Khalidah. 2022. Non-Linguistic Difficulty Factors of Speaking English Faced by English Language Education Students at Lambung MangkuratUniversity. A Sarjana’s Thesis. English Language Education Study Program. Lambung MangkuratUniversity. The first advisor: Dr. Novita Triana, S.Pd.,M.A., and the second advisor: Dini Noor Arini, S.Pd., M.Pd.

Keywords: non-linguistic factors, speaking, difficulty

The purpose of this study is to identify the non-linguistic difficulty factors of speaking English: inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation, mother-tongue use, lack of confidence, and anxiety. The study used a descriptive design with a qualitative approach with 52 students from batch 2019 at the English Language Education Study Program at Lambung Mangkurat University.

The data was obtained by distributing an online form questionnaire, and 14 students were chosen to be interviewed to gain more in-depth information about their responses to experiencing non-linguistic difficulties while taking the Advance Speaking course. The data was then presented in the average percentage and described in descriptive form.

The findings revealed that anxiety and lack of confidence were the significant non-linguistic problem difficulties for the students. The students are acknowledged to be concerned about making mistakes and becoming the center of attention in front of the class. These two factors are followed by having nothing to say, using the mother tongue, low or uneven participation, and the inhibition factor consecutively. As suggested, students must acknowledge their non-linguistic difficulty factors in speaking English. As a result, lecturers can determine the appropriate strategy to improve students' speaking skills dependent on the extent of difficulty they confront.