STUDENTS DIFFICULTIES IN READING COMPREHENSION OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT AT THE FIRST GRADE OF SMAN 1 BAITUSSALAM ACEH

The purpose of this research is to identify the students’ difficulties factor and types of difficulties faced by students in reading comprehension of descriptive text at SMA Negeri 1 Baitussalam Aceh Besar in the academic year 2023/2024. This research was qualitative research. The research subject is class X MIA 1 academic year 2023/2024. Data collection techniques were interview and questionnaire. There are two English teachers interviewed by the researcher to obtain the data of students’ difficulties factors in reading comprehension of descriptive text. In addition, there are 10 statements of questionnaire which aimed to identify the types of students’ difficulties in reading comprehension of descriptive text. The result showed that there are some factors of students’ difficulties in reading comprehension of descriptive text. They are: language, topic and genre, negative expectation, vocabulary, and reading strategies. Moreover, types of difficulties faced by the students in reading comprehension of descriptive text are understanding longer text (89.99%), finding specific information (69.99%), determining main idea (93.33), understanding reference word (93.33%), and making inference (80%).