academic sense of belonging re-formation during emergency remote teaching: exploring english-major students’ lived experiences

Academic sense of belonging, defined as students’ sense of being respected, valued, and accepted by others in the academic settings, has received much attention in recent decades, and the findings of various studies regarding the significance and aspects of belonging to the major and academia have enriched the literature in this area. the spread of covid-19 and the crisis circumstances caused by it led to the abrupt conversion from face-to-face to remote education. this forceful alteration in the educational systems gave a new meaning to the concept of academic belongingness, as students’ connection to their academia became restricted. the influences of emergency remote teaching (ert) on shaping students’ academic belonging is an issue that has not received due attention. the present qualitative study aimed at exploring how english-major seniors perceived their academic belonging being (re)shaped during ert. the participants of the study were 24 female b.a. seniors studying english literature at three state universities in tehran, iran. the data were collected through semi-structured in-person interviews and written reflections. the analysis of the data revealed that ert influenced three aspects of the students’ feeling of belonging, namely their sense of being connected to others, their sense of being seen and recognized, and their sense of being accepted by other members of their academic set. the implications of the current study for professors, university administrators, and authorities are discussed.