INVESTIGATING THE STUDENTS' READING DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

Abstract

This research was conducted to finding out the difficulties were faced by the Eight Grade Students at SMPS Awaluddin Pontianak in understanding reading descriptive text. The subjects in this research was eight grade students at SMPS. Awaluddin Pontianak which was consisted of 17 students in academic year 2023/2024. Furthermore, this research employed a descriptive study. Based on the research findings, it has been divided into four aspects. The lowest result most students  lack  of  interest  with  the  frequency  of  29.40%.  Meanwhile,  52.90%  of  them  was challenging in topic material. Then, the highest perception was 64.70% of them was difficult with long sentences along with unfamiliar words. Then the last perception in learning activities with the highest scores were 70.60% of students mentioned that the school still experiences deficiencies in facilities and infrastructure such as teaching materials, relevant media. The other findings also revealed that students struggled with various aspects of reading comprehension, including determining the main idea, identifying references, making inferences, detailing information, and interpreting vocabulary.

Keywords: Descriptive Qualitative, Students’ Difficulties, Understanding Reading