Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi kesulitan yang dihadapi oleh siswa kelas viii di smpn 7 tarakan dan untuk mengetahui faktor penyebab kesulitan siswa dalam membaca pemahaman. penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode deskriptif-kualitatif. subjek penelitian adalah siswa kelas delapan dan guru bahasa inggris. untuk mengumpulkan data, peneliti menggunakan observasi, wawancara, dan analisis dokumen. peneliti menggunakan tahapan miles dan huberman dalam menganalisis data, yaitu pengumpulan data, reduksi data, penyajian data, dan penarikan kesimpulan atau verifikasi. hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa ada lima kesulitan yang dihadap oleh siswa dalam membaca pemahaman, yaitu 1. siswa kesulitan memahami arti kata, 2. siswa kesulitan memahami kalimat panjang, 3. siswa tidak memahami ide pokok, 4. siswa tidak memahami tatabahasa, dan 5. siswa kesulitan dalam menarik kesimpulan. siswa kurang tertarik dengann proses belajar mengajar bahasa inggris di kelas karena bahasa inggris masih merupakan bahasa asing bagi siswa. ada tiga faktor yang menyebabkan siswa kesulitan dalam membaca pemahaman. faktor-faktor tersebut adalah 1. latar belakang pengetahuan siswa, 2. teknik guru mengajar dan 3. lingkungan siswa

The purpose of the research was to identify the difficulties faced by the eighth graders at smpn 7 tarakan and to find out the factor of causing the students difficulty in reading comprehension. the research used was a descriptive- qualitative method. the subjects of the research were the eighth-grade students and the english teachers. to collect the data, the researcher employed observations, interviews, and document analysis. the researcher used miles and huberman's stages in analyzing the data, namely data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusion: drawing or verifying. the research results showed that the students encountered five difficulties in reading comprehension. these difficulties include: 1. students have difficulty understanding the meaning of words, 2. students have difficulty understanding long sentences, 3. students do not understand the main idea, 4. students do not understand grammar, and 5. students have difficulty in drawing conclusions. students exhibited a lack of interest in the english language teaching and learning process in the classroom, as english remains a foreign language for them. there were three factors that have been identified as contributing to students' difficulties in reading comprehension. the factors were divided into three categories: students' background knowledge, teachers' teaching techniques, and students' environment