Why is this structured the way it is?
So, I am using Rosetta Stone as one of my tools for learning Indonesian. It has recently given me the sentence "Apa yang sedang dia kerjakan?" and other variations of it like "Apa yang sedang anak laki-laki itu kerjakan?". I know that these translate to "What is he/she doing?" and "What is the boy doing?", but I am a bit confused as to why they are formed the way they are. I know I should probably just memorize the form and not worry about translating it perfectly, but I am curious as to whether anyone has any input about this form.

Based on what I've already learned, I would have expected this question to be "Apa yang dia sedang kerjakan?" or "Apa yang anak laki-laki sedang kerjakan?". Why does "sedang" appear earlier in the question? The best I can figure is that it basically means "What currently is he/she doing?". Any thoughts? Thank you.

Question

Why is this structured the way it is?
So, I am using Rosetta Stone as one of my tools for learning Indonesian.  It has recently given me the sentence "Apa yang sedang dia kerjakan?" and other variations of it like "Apa yang sedang anak laki-laki itu kerjakan?".  I know that these translate to "What is he/she doing?" and "What is the boy doing?", but I am a bit confused as to why they are formed the way they are.  I know I should probably just memorize the form and not worry about translating it perfectly, but I am curious as to whether anyone has any input about this form.

Based on what I've already learned, I would have expected this question to be "Apa yang dia sedang kerjakan?" or "Apa yang anak laki-laki sedang kerjakan?".  Why does "sedang" appear earlier in the question?  The best I can figure is that it basically means "What currently is he/she doing?".  Any thoughts?  Thank you.

Answer

Dia = he or she
'Dia' can be a 'she' or a 'he'.
so,
"Apa yang sedang dia kerjakan?"&"Apa yang sedang anak laki-laki itu kerjakan?"
has the same meaning. 
It depends you want to describe the 'he' or not.

Do-ing
Do = kerjakan/lakukan
Ing = sedang

example : working = sedang bekerja, eating = sedang makan, sleeping = sedang tidur.

Hope you can understand my explanation.

Answer

"sedang" is mean currently, so you got it right already.
by using "sedang" word in the phrase it's stated that the person is doing action/activities now (on going action/activities).

Answer

In Bahasa, "Dia" : pronoun 3rd person singular.
Dia in English : She or He
there is no description feminim or maskulin for 3rd person singular in Bahasa.

Boy = Anak laki - laki, Putra.
Girl = Anak perempuan, Putri.
FYI in bahasa there are Formal and informal(not formal) words
its mean BAKU and TIDAK BAKU

What is the boy doing?
In bahasa mean : Apa yang anak laki-laki/putra itu sedang kerjakan( lakukan, perbuat) <<< BAKU
in other words, " Sedang apa anak laki-laki itu?" <<< TIDAK BAKU
But its same meaning
ex:
What are you doing about?
this is phrase in English
if you translated word by word.
in English Struktured :
Apa Kau sedang lakukan tentang?

If you translated with this words, its false.

Can be translated with :

- Sedang apa kau?<<< TIDAK BAKU
- Apa yang sedang kau lakukan?<<<  BAKU 
- Apa yang sedang kau perbuat?<<<< BAKU
-Apa yang sedang kau kerjakan?<<<

Answer

Yes, sedang means currently, it is an adverb. So gramatically, in Bahasa Indonesia it appears before noun. Sedang is used for formal situation, as in newspaper, tv news. We rarely use sedang in informal situation.

http://kbbi.web.id/sedang

Apa yang sedang anak laki-laki itu kerjakan? = sedang apa dia?

FYI, other adverbs are: masih (still), sudah (already), example:
Dia masih lapar padahal sudah makan. 
You see the adverb (masih and sudah) appear before verb.

Hope this helps.