AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILL (A Study at SMKN 1 Banda Aceh)

Listening skill learning is often considered as one of the most difficult aspects in teaching English, especially for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. In SMKN 1 Banda Aceh, students often face various obstacles in understanding listening materials, such as different accents, complex sentence structures, and limited vocabulary. This condition encourages the need for in-depth analysis to determine the factors that cause difficulties in understanding listening skill materials. This study aims to analyze the difficulties faced by students in learning
English listening skills at SMKN 1 Banda Aceh. This study uses a quantitative descriptive approach, with data collected through questionnaires distributed to 36
grade XI students. The results showed that the main difficulties experienced by students included cultural differences, accent variations, sentence structure
complexity, vocabulary limitations, and poor recording quality. In addition, psychological factors such as anxiety also affect students' understanding of listening skills. These findings indicate the need for more effective teaching
strategies, such as simplifying sentence structures, introducing accent variations, increasing vocabulary teaching, using quality recordings, and anxiety management
to help students overcome difficulties in listening learning.