Examination of the perception of middle school seniors towards math teachers and their attitude and anxiety levels related to the lesson

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of junior high school senior students' perception directed to mathematics teachers and students' attitude and anxiety levels regarding the mathematics subject and analyze the correlations among them in terms of various variables. The research is a quantitative study designed in correlational survey model. The reserch sample of the study consisted 461 senior students of junior high schools who were having education in 2020-2021 academic year in Menderes, İzmir. In this research, "Personal Information Form" , "The Scale of Students' Perceptions Regarding Teachers' Roles", "Mathematic Attitude Scale" and "The Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Elementary Students" were used as data collection tools. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient were used in the analysis of the obtained data. When the findings are evaulated, the perception of the students regarding mathematics teachers' roles is found as in the range of "Usually" and positive level in the research. Students' perception of teachers shows significant difference depending on sexuality and if they like or dislike mathematics. However; variables such as educational level of parents, weighted elective course selection process, report grade of mathematics, having mathematics lesson from the same teacher, effect of private or governmentally supported courses don't show any significant difference. Another result is concluded that students' attitude regarding mathematics subject is "Indecisive" and on medium level. Nonetheless; students' attitudes to mathematics subject show significant difference depending on variables such as weighted elective course selection process, report grade of mathematics, liking or disliking mathematics, it doesn't show any significant difference depending on variables such as sexuality, educational level of parents, having mathematics lesson from the same teacher, effect of private or governmentally supported courses. Also, students' anxiety levels about mathematics subject are found as "Occasionally" and medium level. Students' anxiety on mathematics shows significant difference regarding variables such as; sexuality, educational level of students' fathers, weighted elective course selection process, report grade of mathematics, if they like or dislike mathematics. However depending on variables such as; educational level of students' mothers, having mathematics lesson from the same teacher, effect of private or governmentally supported courses, no significant difference is found. Finally, it is concluded that there is a minimum level positive correlation between students' perception of roles of teachers and their anxiety on mathematics subject, a medium level positive correlation between students' perception of roles of teacher and students' attitudes regarding mathematics subject and a high level positive correlation between students' anxiety levels and their attitudes regarding the subject.