ANALYSIS ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE AT UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH SUMATERA UTARA

The lack of students’ English-speaking performance seems to be common problems found in the department of English education at the University of Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara. Those problems involve the lack of fluency and proficiency in English speaking skills. This study aimed to analyze the students’ English-speaking performance and the challenges faced by them. This research applied a descriptive qualitative design. The data such as the documents, observation, and interviews were applied. In analyzing the data concerning the components of data analysis in the interactive model, it was proposed by Miles and Huberman (2016). The data were taken questionnaire from 125 EFL of second-year students were collected, then the researcher also conducted the individual interviews with lecturers and class observation. The result showed that the most challenging factor faced by the students' speaking performance was related to the students themselves. Speaking errors were frequently made. The errors dominantly covered into 3 categories namely misused forms (44.8 %), incorrect omission (33.6%), and misplaced and confusing words (21.2 %). Concerning the external factors, the updated teaching strategies should be applied in terms of reducing the use of the mother tongue by combining various speaking performances, collaborating with other lecturers to organize more English programs, and share the speaking teaching experience.