The Role of Vocabulary Development in Enhancing Speaking Skills at Primary School Level

Developing vocabulary is an important aspect of promoting young learners’ oral production of English in EFL situations. Primary learners struggle with speaking largely for the following reasons: a scarcity of vocabulary, a lack of confidence, and too few contexts in which to use language to communicate. The importance of vocabulary development in improving the speaking skills of primary school learners: A review. Based on a review of various international studies and theories related to the topic, this paper discusses the role that vocabulary knowledge has in young learners' speaking fluency, accuracy and communicative confidence. It also includes some of the cognitive/psychological traits of primary school learners that will affect vocabulary and oral language development. It also identifies and analyze specific problems that affect the integration of vocabulary teaching with speaking in primary English language contexts, followed by a review of research-based teaching practices that have potential to enhance vocabulary activation in the context of communicative task work. The results find that speaking through vocabulary integrated instruction significantly enhance young learners’ oral production. Finally, the article addresses the necessity of coherent instructional practices that connect vocabulary learning with speaking competence in English language classes in primary school.