Lack of Vocabulary - A Barrier to the Oral Communication Skills of GCE A/L Students in the Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka

Sep 29, 2026

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Vocabulary plays a vital role in communication because it underpins every language. A wider vocabulary supports listening, speaking, reading, and writing and helps learners reach greater fluency. In Sri Lanka, many ESL learners lack sufficient vocabulary, which reduces their effectiveness and interrupts fluency during oral interaction. This study investigates barriers in the oral communication skills of GCE A/L students in Trincomalee due to low vocabulary proficiency, using speaking tests and questionnaires with 50 students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

1. Introduction

Vocabulary and its role in communication

Vocabulary barriers among ESL/EFL learners

Sri Lanka context for GCE A/L English

Problem Statement

Lack of Vocabulary: A Barrier to the Oral Communication Skills of GCE A/L Students in the Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka A.F.A Halik N. S. Jayasundara Abstract Vocabulary plays a vital role in communication as it is the basis of all languages. It is the building blocks that can be used to share information, express thought and build personal relationships. Wider vocabulary supports the development of all four language skills and can be a steppingstone to higher levels of fluency. However, most ESL learners in Sri Lanka do not possess sufficient proficiency in vocabulary. As a result, learners'effectiveness and fluency in communication are interrupted. This study was conducted to investigate the barriers in oral communication skills of GCE (A/L) students in the Trincomalee District , Sri Lanka due to a lack of vocabulary. In this study, 50 G.C. E (A/L) second-year students in the Arts stream of three selected schools in the Trincomalee District were randomly selected as a sample population. Two data collection instruments; a speaking test and a questionnaire were chosen for primary data collection in this study, the quantitative design was applied in data collection. The findings of the analysis of the speaking test show that a majority of the participants had obtained lower marks (between 1-10) in subcomponents of speaking i.e. in Lexical Resource and Pronunciation. Further, the findings of the analysis of the questionnaire show that most of the participants'vocabulary power is significantly low showing less interest to learn English and that they do not spend time at home learning English. Moreover, according to the participants' response regarding the factors affecting participants' speaking proficiency, 56% of the participants pointed out that a low proficiency in vocabulary affects their speaking proficiency. Keywords: Oral communication , English as a Second Language, General Certificate of Education 1. Introduction Vocabulary plays a vital role in human communication. Vocabulary is significant for written and oral discourses in any language. As reviewing a study on teaching vocabularies, vocabulary is a large stock of words in a language. Memorizing a large number of vocabularies in any language can help the speakers to communicate with people effectively. (Oljira, 2015) . Similarly, Yang and Dai (2012) report that in learning a mother tongue or any foreign language, vocabulary is the most significant component. Language acquisition cannot take place without learning its words with unlimited shiftsin meaning caused by various contextual variables. Therefore, vocabularies are important for effective communication, whether it is oral or written communication. The lack of vocabulary leads to communicative barriers, particularly the majority of the second and foreign-language speakers struggle to speak the language due to insufficient vocabulary. Effective oral communication is regarded as a flow of speech. Therefore, a large number of vocabulary is needed for fluent speaking. According to the review of a book titled "Methodology in Language Teaching", the language of human beings depend on the vocabulary used or gained. Thus, without vocabulary, the learners will be demotivated to use the language (Richards and Renandya , 2002) . Low proficiency in vocabulary is a common problem among most English as Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speakers. As a result, it leads to a communicative barrier among ESL and EFL speakers. Concerning the English language in Sri Lanka, it is spoken asa second language which is offered as a compulsory subject from grade 3 to 11 at government schools in terms of the educational curriculum of Sri Lanka. According to the school ESL curriculum in Sri Lanka , General English is offered for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) . The curriculum of General English covers all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writ

FAQs

Why does vocabulary matter for oral communication in this study?

Vocabulary is described as the basis for sharing information, expressing thoughts, and building relationships. Insufficient vocabulary creates communicative barriers and reduces fluency in speaking.

How was the study conducted to examine the vocabulary barrier?

The study used two instruments: a speaking test and a questionnaire. A quantitative design was applied, with 50 GCE A/L second-year students randomly selected from three schools in Trincomalee.

What did the speaking test and questionnaire results indicate?

The speaking test analysis showed many participants scored lower in lexical resource and pronunciation. The questionnaire analysis reported significantly low vocabulary power, less interest in learning English, little time spent learning at home, and 56% indicating that low vocabulary affects speaking proficiency.

Sep 29, 2026

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