Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan tingkat pemahaman menyimak siswa dan faktor-faktor penyebab kesulitan dalam pembelajaran menyimak siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain deskriptif kuantitatif. Subyek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan yang berjumlah 30 siswa yang diambil dengan menggunakan teknik cluster random sampling. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan tes menyimak dan angket. Tes berisi 25 soal dan angket berisi 28 pernyataan terkait kesulitan dalam belajar menyimak. Temuan dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa tingkat pemahaman mendengarkan siswa sangat rendah dengan skor rata-rata 48, dan sebagian besar siswa (23 dari 30) mengalami kesulitan ketika belajar bahasa Inggris, khususnya pembelajaran mendengarkan. Ada beberapa faktor kesulitan yang dihadapi siswa saat belajar menyimak. Kesulitan tersebut terkait dengan (1) kualitas alat perekam yang menunjukkan 60% siswa merasa kesulitan; (2) perbedaan budaya yang menunjukkan 53% merasa sangat sulit; (3) aksen yang menunjukkan bahwa 83% siswa merasakan siswa; (4) kata-kata asing yang menunjukkan 76% siswa merasa sulit; (5) panjang dan kecepatan yang menunjukkan 73% siswa merasa sulit; (6) kondisi fisik menunjukkan bahwa 73% siswa merasa sulit; dan (7) kurangnya konsentrasi yang menunjukkan 80% siswa merasa sulit. Dengan demikian, faktor kesulitan belajar menyimak siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan yang paling tinggi adalah kesulitan yang berkaitan dengan aksen.


Kata Kunci : Pemahaman Mendengarkan, Faktor Penyebab Kesulitan

The objectives of this research were to describe the level of students’ listening comprehension and the factors that caused difficulties in learning listening of the eight-grade students of SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan. This research employed a quantitative descriptive design. The subject of this research were the eight-grade students of SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan which consist of 30 students taken by using cluster random sampling technique. The data were collected using a listening test and questionnaire. A test contained 25 questions and a questionnaire contained 28 statements related to difficulties in learning listening. The findings from this research were that the level of students’ listening comprehension was very poor with mean score of 48, and the majority of students (23 out 30) found difficulties when learning English, especially learning listening. There were several factors of difficulties faced by students when learning listening. Those difficulties were related to (1) the quality of the recorder which showed that 60 % of students felt difficult; (2) the culture differences which showed that 53% felt very difficult; (3) the accents which showed that 83% of students felt students; (4) the unfamiliar words which showed that 76% of students felt difficult; (5) the length and speed which showed that 73% of students felt difficult; (6) the physical conditional with showed that 73% of students felt difficult; and (7) the lack of concentration which showed that 80% of students felt difficult. Thus, the highest factor of difficulties in learning listening by the eight-grade students of SMP Negeri 6 Tarakan was difficulty related to accents. Keywords: Listening Comprehension,Factors caused difficulties