STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES TOWARD ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION IN ESP CLASS OF BACHELOR OF NURSING PROGRAM AT UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

English oral communication has become a skill that is quite difficult for students to master, especially in the learning of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), because in the process of oral communication students need to involve speaking and listening skills. This study aimed to find out the English oral communication difficulties faced by students when following ESP class and the strategies used to cope with those difficulties. Mixed methods were used in this study with 103 respondents who were taken from students majoring in Bachelor of Nursing Program in the academic year 2020/2021. To collect the data, the researcher used a questionnaire consisting of 25 questions and an interview consisting of 5 questions. Based on the findings, it was found that there were 8 English oral communication difficulties faced by students when following ESP class, such as: (1) difficulties in comprehending oral English speech, (2) difficulties in translating sentences into English, (3) difficulties in comprehending oral English with specific accents, (4) difficulties in speaking due to speaking anxiety, (5) difficulties in speaking due to limited English vocabulary, (6) difficulties in speaking due to the use of grammar, (7) difficulties in speaking due to pronunciation, also (8) difficulties in speaking due to the inability of expressing ideas or opinions in English. Then, the strategies used by students to cope with each difficulty in sequence were: (1) repeating the audio containing speaker’s speech, understanding the speaker’s speech word by word, asking speakers to use simple sentences and repetition, also using Google Translate to understand the speaker’s speech; (2) preparing sentences in English then adjusted to the situation; (3) trying to guess the speaker’s meaning or asking for examples, and trying to capture the speaker’s main point; (4) preparing sentences in Indonesia first then translate it into English, ignoring verbal plans then only spoke in simple sentences, also trying to relax first then try to express what they wanted to say; (5) watching movies, listening to songs, or reading books in English; (6) trying to pay more attention to grammar and correct oneself when made mistakes; (7) practicing independently and asking for examples from others on how to pronounce English sentences correctly; also (8) reducing the initial sentences that would be spoken then used simple sentences