AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AT SMAN 12 MEDAN

Abstrak

This study aims to investigate the speaking difficulties experienced by students and to analyze the communication strategies they use to improve their speaking ability in English. The research was conducted at SMAN 12 Medan, focusing on eleventh-grade students as the main participants. This study applied a qualitative-dominant mixed-method approach. The data were collected through questionnaires distributed to 35 students and semi-structured interviews with 10 selected participants.The instruments used in this research included questionnaire sheets and interview guidelines, while the data were analyzed using descriptive qualitative techniques by categorizing

students’ responses into psychological, linguistic, and strategic aspects. The findings indicate that students face several major problems in speaking English. The most dominant difficulties are limited vocabulary (82.9%), speaking anxiety (65.7%), fear of making grammatical mistakes (74.3%), and lack of confidence in pronunciation (62.9%). These problems significantly affect students’ ability to communicate effectively. To overcome these difficulties, students employ various communication strategies such as using fillers, gestures, asking for help, and simplifying grammar. In addition, students actively engage in informal learning activities, including watching English videos, playing online games, and interacting with others in English, which contribute to their speaking development. The study implies that English teaching should not only focus on linguistic competence but also address psychological factors such as anxiety. Furthermore, integrating students’ informal learning practices into classroom activities can enhance their speaking ability more effectively