Rukia KAIMUDIN Pengarang Dr. Umar Fauzan, M.Pd. Dosen Pembimbing 1 Nadia Sya'ya, M.Pd., M.TESOL Dosen Pembimbing 2 Dr. Umar Fauzan, M.Pd. Penguji 1 Rostanti Toba, M.Pd. Ketua Penguji Nadia Sya'ya, M.Pd., M.TESOL Penguji 2

Rukia Kaimudin, 2021. An Analysis of Students’ Problems in Mastering Speaking Skill by the Second Semester of the Eighth Grade at SMPN 36 Samarinda in the Academic Year 2020/2021. Thesis, English Education Department, Teacher Training and Tarbiyah Faculty, Sultan Aji Muhammad Idris Islamic University of Samarinda. This research is under the guidance of Mr. Dr. Umar Fauzan, M. Pd. as the first advisor, and Mrs. Nadia Sya’ya, M. Pd. M. TESOL as the second advisor. Speaking is a tool for communication because by speaking the speaker can share information, knowledge, and experience with other people. However, speaking is not easy for students at SMPN 36 Samarinda because based on the researcher’s observation and experience after the teaching and learning practice process the researcher found that some of the students lack vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and comprehension. The objectives of the research were to know the students’ problems in mastering speaking skills and the cause of students’ problems in mastering speaking skills by the second semester of the eighth grades at SMPN 36 Samarinda in the academic year 2020/2021. The data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative. The instruments used in this research were observation and interview. In a pandemic, the implementation of online learning at SMPN 36 Samarinda made the researcher collected the data online. The data were collected by using observation and interviews through applications such as Zoom meetings and WhatsApp. The subjects of this research were taken from the eight B class students at SMPN 36 Samarinda which were consisted of twenty-seven students. Then the researcher took seven students who got low scores in speaking as the main subjects of this research. The researcher analyzed the data by using Miles, Huberman, and Saldana’s theory. There were two findings in this research. Firstly, the students’ problems in mastering speaking skills were vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and comprehension. It was the students’ issues of solving the problems on these five indicators in speaking skills. Secondly, the causes of students’ problems in mastering speaking skills were students’ lack of indicators in speaking (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and comprehension). They were afraid of making mistakes when they wanted to speak, and they felt shame, anxiety, less confidence, and lack of motivation in learning English. It was the students’ problems and the cause of students’ problems in mastering speaking skills by the second semester of the eighth grade at SMPN 36 Samarinda.