FELISITAS GIOVANI WONGA Pengarang John Bhae Dosen Pembimbing 1 Merlyn K. Nelloe Dosen Pembimbing 2 John Bhae Penguji 1 Marcelinus Akoli Ketua Penguji Merlyn K. Nelloe Penguji 2

The title of this research is An analysis on difficulties in intensive reading faced by eight grade students of state junior high school 5 Kota Kupang in the school year 2022/2023. Based on the background of this research there were two problems which were investigated, namely: (1) What are the difficulties faced by the eight grade students of state junior high school 5 Kota Kupang in intensive reading? (2) What are the factors that contribute to the difficulties in intensive reading faced by eight grade students of state junior high school 5 Kota Kupang? Thus, the aims of this research are: (1) To know the difficulties in intensive reading faced by eight grade students of state junior high school 5 Kota Kupang. (2) To identify factors that contribute difficulties in intensive reading faced by eight grade students of state junior high school 5 Kota Kupang. The research methods that used in this research were qualitative and quantitative method with test and interview as the techniques of data collection. Test was used to answer the research problem number 1 and interview was used to answer the research question number 2. The data sources of this research were the eight grade students of junior high school 5 Kota kupang in the school year 2022/2023. The results of this research show that (1) students found difficulties on intensive reading in grammar and information structure aspects. (2) the factors that contribute students’ difficulties in intensive reading were students background, teaching techniques and learners’ environment. Based on the results of this research, there are suggestions for students, teacher, and other researcher. First, to improve students’ intensive reading skill, they have to read a lot of articles or books with different topic and also find their interest in reading. Second, Teachers need to try different methods in teaching English in classroom especially to improve students’ intensive reading skills. Key words: Reading, Intensive reading, Difficulties.