Investigation of 8 th Grade Students ’ Mathematics Anxiety

Mathematics anxiety Phenomenology Middle school Anxiety Teaching mathematics The aim of this research study is to determine how students define their anxiety about learning mathematics, to determine the symptoms of anxiety and to define how anxiety occurs. The phenomenology research design was used in the study. A semi-structured interview form was used as a data collection tool in the research. The data were analyzed through the content analysis. The study group of the research consists of four male and four female 8th graders in two public secondary schools in Uluborlu district of Isparta. According to the results, students predominantly defined mathematics anxiety as frightening/scary. Also, students identified the symptoms of mathematics anxiety mostly as the theme of physical/physical symptoms. Students stated that sociological, psychological and philosophical dimensions were effective in the emergence of mathematical anxiety. Some students expressed common views on the sociological dimension-psychological and psychologicalphilosophical dimension. The effects of mathematics anxiety have been examined under two titles as the effects related to the psychological and sociological dimensions. While the effects related to the psychological dimension are discussed in terms of course achievement and effects on themselves, the effects related to the sociological dimension are discussed in terms of their effects on their relationship with their family and friends. Article Info: Received : 28-04-2021 Accepted : 12-07-2021 Published : 26-12-2021


Introduction
For many years, the concept of anxiety that has persisted since the existence of humanity has been considered. According to Cüceloğlu (2005), anxiety is defined as a concept that includes one or more of the emotions such as fear, grief, distress, feeling of failure, inability and judgment. Many definitions have been made in the literature about the concept of anxiety until today. According to Kierkegaard, Therefore, teachers are expected to take individual differences of students into account in the instructional processes and to organize the educational environment in a way that they can better understand Maths.

The Research Context
Most research studies in the literature on the level of mathematics anxiety, gender, grade level, parents' educational status, overall success of teachers, attitude, and socio-economic status have been examined with quantitative research methods (Adal & Yavuz, 2017;Akgül, 2008;Ateş & Güler, 2016;Baban, 2018;Borlat, 2018;Bozkurt, 2012;Doğru & Arslan, 2008;Eldemir, 2006;Kılıç, 2011;Şentürk, 2016;Taşdemir, 2013;Tuncer & Yılmaz, 2016;Yenihayat, 2007). According to the findings of these studies, no significant differences were found in the attitudes and anxiety of the students towards the mathematics lesson based on gender. A negative moderate correlation was found between students' mathematics course grades and their mathematics anxiety. Examining the grade level variable, it was seen that as the grade level increased, the anxiety level of the students also increased. In their study titled "Content analysis of graduate theses conducted with mathematical concern in Turkey", Toptaş and Gözel (2018) concluded that only quantitative methods were used in all of the 43 graduate theses obtained from the National Thesis Center database. Again, Bayram (2020) in his master's thesis named "Evaluation of research on anxiety in mathematics education", he found that 84 studies on mathematical anxiety between 2005 and 2018 were conducted using six qualitative, two mixed, and 76 quantitative methods.
In the light of relevant literature review above, it can be said that the number of studies on mathematics anxiety is considerably high. However, it is seen that the studies are generally carried out using quantitative research methods, while qualitative research methods are less in number. Based solely on quantitative studies, it may not be sufficient on its own to explain what mathematics anxiety means for the student, what triggers and how it emerges, and what effects it has on students' friends, family, and course success. Therefore, qualitative research methods which focus on such questions and reveal in depth what mathematics anxiety means are of significance (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2005). Thus, the aim of the present study is, by utilizing qualitative methods, to determine how students define their anxiety about learning mathematics, to determine which symptoms of anxiety, and how anxiety occurs.
The purpose of the study is to examine how the psychological, sociological, and philosophical dimensions together affect the formation of mathematics anxiety and to define the resulting effects which have not been quite emphasized until now. Again, it is aimed to reveal how mathematics anxiety affects students' relationship with themselves as well as with their environment. In this context, the problem to be adressed by the present study is "How do middle school eighth grade students define their Mathematics anxiety?" In accordance with this problem, answers were sought for the following research questions: 1. How do students describe the mathematics anxiety they experience? 2. What are the components of the resulting anxiety and how do they relate? 3. How do students describe the effects of their mathematics concerns on their course success, family and environment, and themselves?

Method
In this study, it is aimed to recognize anxiety as a meaning structure and to define the formation and transformation processes of anxiety. In this respect, phenomenological research design as is one of the qualitative research methods was utilized in the study since it allows for identification based on the experiences, narratives, and opinions of students with mathematics anxiety problems. The phenomenon we work on in the research is the fear of Maths. We tried to define this phenomenon within the context of learning mathematics aths and operationalized it as to be able to answer Mathematics questions in the lesson and in the exams. We also tried to define how the mathematics anxiety occurs, as well as its components and consequences.

Participants
The data source to the study consisted of 8th grade students studying in two secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the Uluborlu district of Isparta. The data have been collected during the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. Four male and four female participants have been included in the study sample. Parents' permission has been sought.
Participants were selected using convenient sampling where the researcher identifies cases that are close to him and are easy to reach (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2005). The researcher normally attends the classes of 40 students at the school, but since eight of the students stated that they had mathematics anxiety and that they could participate in the study voluntarily, these students constituted the cases in the study. Since these students were going to sit in the national High School Entrance Exam, they were readily available as anxious about learning mathematics. Due to research ethics, students' real names were not included, instead, code names have been assigned to each case.

Data Collection Instrument
In this study, we collected data from middle school 8th grade students on the phenomenon of "mathematics anxiety" by using a semi-structured interview form. Before the interview form was prepared, pilot interviews were conducted with 3 students in order to check the suitability, clarity, and understandability of the questions. After the pilot interviews, the interview form was finalized in line with the student views and the recommendations of an expert on qualitative research. The form consisted of 3 questions that guided the interviews: 1. What does mathematics anxiety look like? 2. How does mathematics anxiety occur (influencing factors and who triggers it)? 3. How does mathematics anxiety affect your Mathematics success, your relationships with friends and family?
No information about mathematics anxiety has been shared with the students before the interviews. Only questions about whether they experienced mathematics anxiety or not have been posed to determine their anxiety level. The interviews were recorded with permission and transcribed for the main analysis. The transcribed interviews were then asked to be confirmed by the participants in order not to leave any room for any kind of misunderstanding.

Data Analysis
Each participant's perspective was examined separately according to the case study method, and then the relationships between events were analyzed to establish semantic connections between them. To this end, data were analyzed through content analysis. The basic process in content analysis is to gather similar data around specific themes and codes and transfer them in a way that the reader can understand. This thematizing and coding process was carried out according to Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological data analysis approach which consists of seven stages. Audio recordings and notes taken during the interview were transcribed by the researcher. As a result of individual interviews, meaningful data that can be an answer to the research questions were determined by the researcher, and then codes and themes were created in the content analysis process. In order to find the common themes, the codes have been put together and studied first. Themes were created by finding similar aspects among the codes. The themes have been categorized under main headings. We then summarized and interpreted the generated codes, themes, and categories through graphs and tables.

Results
The results of the study are presented in line with the research questions.

Results of the First Research Question
The first research question of the study was "How do students describe the mathematics anxiety they experience and what are the components of the resulting anxiety and how do they relate?" and has been examined in four sub-headings. In the first part, we included student views on how mathematics anxiety is defined and what its symptoms are. The other part covers what are the components of the resulting anxiety and the relationships between them.

Defining mathematics anxiety.
Students' views on the definition of mathematics anxiety have been grouped under three themes: Difficult, scary/creepy, and emotional/mental state. The data obtained can be seen in Table 1. When Table 1 is examined, five of the students have been observed to tend towards the grisly /scary theme, three to the difficult theme, and three to the emotional/mental state theme. It was seen that the students predominantly expressed their views on the frightening/scary theme. In addition, students expressed their mathematics anxiety as a difficult and emotional/mental state. Some quotes from the students who define their mathematics anxiety as scary/frightening and the assigned codes are as follows:

Symptoms of mathematics anxiety.
Based on data from student interviews, the symptoms of mathematics anxiety were collected under three themes. These are physical/physical symptoms, cognitive symptoms, and affective symptoms. The data obtained are presented in Table 2. When Table 2 is checked, 6 of the students chose the Bodily/Physical Symptoms theme, one of the students the Cognitive Symptoms theme, and one of the students the Affective Symptoms theme. The majority of the students stated that the symptoms of mathematics anxiety were mainly the physical/physical symptoms. Some of the quotations and codes from students who physically/physically expressed the symptoms of mathematics anxiety are as follows:

Dimensions of mathematics anxiety.
Students' views on the emergence of mathematics anxiety were grouped under three themes: sociological dimension, psychological dimension, and philosophical dimension. The data obtained are presented in Table 3. When Table 3 is examined, it can be seen that five of the students highlighted the sociological dimension theme, four of them highlighted the psychological dimension theme, and two of them highlighted the philosophical dimension theme. According to the opinions of the students, it is observed that the sociological dimension and the psychological dimension themes are predominant in the emergence of mathematics anxiety.
Some of the quotations and codes from the students who expressed the emergence of mathematics anxiety as a sociological dimension are as follows;

Results of the Second Research Question
Components of emerging anxiety and the relationship between these components.
The second research question of the study is "What are the components in the formation of mathematics anxiety?" Regarding this problem, the findings were examined under three themes, namely the psychological dimension, the philosophical dimension and the sociological dimension, and which or which of these dimensions were effective together was evaluated within the framework of the opinions of the students to the first question. The distribution of the common components of the anxiety is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Distribution of Common Components of Emerging Anxiety
When Figure 1 is analyzed, it is understood that the students Furkan, Havva, Berna, and Nalan stated that the formation of mathematics anxiety is both sociologically and psychologically twodimensional. For example, the student named Eve points out that the social dimension that emerges as mocking him within the framework of the classroom climate created by his classmates triggers the effects of the psychological dimension in the form of embarrassment, boredom and humiliation. Berna, on the other hand, stated that she had low self-esteem within the framework of the social dimension formed by her family and social media news and emphasized the relationship between the social dimension and the psychological dimension.
It is understood from the students that Hilmi and Eda stated that mathematics anxiety is twodimensional both philosophically and psychologically. These students stated that the reason for mathematics anxiety is the psychological effect of not being able to do it in the social environment and the feeling of being worthless and losing the meaning of their existence by going beyond. In these students, it is observed that the psychological effect caused by failure to do the mathematics lesson and the psychological effect triggering the philosophical dimension, losing the meaning of their existence.
Mustafa, one of the students, stated the reason for the occurrence of mathematics anxiety only as a sociological dimension. Also, one of the students, Veli, expressed the reason for mathematics anxiety as the psychological dimension.

Results of the Third Research Question
The third research question of the study was "How do students define the effects of their mathematics anxiety on their academic achievement, family environment and themselves?". The second sub-problem has been examined under two subtitles. The first part examines the effects of anxiety in relation to the psychological dimension while the other covers the effects of anxiety related to the sociological dimension.

Effects of mathematics anxiety related to psychological dimension.
The effects of anxiety related to the psychological dimension are examined under two subheadings. These are in terms of course success and in terms of self/personal effects.

Perceptions of the effects in terms of course success.
Students' perceptions of the effects of mathematics anxiety on academic achievement were found to emerge under two themes, positive and negative. Three codes were determined for the theme determined as negative. These are poor performance, not attending the lesson, and the effect on other lessons. The data obtained are presented in Table 4. When Table 4 is examined, all of the students except Mustafa stated that mathematics anxiety has a negative effect on academic success. Again, all of the students in the negative effects theme stated that mathematics anxiety caused them to decrease performance. 5 students stated the reluctance to participate in the course code under the negative effective theme, and 3 students stated the code for the effect on other courses. Some quotes and codes for the negative effects theme are presented below.

Perceptions in terms of self/personal effects.
Students' perceptions of the personal effects of mathematics anxiety were grouped under four themes: comparing themselves with others, fear of making mistakes, negative experiences, and inability to meet expectations. The data obtained are showed in Table 5. When Table 5 was examined, four of the students stated the theme of fear of doing wrong, two of failure to meet expectations, two of comparing themselves to others and negative experiences. According to the opinions of students, their perception of the personal effects of mathematics anxiety is mainly dominated by the fear of making mistakes.
Here are some quotes and codes from students who express their perception of the personal effects of mathematics anxiety as a fear of making mistakes; Quotations and codes of students who express their perceptions of the personal effects of mathematics anxiety as comparing themselves with others and negative experiences are as follows; Nalan: "I put a lot of effort into mathematics lessons. However, when those who do not make as much effort get higher marks than me, I get very angry and anxious. I feel depressed when I see students who get better grades than me. Thoughts  Effects of mathematics anxiety related to the sociological dimension.
The effects of anxiety related to the sociological dimension are examined under two subtitles. These are the perception of its effects in terms of relations with family and relationships with friends.

Perceptions of its effects in terms of relations with the family.
Students' views on the effects of mathematics anxiety on family relationships were grouped under three themes: criticism, high expectation, and comparison with others. The data obtained are presented in Table 6. When Table 6 is studied, five of the students stated the theme of high expectation, two of them to compare with others, and two of them to be criticized. Accordingly, the participants mostly commented on the high expectation theme.
Some of the speech quotations and codes of the students who express their perceptions about the effects of mathematics anxiety on family relations as high expectations are as follows; Berna: "My family has expectations from me in mathematics class. I believe there is verbal intelligence too, but they expect me to enroll in science high school in numerical field.

Perceptions about the effects in terms of relationships with friends.
Students' views on the effects of mathematics anxiety in terms of their relationships with friends were grouped under two themes: having an effect (mocking and being excluded from the group) and no effect. The data obtained are presented in Table 7.  Table 7 is analyzed, three of the students stated the theme of being ridiculed and three of them were excluded from the group. Two of the students stated that mathematics anxiety did not have any effect on relationships with friends.
Quotations and codes of students who express their perceptions of the effects of mathematics anxiety in terms of their relationships with friends as mocking are as follows; The quotations and codes of the students who express their perceptions of the effects of mathematics anxiety in terms of their relationships with friends as exclusion from the group are as follows;

Mustafa: "I am unsuccessful in mathematics class, but I am a leader person who is listened to in a friendly environment. In my circle of friends, I do not open much of the conversations about mathematics, I change the subject if there is any. Because I know this lack will hurt me. I don't want my place in the group to change. In the eyes of my friends, I am a person who knows and does everything and I do not want this to change. That's why I took mathematics out of my life." [code: exclusion from the group]
Speech quotes and codes of students who express their perception of the effects of mathematics anxiety in terms of their relationship with a friend as having no effect are as follows;

Discussion, Conclusion and Implications
Students compared mathematics anxiety to scary/frightening situations. In addition, students express their mathematics anxiety as a difficult and emotional/mental state. Considering the codes created based on the opinions of the students; it is seen that students are afraid of mathematics lesson; they have difficulty and this affects their emotional state. In parallel with our study, there are studies in the literature that show that mathematics lesson is difficult (Başar, Ünal, & Yalçın, 2002;Baykul, 2004). Again, in the study conducted by Işık, Çiltaş and Bekdemir (2008), students in our country and around the world stated that they were afraid of, disliked, and anxious about mathematics. Studies that found mathematics anxiety as scary and frightening by students (Lewis & Aiken, 1970;Baloğlu, 2001;Bourne, 1995;Chipman, Krantz, & Silver, 1992;Gierl & Bisanz, 1995;Izard, 1972;Skiba, 1990;Tobias, 1978;Zettle & Houghton, 1998) support the results of the current study. Again, some of the students who participated in the study described mathematics anxiety as difficult. Mc Leod and Adams (1989) and Yetkin (2003) stated in their study that students had difficulties in understanding and learning the mathematics lesson.
It has been determined that the emergence of anxiety has physical/physical, cognitive and affective symptoms. In the relevant literature, parallel to the study, it is stated that anxiety has physical/physical, cognitive and affective symptoms (Cüceloğlu, 2005;Deniz & Üldaş, 2008;Köknel, 1989;Köroğlu, 2006;Semerci, 2007;Tolan, 2002;Yeşilyurt, 2006). As a result of the interviews with the students, the symptoms of mathematics anxiety were stated as physical/physical symptoms. Students who describe the symptoms of the emergence of anxiety as physical/physical; They reported sweating, dizziness, abdominal pain, ice cold hands and feet, inability to breathe, and nausea. In the study of Cüceloğlu (2005), there are physical symptoms of anxiety and these are; sweating, headaches, dizziness, dry mouth, chest tightness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations. Again, Deniz and Üldaş (2008) stated that anxiety causes the emergence of some physiological symptoms such as anxiety, panic, fear, stress, stomach problems, difficulty in breathing, sweating of the palms, and shame. These negative situations that arise due to anxiety cause the academic success of students to be limited.
Another result of the study is "What are the dimensions in the formation of mathematics anxiety?" Concerning this problem, the findings were examined under three themes: psychological dimension, philosophical dimension, and sociological dimension. In this sub-problem, which was created based on the answers given by the students to the first question, it is seen that the students mostly expressed their opinions on the sociological dimension and psychological dimension themes. In the subthemes of the sociological dimension; friend circle and classroom climate, family and teacher, in the subthemes of the psychological dimension; A flat wall that is difficult or even impossible to overcome, lack of acceptance/self-confidence, Failure/Failure, Prejudiced attitudes of students towards mathematics lesson. In the research studies, it is expected that there will be an increase in their academic success with the increase in social support perceived by students (Erden & Akgül, 2010;Yıldırım, 2006). Social support perception is a powerful factor in solving, preventing, and treating individuals' sociological and psychological problems (Yıldırım, 2006). Therefore, the social support system is a situation that can decrease or increase the mathematics anxiety levels of individuals. Alkan (2011) stated in his study that students who do not receive support from their families have mathematics anxiety. Again, Uzman (2004) stated that families 'supportive role is an important factor in students' overcoming anxiety. Social support offered to students not only improves psychologically and physiologically but also has positive contributions to academic success (Erden & Akgül, 2010;Ergene & Yıldırım, 2003;Yıldırım, 2006). When students' perception of social support increases, students' motivation levels also increase (Şentürk, 2016). It is thought that students who are supported by their friends, families, and especially teachers will be well motivated in the education process.
Considering the results regarding the relations between the dimensions of the emerging anxiety; the sociological-psychological dimension and the psychological-philosophical dimension themes occur together or trigger each other. This shows the complexity of the concept of anxiety. In the studies conducted so far, the concept of anxiety has been examined through scales prepared in the form of dimensions-factors. However, life itself is not a rather simplified form of anxiety, but rather a state of complexity, seen as, for example, lowering the dignity and status of the family; The family, which is called the immediate social environment, does not trust the child or accept him as it is, and this situation leads to the child's self-confidence-psychological deficiency and this situation also causes them to feel himself as a threat to their existence, which is a worthless-philosophical dimension.
One of the findings of the interviews with the students is that they negatively expressed the effect of mathematics anxiety on academic achievement. Students who stated that it had a negative effect on course achievement stated that mathematics anxiety caused situations such as low performance, not attending the class, and its effect on other lessons. All of the students who stated that mathematics anxiety affected negatively stated that mathematics anxiety caused poor performance. In the relevant literature, there are studies explaining that there is a negative and significant relationship between academic achievement and mathematics anxiety (Arıkam, 2004;Bekdemir, 2007;Erden & Akgül, 2010;Erktin, Dönmez, & Özel, 2006;Erol, 1989;Oksal, Durmaz, & Akın, 2013;Peker & Şentürk, 2012;Richardson & Suinn, 1972;Sapma, 2013;Şentürk, 2010;Tan & Solak, 2015;Yenilmez & Özbey, 2003). Studies and this research show us that students with high levels of anxiety fail in mathematics lessons. As a matter of fact, when students are anxious, they fail in mathematics lesson, when they fail, they are afraid of mathematics and this failure situation becomes permanent. Yüksel and Şahin (2004) concluded in their study that as the level of success of students increases, their anxiety levels decrease. Therefore, it is seen that the mathematics performance of students with mathematics anxiety decreases and there is a negative relationship between anxiety and achievement.
The students stated that the reason for their mathematics anxiety might be their own. The students especially stated that they had a fear of making mistakes and they attributed this to their lack of selfconfidence. It can be seen in this finding that students have a self-efficacy problem against mathematics lesson. Due to this self-efficacy problem, students do not solve mathematics problems and do not even want to attend classes. It is an expected but psychologically unwanted result that students do not want to solve mathematics problems and avoid class, and therefore worry. The students stated that they had a lot of difficulty especially in the questions that require logic and reasoning, which were asked under the name of new generation questions, and their anxiety levels increased more when these questions were asked in the mathematics and mock exams. They stated that as a result of the bad results, they were mentally and physically worn out, and this caused communication disorders with their environment. As a matter of fact, the anxiety levels of the students towards the mathematics lesson increase due to the decrease in the self-confidence of the students. The category of perceiving oneself as worthless as a result of the study also shows us that anxiety is an ontological concept. According to Kierkegaard, ontology is defined as a threat to its existence (hurt, feeling bad, insecure person, hence perceiving as worthless) (Flow, 2014). What is meant by the threat here is that the family, which we will call the close social environment, does not trust the child or accept him as it is, and the feeling of self-worth due to the lack of self-confidence in the child. Işık, Çiltaş and Bekdemir (2008) stated in their study that because of the fear of mathematics, students cannot learn mathematics knowledge in lessons and instead memorize the information. In the findings obtained from the study, the students stated that their anxiety would decrease when they have a good command of the field knowledge and they have confidence in themselves. Doruk, Öztürk and Kaplan (2016), on the other hand, found in their research that as students' self-confidence increased, their anxiety would decrease. Aschraft and Krause (2007) stated that the reason why students with high anxiety level fail in mathematics lesson is not only anxiety, but also insufficient mathematics knowledge will increase anxiety. Again, low self-esteem and memory deterioration in people are also a factor that increases anxiety. Koca (2011) stated in his study that students who consider themselves competent have lower mathematics anxiety. As a result, the reason behind the students' fear of doing wrong is the lack of self-confidence. The anxiety levels of the students decrease with the increase of their self-confidence, and their anxiety levels increase with the decrease of their self-confidence.
When the effects of mathematics anxiety in terms of family relations are examined, it is seen that the mathematics lesson is effective in the deterioration of students' family relationships. The students stated that their relations with their families had deteriorated due to the mathematics lesson. Students stated that their anxiety increased especially because their families had high expectations from them. According to Bayer (2005), Money and reputation are among the reasons for families to have high expectations from their children. People who have fame, reputation and money in the society are regarded as "a man", while those who are the opposite are regarded as "nothing". Alain de Botton (2003) stated that not having high status does not only mean financially limited, individuals' selfesteem decreases. Material gains come at the top of the status understanding in modern societies. Changing this dominant thought in societies is as difficult as changing the direction of rotation around the sun. Therefore, it is inevitable that people who do not have high status will receive limited respect from others in the society. Indeed, according to Alain de Botton (2003), high status is like a key that opens the door to many wealth. Families today also support the statements of Alain de Botton and expect their children to be individuals of high status. Therefore, families put pressure on their children. Again, the students stated that their anxiety increased due to the situation of being compared with others and being criticized by their families. According to the information received from the students, families put pressure on students, whether they want to or not. It is observed that there are oppressive demands by their families that students should always get the highest score. For this reason, parents want students to spend more time in mathematics lesson and to be successful. However, families do not realize that these behaviors will further increase the level of anxiety in their students. As a matter of fact, one of the results of our study revealed that the students were more anxious due to these oppressive attitudes of the families and they also moved away from the mathematics course. Children of families with oppressive attitudes have a lack of self-confidence (Sertelin Mercan & Yavuzer, 2007). An individual with low self-esteem is more likely to experience anxiety than a person with high selfesteem (McKay & Fanning, 2008). Therefore, when parents take an active role in their children's education, the sense of trust in their children will develop.
As a result of interviews with students, it is seen that mathematics anxiety has negative effects on friendship relations. The students who stated that it had negative effects on their friendships defined this situation as being mocked and excluded from the group. Students are not able to actively participate in the lesson, not even wanting to speak in the classroom environment, especially because they fear being ridiculed. Again, because students match their place in the peer groups with being good or bad in mathematics lesson, they think that being successful in mathematics lesson is very important for them and if they fail in mathematics lesson, they will be excluded from peer groups. Therefore, students stated that people who are successful in mathematics lessons are respected in their peer groups, their words are listened to and they are seen as leaders. In addition, the students stated that they were angry, quarrelsome, and contemplative due to their math anxiety and that this situation negatively affected their friendship relations. In these times we live in the communication age, everyone or everything has positive or negative effects on our lives. Students' thoughts of getting reactions from their friends in the classroom and feeling themselves under pressure can lead to mathematics anxiety. In the studies conducted in the literature, it has been determined that the mathematics anxiety levels of the students who are not seen as hardworking by their friends and who think that they will be mocked by them will increase (Alkan, 2011;Bekdemir, 2007;Cantimer, 2016). As a result of this study, it was found that the students had mathematics anxiety because they feared being mocked and excluded by their friends, and this is similar to the results of the studies in the literature.
Based on the results related to the first problem, the social help the students get from their friends, families and teachers increases their academic successes. Therefore, the people in the social help extent should make the students feel that they help her. One of the reasons of mathematics fear seen on the students is that the mathematics is seen frightening and difficult. There is a common belief that Mathematics lesson is difficult in Turkey. This shows that there is a prejudgement against the Mathematics lesson among the students. So exercises related to get rid of this prejudgement can be done. One of the reasons of the fear the students feel is to have mistakes and be laughed at. It's mostly the teacher's duty to get rid of this fear. The teachers should prepare democratic and supportive classroom environment to reduce the fear of making mistakes and make the students reply with courage. The current study is limited with the eighth grade students and phenomenology research design. Different class levels with other qualitative designs may be studied in the future.