The role of phonological awareness in learning to read alphabetical languages is unequivocal. The importance of phonological awareness over other cognitive-linguistic skills in learning to read has been explored and has been identified as language universal skill in predicting the reading abilities. Majority of the studies conducted in alphasyllabary languages concentrates mainly on development and association of phonological awareness skills with reading in school going population (D’souza & Somashekara, 2015; Nag, 2007; Nagaraja & Sampathkumar, 2016; Prakash & Rekha, 1992; Prakash et al., 1993; Prema, 1998; Waknis, Chintala, & Vanaja, 2017). However, the few studies conducted in alphasyllabaries have not evidenced the strong association of phonological awareness with reading abilities and remained equivocal (Akila, 2000; Dinesh, 2002; (Akhila, 2000; Dinesh, 2002; Patel & Soper, 1987; Prakash & Rekha, 1992). Some claim that the phonological awareness is not a good predictor of reading skills in alphasyllabaries (Prakash & Mohanty, 1995; Prema, 1998; Prema & Karanth, 2003; Prakash, Rekha, Nigam, & Karanth, 1993; Rekha, 1997), however, some report that syllable awareness contributes significantly to word reading abilities followed by Akshara knowledge (Cho & Mc Bride-Chang, 2005; Nag, 2007; Nag & Snowling, 2012; Simpson & Kang, 2004; Vaid & Gupta, 2002; Vasanta, 2004; Winskel & Iemwanthong, 2009). These studies which were conducted in alphasyllabaries so far evaluated the relationship between phonological awareness and reading during later grades of primary and upper primary years of schooling, where the children would have developed sufficient decoding skills and also the phonological awareness would be at the ceiling, thereby effecting the relationship between the two variables. Majority of the studies conducted so far in alphasyllabaries are cross-sectional, correlational, and notably a single longitudinal study (Nag, 2007). Amongst longitudinal and correlational studies, the causal relationship can be best explained by training studies, that shows the change in one variable as a result of training in another variable. During the initial period of schooling, child consciously tries to map the written symbols such as graphemes to the respective sound they make. Training phonological awareness during this period would enable them to fine-tune the current level of phonological awareness thereby helping them to effortlessly map grapheme to a phoneme that has a positive impact on word decoding abilities. Moreover, initiating early phonological awareness intervention may be more effective than later in childhood. Because, it may prepare children to get involved in reading instruction more effectively (Bus & van Ijzendoorn, 1999). In a longitudinal research Juel (1988) reported that poor readers of first grade continued to fail in reading even when they reached fourth grade. The difference between unsuccessful readers and their contemporaries with typical reading abilities continued to widen over the elementary years (Stanovich, 1986), because intervening reading problems beyond Grade three becomes increasingly challenging (Fletcher & Foorman, 1994; Kennedy, Birman, & Demaline, 1986; Lyon, 1985). Hence, earlier the training, better the outcome.

A clear understanding of the phonological awareness role  is well established in alphabetical languages through intervention studies. However, the studies establishing the causal relationship between phonological awareness and reading in alphasyllaries are scarce. Earlier some of the studies developed and evaluated the effectiveness of remedial metaphonological training program in Kannada (Shilpashree & Prema, 2004) and Malayalam (Ponnumani & Prema, 2003) alphasyllabaries. Post-training, they assessed only metaphonological skills and reported improved metaphonological skills among children with dyslexia. These studies did not report the causal role of metaphonological training on reading skills.

The evidence from the training studies in alphabetical language during early years of schooling in both typically developing and also persons with reading disability resulted in improved word decoding skills (Charles Hulme, Bowyer-Crane, Carroll, Duff, & Snowling, 2012; Ehri et al., 2001; Leafsted, Richards, & Gerber, 2004; Kjeldsen, Kärnä, Niemi, Olofsson, & Witting, 2014; National Reading Panel, 2000; Torgesen, 2000), thus suggesting to employ phonological awareness training for typically developing to foster metaphonological skills so that reading skills improve. The training programs are also employed on children who are at-risk to develop reading disabilities in order to prevent them from developing reading disabilities in later grades. However, such programs cannot be employed regularly in the classroom in the Indian scenario, without the evidence of its effectiveness in improving metaphonological and reading skills. Subsidiary to these issues in training, the majority of school going children in the rural part of Karnataka opts invariably Kannada as the medium of instructions. Hence, it is essential to establish theoretical and pedagogical evidence of phonological awareness training in general or specific to children with reading difficulties.

Within the present scenario of equivocal understanding of phonological awareness and its association with reading abilities in alphasyllabaries, it is essential to determine the role of phonological awareness in reading, specifically during initial years of schooling. It can be achieved mainly through intervention studies which are scanty in alphasyllabary languages. Hence the present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of phonological awareness training on word decoding skills in typically developing first grade children learning to read the Kannada language.