At the end of elementary school (age 10), approximately 10% of students in German speaking countries do not possess sufficient reading skills (Hornberg, Valtin, Potthoff, Schwippert, & Schulz-Zander, 2007). With regard to Austria, actually 16% of nine and ten-year-old students belong to the at-risk group in reading (e.g. Suchán, Wallner-Paschon, Stöttinger, & Bergmüller, 2007). Poor reading abilities lead to a high risk concerning the successful accomplishment of the affected children’s school career (Lonigan, Purpura, Wilson, Walker, & Clancy Menchetti, 2012).

Reading and language skills are highly interconnected. In particular reading comprehension is closely linked to language abilities (Snowling & Hulme, 2005; Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhill, 2005). Reading comprehension is a very complex composition of different sub-processes as well as various component skills (Stanovich, West, Cunningham, Cipielewsky, & Siddiqui, 1996). Especially phonologic awareness and overall language abilities predict reading comprehension (Skebo, Lewis, Freebairn, Tag, Cisela, & Stein, 2013) and higher levels of oral proficiency and a wider range of vocabulary ease the process of reading acquisition (Bialystok, 2007).

Beside the higher risk for reading acquisition, deficits in the language of instruction lead to poor grades (Roberts, Sorajani, & Vaughn, 2010) as language is the foundation of most subjects at school (David, 2010). Insufficient language proficiency is discussed as one of the most important predictors for later school failure or school success in children who are second language (L2) learners or from underprivileged families (Esser, 2006). This is one of the reasons why immigrant students or students with German as a second language often show poor outcomes at school (Nusche, 2009). It seems necessary to better understand the interdependence between language and reading abilities in first language (L1) and second language (L2) learners to develop learning environments and preventive strategies that respect the individual learning preconditions of all children.

Therefore, three main research questions are addressed within the presented paper:

1. To what extend do L1 and L2 learners differ in their reading, language and spelling abilities at the beginning of 2^nd grade?
2. How do reading, language and spelling abilities of L2 learners develop from 2^nd to 3^rd grade? Does the slope in language, reading or spelling abilities show any difference to L1 learners? 
3. Is the development of L1 and L2 learners different even controlled for initial abilities?

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