Understanding Students' Speaking Proficiency Level (a Study at Department of English Language Education of Ar- Raniry State Islamic University)

The purposes of this research are (1) to find out students‟ speaking proficiency level at Department of English Language Education of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University; (2) to find out the students‟ speaking proficiency level in line with their academic level; and (3) to find out the factors affecting the students‟ speaking proficiency level. The type of this research is qualitative descriptive research. The respondents of this study are 8 students in 5th semester who had taken all speaking courses. The data in this research are collected by test and interview. The results of the research show that: (1) Students‟ speaking proficiency level at the Department of English Language Education of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University is at a good level, where all research respondents have a speaking proficiency level above the specified minimum standard, namely the intermediate level; (2) Students‟ speaking proficiency level is in line with their academic level, where all research respondents who have speaking proficiency above the intermediate level also graduate from all speaking subjects with good and satisfactory grades or academic levels (grade A and B); and (3) Factors affecting the students‟ speaking proficiency level include: (a) often practice English speaking skills, (b) motivation to become proficient at speaking English, (c) the environment (such as family, neighbors, friends, etc.) make a habit to speak English, (d) taking English speaking courses and joining English speaking club.