Perceived parental involvement, language attitudes, and Indonesian language use among child BIPA learners

Indonesian language learning for foreign speakers in children occurs not only through classroom activities but is also related to language experiences in the family environment. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between children's perceptions of parental involvement, attitudes toward Indonesian, and self-reported Indonesian language use practices. This study used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional correlational design. Participants consisted of 34 children participating in the BIPA program aged 7–12 years in Malang, Indonesia, who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using a Likert-scale questionnaire reviewed by a child BIPA learning expert. All three scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha values between .794 and .901. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation as the primary analysis, Spearman’s rank-order correlation as the sensitivity analysis, and simple linear regression. The results showed that perceptions of parental involvement were positively and significantly related to attitudes toward Indonesian (r = .684; p < .001) and Indonesian language use practices (r = .800; p < .001). Attitudes toward Indonesian were also positively related to Indonesian language use practices (r = .659; p < .001). Sensitivity analyses using Spearman’s rank-order correlations confirmed the same positive and statistically significant relationships observed in the Pearson correlations. The regression model produced an R 2 value of .468 for attitudes toward Indonesian and .640 for Indonesian language use practices. These findings suggest that child BIPA programs may benefit from involving families as partners in supporting children’s Indonesian language experiences beyond the classroom, particularly through everyday communication and opportunities for meaningful language use.