Speaking has become a crucial skill in today’s world. The ability to express thoughts clearly and persuasively is essential for academic success, personal and professional growth. Despite its significance, speaking remains a challenging skill for many students. This study aimed to explored perceptions for both teacher and students regarding the role of panel discussion as a student-centered learning method to enhance students’ speaking skills. Qualitative method was used in this study with one teacher who have taught Speaking for Academic Purposes B and six students who have taken Speaking for Academic Purposes B in 5th semester. To collect the data, researcher used retrospective interview conducted in semi-structured. Based on the results, it was found that there were positive and negative perceptions. The positive impacts of panel discussion were evident, with teacher emphasizing the essential nature of speaking skills and providing students with opportunities to engage in class actively. Students reported practical learning experiences, critical thinking, spontaneously speaking, active listening and contributing to effective communication. Panel discussion also increased student confidence. Cooperative learning through panel discussions was identified as a facilitator for exchanging ideas among students, fostering two-way communication and practical application of student-centered. Students also explained their improvement in speaking abilities, which included vocabulary, fluency, and grammatical accuracy. However, teacher and students highlighted the negative perceptions, lack of vocabulary, leading to pauses, anxiety, nervousness, fear of making mistakes, and difficulty answering unexpected questions. Overall, students and teacher displayed positive perceptions toward panel discussion as an effective method to improve students’ speaking skills in an English language learning context.The study provided insights for educators to optimize the benefits of panel discussion
while addressing challenges to promote effective oral communication development
