DIFFICULTIES IN COMPREHENDING ENGLISH READING TEXTS OF ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMA BUKIT CAHAYA SIDIKALANG

This study aims to find out the difficulties in reading comprehension and the factors are causing the difficulties at Second Grade Students of SMA Bukit Cahaya Sidikalang. This study was conducted by using descriptive qualitative research design. The data were collected by giving test as elicitation and interview. The test research are 484 total errors, from types of errors there were 41.1% students faced the difficulties in extracting main idea, 81% of students faced the difficulties in finding specific information, 77%of students faced the difficulties in identifying reference, 40.8% of students faced the difficulties in understanding meaning of the word, and 96% of students faced the difficulties in understanding text structure. There are three factors that causing difficulties of reading comprehension, they are; working memory, prior knowledge and unfamiliar reading material. The dominant factors are causing difficulties of reading comprehension found that the students still lack of prior knowledge. It also found from the test that student was done. Students who have a basic understanding of what they reading about can connect new information to what already know. A student who reads, or who has been read to, is able to access their knowledge when they read related topics, which can increase comprehension. It means that the students with lack of working memory and prior knowledge will faced the difficulties in comprehending the text.