AN INVESTIGATING OF EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN MATHEMATICS

Abstract

Teaching and learning in the classroom are a complex process characterized by intense cognition of
the causal nature of student and teacher behaviour. Students' perceptions of whether they are
successful and their analysis of why they are successful or unsuccessful can have an impact on their
future performance. The study aims to reveal eighth grade middle school students’ causal attribution
of success and failure in mathematics. To collect data, a semi-structured interview was developed
by the researcher. Interviews with students were recorded using a voice recorder. These audio
recordings were deciphered and analysed. The participants of the study consisted of 15 students
who were in the 8th grade of a middle school (13-14 aged). The results of the study revealed that
effort is one of the most frequently cited causes for explaining success or failure in mathematics.
While the reasons that refer to ability are not very popular, especially solving or not solving more
questions is one of the obvious causes. This is thought to have a conclusion of teaching conception
based on question-solving intensively in order to prepare the national high school entrance exam.