Abstract Name : Mutia Wahdini Student No. : 1506102020057 Department/Program : English Education/Undergraduate Title : Communication Strategies Used by Islamic Boarding School EFL Students in Small Group Discussion (A Qualitative Study in Ruhul Islam Anak Bangsa Islamic Boarding School) Keywords: Communication strategies, Islamic boarding school students, EFL (English as Foreign Language), small group discussion. In the process of English communication, EFL students, specifically in Islamic boarding school area, tend to experience language deficit in saying their ideas and thoughts. Communication strategies (CSs) become the alternative for the students in overcoming their communication problem in expressing their intended meaning. This descriptive qualitative research intended to analyze (1) types of CSs used by Islamic boarding school EFL students in small group discussion, and (2) the students’ reasons for using the dominant type of CSs. The participants of this study were a group discussion consisting of ten Islamic boarding school EFL students from grade two of Ruhul Islam Anak Bangsa Islamic boarding school. The data in this study were gained from observation and interview which were then transcribed. The data were analyzed qualitatively by using Dornyei’s (1995) taxonomy of CSs. The results show that students participated in this study employed all 12 types of CSs namely Message Abandonment, Topic Avoidance, Circumlocution, Approximation, Use of All-Purposed Words, Word-coinage, Use of non-linguistic Means, Literal Translation, Foreignizing, Code Switching, Appeal for Help, and The Use of Fillers/Hesitation Devices. However, the use of fillers and hesitation devices is the most frequently used strategy with percentage 51.4%. Then the students’ reasons for using fillers strategy in their communication were generally because of the lack of English vocabulary faced by the students. Thus, the factors of nervousness and the difficulty of the content were also considered as their reasons of employing CSs. Hence, after conducting this research, students and teachers are suggested to be more concern and aware of the use of CSs specifically in students’ daily communication in Islamic boarding school circumstance.