An Analysis of Student’s Difficulty in Understanding English Reading on Descriptive Text

Abstract

This research was aimed to find out students’ difficulties in understanding descriptive texts of the eight grade students at MTS Al-Jihad. This is descriptive qualitative research. The purpose of this research was to discover students’ difficulty in understanding reading on descriptive text and causes behind it. The population of this research was the students of the eight grade students of SMP Al-Jihad Pontianak. The sample of this research was 33 students of the eight-grade class A who have been selected. The data were collected by using tests and questionnaires. The test consisted of 40 questions and the questionnaire consisted of 15 questions. The findings of this study based on the percentage of incorrect answers of reading test showed that there are eight components of reading comprehension. Six of them were categorized high level as difficult question aspects for the students. There were difficulties in identifying vocabulary, generic structure, factual information, references, language features, and social function. Two of them were categorized medium level as a not difficult question. There was difficulty in identifying the main idea and inference. Based on the result of the questionnaire, the students felt difficulties in understanding descriptive texts because of internal and external factors. There was limited vocabulary knowledge, weak verbal reasoning, problems with recalling information, difficulty understand the text because of the level of the text, lack of familiarity with the subject matter, lack of fluency in reading, problems with processing information after reading, and inadequate use of reading strategies in the teaching and learning process.

Keywords: Analysis, Students’ Difficulties, Reading, Descriptive Text