and comprehension skills in bilingual languages.”

    From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Cummins, 1979

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Metadata

Authors
Cummins, J.
Affiliations
University of Alberta (CA)
Corresponding author
Cummins, James
Venue
Review of Educational Research
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
1979
Volume
49
Issue
2
Pages
222
ISSN
0034-6543 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2307/1169960
OpenAlex
W2108836181
Cited by
3,318
References
73
Citations by year
2026: 123 · 2025: 147 · 2024: 135 · 2023: 135 · 2022: 173 · 2021: 171 · 2020: 196 · 2019: 203 · 2018: 173 · 2017: 148 · 2016: 129 · 2015: 162 · 2014: 133 · 2013: 146 · 2012: 122
FWCI
177.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Review of Educational Research (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Multilingual Education and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
Keywords
bilingual children, bilingual education, first language development, second language acquisition, threshold hypothesis, bilingual advantage, academic performance

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