Parents’ roles in young learners’ motivation and task engagement in Indonesian primary schools: Questionnaire development and validation

<ns3:p>Background Parental involvement in a child’s second language learning is important because it affects the process and outcomes. Limited research has been conducted in the Indonesian context on what roles parents play in their children’s motivation and task engagement. Therefore, the study aims to develop, pilot, and validate a questionnaire on the roles of parents in motivating and engaging young learners with English tasks assigned by teachers. Methods This study was quantitative in nature. Participants were 270 parents of fifth graders learning English at nine public and private schools in Padang. The instrument was developed by analysing the literature and existing tools and creating new items. After getting expert feedback and piloting the survey, we assessed its validity and reliability. Research questions examined factors affecting its effectiveness. Results The questionnaire was analysed through EFA and CFA via Jamovi. EFA identified five dimensions: (1) parental involvement, (2) expectations, (3) access to resources, (4) enrichment and (5) extracurricular activities. The CFA fit indices (CFI = .945, TLI = .934, SRMR = .045, RMSEA = .059) confirmed the model’s suitability. The questionnaire showed strong validity and reliability, with measures exceeding.70, making it effective for gathering data on parental roles in Indonesian children’s learning of English. Conclusions This validation study offers an effective diagnostic tool for teachers, administrators, and policymakers to pinpoint the particular dimensions of parental involvement that affect children’s motivation and task engagement as they learn English. The findings highlight the critical roles of recognising parents as active collaborators along the language learning journey. The study adds to the theoretical understanding of the impact of parental behaviour in educational psychology and motivation studies. The findings are consistent with self-determination theory, providing a more nuanced perspective to explore how different forms of parental participation influence student motivation and task engagement in learning English.</ns3:p>