The purpose of this study was to find out the difficulties in comprehending English reading texts and the factors causing the difficulties in comprehending English reading texts to the eleventh grade students of SMK Negeri 1 Pontianak. The researcher used the descriptive quantitative method. The population of this research was all eleventh graders of students SMK Negeri 1 Pontianak. The sample was selected using random sampling. The data collection technique in this study was used measurement and indirect communication techniques. To find out students’ difficulties, the researcher calculated the percentage of students’ difficulties in five aspects of reading comprehension. Data from the closed-ended questionnaire was analyzed by calculated the percentage of answers from
students.
The result of the test showed that the eleven-grade students of SMK Negeri 1 Pontianak have difficulties in five aspects of reading comprehension. Namely, determining the main idea, detail information, understanding vocabulary, making inferences and locating references. The most difficult aspect for students is detail information with a percentage of 92%. Determining the main idea with the percentage of student difficulty 80%, making inference 76%, locating reference 72% and the last is understanding the meaning of words (vocabulary) with a percentage 84%. The result of the questionnaire showed that students’ difficulties in reading comprehension are caused by 3 factors, namely: learner's background knowledge, motivation, and last is reading process.

Keywords: Difficulties Comprehending English Reading Text, Descriptive Quantitative Method