| Sumario: | Background: The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has popularised AI‐Mediated Informal Digital Learning of English (AI‐IDLE). Whilst research in this area is growing, social influencing factors, especially the role of parents as significant others, remain underexplored. Objectives: Guided by the Situational Expectancy‐Value Theory (SEVT), this study aims to investigate the impact of parental AI investment behaviours on students' engagement in AI‐IDLE. It specifically examines the mediating roles of Perceived AI Value and Effort Expectancy for AI in this relationship. Methods: A questionnaire survey was administered to 2346 primary and secondary school students in China. The collected data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the proposed direct and mediating effects. Results: The findings revealed that parental AI investment behaviours directly promoted students' AI‐IDLE engagement. Furthermore, they exerted significant indirect effects through the separate mediating roles of Perceived AI Value and Effort Expectancy for AI, as well as through their chain mediation pathway. Conclusions: This research enriches the application of SEVT by extending it to informal, self‐regulated, and technology‐enhanced language learning contexts. It underscores the crucial role parents play in out‐of‐class learning and offers practical insights for guiding children to use AI tools effectively for English proficiency development. Practitioner Notes: What is already known about this subject ○The adoption of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to the emergence of AI‐Mediated Informal Digital Learning of English (AI‐IDLE), where learners use AI tools for self‐directed language practise outside the classroom.○Parental involvement is a well‐established, powerful factor influencing children's academic motivation and achievement, especially in informal learning contexts where self‐regulation is crucial.○According to motivational theories like the Situated Expectancy‐Value Theory (SEVT), students' engagement is driven by their expectations of success and the value they assign to a task, which are shaped by their social environment.What this paper adds ○This study provides empirical evidence that parents remain crucial "significant others" even in highly technological, AI‐mediated learning environments. Their investment behaviours (e.g., providing tools, technical guidance, and emotional support) directly promote children's engagement in AI‐IDLE. It uncovers the psychological mechanisms through which parental influence operates. Parental investment boosts engagement by:Increasing children's effort expectancy (the belief that using AI is easy and effortless)Enhancing children's perceived value of AI (the belief that AI is useful and beneficial for English learning)Creating a chain effect, where higher effort expectancy leads to higher perceived value, which in turn leads to greater engagement○It successfully applies SEVT to a novel, informal, and technology‐enhanced learning context, demonstrating the theory's relevance for understanding motivation in the age of AI.Implications for practise ○For parents: Move beyond being mere resource providers. Actively engage by learning about AI tools yourselves, using them with your children, and providing guidance on how to interact with AI effectively (e.g., crafting good prompts).Recognise that your support directly shapes your child's confidence in using AI and their belief in its value. Your positive attitude and involvement can lower the perceived difficulty and increase the perceived benefits, making your child more likely to engage in productive AI‐IDLE.○For educators and schools Develop and offer parental workshops focused on "AI literacy." Educate parents about the affordances of AI for language learning and equip them with strategies to support their children at homeFoster home‐school collaboration by sharing information about recommended AI tools and productive AI‐IDLE activities, helping to create a consistent and supportive learning ecosystem.○For educational technology developers Design AI learning tools with family‐friendly features, such as dashboards for parents to view progress or suggestions for parent–child interactive tasks. This can help parents become more effectively involved in their children's AI‐mediated learning journey.
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