Problem-based learning is a learning method that involves students to think more critically and be more independent in order to be able to solve problems that have been given by the teacher. The purpose of this study was to analyze students' perceptions of the effectiveness of problem-based learning methods to improve speaking performance. This study uses interviews with a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. This study focused on high school students in class X. The participants in this study were 6 students who had been selected purposively from 30 students in class X. The participants' ages ranged from 15 to 16. All participants were interviewed to gather information related to their knowledge and perceptions of the problem-based learning. Based on the interviews, the participants revealed about the difficulties and advantages of using the problem-based learning method to improve speaking performance during learning. Even though the use of the PBL method during learning makes the participants enjoy and can follow it well, the method is not effective in increasing the students' speaking performance.
Keywords: Perception, Problem-based Learning, Speaking Performance.