Phonological Awareness and Word Decoding Skills in the Early Readers of Kannada

Background: Phonological awareness has been recognized as a significant predictor of word-decoding skills in alphabetical languages. These languages differ in phonology, orthography, and how they are mapped for word decoding. However, the literature has debated its role in orthographically consistent languages. The present research aims to explore phonological awareness and its contribution to word decoding for early readers of Kannada. Methods: The study included 50 typically developing Grade I children learning to read Kannada from schools with Kannada as a medium of instruction. Phonological awareness skills were assessed using developmentally appropriate tasks at different linguistic grain sizes and varied linguistic operations. Word-level reading abilities were evaluated using a pseudoword decoding task. Results: The results indicated that the children were sensitive to syllables but not to rhymes and phonemes. A one-way repeated measure of analysis of variance demonstrated a significant main effect of task complexity on the performance across phonological awareness tasks. Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed a significant positive correlation between the performance on phonological awareness and pseudoword reading. The regression analysis indicated that phonological awareness tasks contributed significantly to word decoding. However, initial and medial syllable stripping evolved as independent and significant contributors to pseudoword decoding in Kannada. Conclusion: The present study concludes that phonological awareness at the syllable level emerges early and significantly contributes to word decoding in early readers of Kannada.