<![CDATA[Reading comprehension is an essential skill in English language learning because it enables students to understand, interpret, and obtain information from written texts. Despite its importance, many students still encounter difficulties in comprehending descriptive texts, particularly in identifying key information and understanding the meaning conveyed in a text. This study aimed to analyze the reading comprehension ability of the eleventh-grade students of SMA Ekasakti Padang in comprehending descriptive texts and to identify their difficulties based on six reading comprehension indicators proposed by Brown (2004), namely identifying the main idea, finding supporting details, understanding vocabulary, making inferences, recognizing references, and finding specific information. This study employed a descriptive quantitative research design. The population consisted of 15 eleventh-grade students of SMA Ekasakti Padang in the 2025/2026 academic year, while eight students of Class XI F2 were selected as the sample using purposive sampling. The research instrument was a 40-item multiple-choice reading comprehension test. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics by calculating students' scores, percentages, and mean scores. The findings revealed that the students obtained a mean score of 51.25, which was categorized as Fair. Among the six indicators, students achieved the highest score in recognizing references, while the lowest achievement was found in finding supporting details. The results indicate that students still experienced difficulties in understanding explicit and implicit information in descriptive texts due to limited vocabulary mastery and inadequate reading comprehension strategies. Therefore, English teachers are encouraged to apply effective reading strategies and provide intensive vocabulary instruction to improve students' reading comprehension ability.]]>
