Young learners' and parents' views on how parental support shapes English learning motivation and task engagement

This study examined how children and their parents perceived the parents' roles in young learners' (YLs) English learning motivation and task engagement in a cross-sectional survey in Indonesia. Hardly any research compares children's and parents' views of parental support. Therefore, a holistic study is needed to clarify how parental support relates to children's motivation and task engagement in the EFL context. The study drew on self-determination theory and motivational theories relevant to fifth graders. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from two surveys. The samples involved 598 children and 598 parents from Indonesian primary schools. The model examined direct and indirect relationships among YLs' and parents' views of their roles and socioeconomic status (SES) on task engagement with motivation as a mediator. The model fit was good. The findings showed that YLs' views of parental roles were significantly related to their motivation and engagement in English tasks, whereas SES had a lower correlation. Motivation had a significant and strong relationship with task engagement, as supported by the high explanatory power of the model. Therefore, schools should foster home-school collaboration by guiding parents to constructively engage, such as praising effort and encouraging environments rich in English. Policies could include initiatives to raise parental awareness during meetings or workshops. Providing equitable English learning resources is also important to bridge motivational gaps across socioeconomic backgrounds.