Analysis Of The Factors Causing Students’ Difficulties in Communicating In Arabic at XII MAN 1 Kotabumi

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the factors that cause students to have difficulty in oral communication in Arabic despite having studied the language formally. The research method used a qualitative and case study. Based on the qualitative case study approach and Krashen's Monitor Theory, the results of this study identified three interrelated causes. The dominance of the grammar-translation method limits students' exposure to authentic, meaningful, and understandable input, thus preventing natural language acquisition. In addition, a high affective filter manifested in anxiety, fear of making mistakes, and low motivation hinders students' ability to absorb and process linguistic input. Excessive focus on grammatical rules also forces students to monitor sentence structure rather than speak spontaneously, resulting in a lack of fluency. These pedagogical, psychological, and cognitive factors collectively indicate that an imbalance between learning and acquisition is a fundamental cause of students' weak oral communication skills in Arabic