See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

Yunhan Wu; Daniel Rough; Anna Bleakley; Justin Edwards; Orla Cooney; Philip R. Doyle; Leigh Clark; Benjamin R. Cowan

doi:10.1145/3379503.3403563

See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

Yunhan Wu, Daniel Rough, Anna Bleakley, Justin Edwards, Orla Cooney, Philip R. Doyle, Leigh Clark, Benjamin R. Cowan

Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Limited linguistic coverage for Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) means that many interact in a non-native language. Yet we know little about how IPAs currently support or hinder these users. Through native (L1) and non-native (L2) English speakers interacting with Google Assistant on a smartphone and smart speaker, we aim to understand this more deeply. Interviews revealed that L2 speakers prioritised utterance planning around perceived linguistic limitations, as opposed to L1 speakers prioritising succinctness because of system limitations. L2 speakers see IPAs as insensitive to linguistic needs resulting in failed interaction. L2 speakers clearly preferred using smartphones, as visual feedback supported diagnoses of communication breakdowns whilst allowing time to process query results. Conversely, L1 speakers preferred smart speakers, with audio feedback being seen as sufficient. We discuss the need to tailor the IPA experience for L2 users, emphasising visual feedback whilst reducing the burden of language production.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Mobile HCI 2020
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450375160
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3379503.3403563
Publication status	Published - Oct 2020
Event	22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services - Duration: 5 Oct 2020 → 9 Oct 2020

Conference

Conference	22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services
Period	5/10/20 → 9/10/20

Keywords

Intelligent personal assistants
Non-native speakers
Speech interface
Voice user interface

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Networks and Communications
Information Systems
Human-Computer Interaction
Software

Access to Document

10.1145/3379503.3403563

Cite this

@inproceedings{c4e8cf70dabc4c60afe7b50d527377e2,

title = "See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers",

abstract = "Limited linguistic coverage for Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) means that many interact in a non-native language. Yet we know little about how IPAs currently support or hinder these users. Through native (L1) and non-native (L2) English speakers interacting with Google Assistant on a smartphone and smart speaker, we aim to understand this more deeply. Interviews revealed that L2 speakers prioritised utterance planning around perceived linguistic limitations, as opposed to L1 speakers prioritising succinctness because of system limitations. L2 speakers see IPAs as insensitive to linguistic needs resulting in failed interaction. L2 speakers clearly preferred using smartphones, as visual feedback supported diagnoses of communication breakdowns whilst allowing time to process query results. Conversely, L1 speakers preferred smart speakers, with audio feedback being seen as sufficient. We discuss the need to tailor the IPA experience for L2 users, emphasising visual feedback whilst reducing the burden of language production.",

keywords = "Intelligent personal assistants, Non-native speakers, Speech interface, Voice user interface",

author = "Yunhan Wu and Daniel Rough and Anna Bleakley and Justin Edwards and Orla Cooney and Doyle, {Philip R.} and Leigh Clark and Cowan, {Benjamin R.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was conducted with the financial support of the UCD China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scheme grant No. 201908300016, Science Foundation Ireland ADAPT Centre under Grant No. 13/RC/2106 and the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (D-REAL) under Grant No. 18/CRT/6224. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 ACM.; 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services ; Conference date: 05-10-2020 Through 09-10-2020",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1145/3379503.3403563",

language = "English",

booktitle = "Mobile HCI 2020",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",

address = "United States",

}

Wu, Y, Rough, D, Bleakley, A, Edwards, J, Cooney, O, Doyle, PR, Clark, L & Cowan, BR 2020, See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers. in Mobile HCI 2020. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, 5/10/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3379503.3403563

TY - GEN

T1 - See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

AU - Wu, Yunhan

AU - Rough, Daniel

AU - Bleakley, Anna

AU - Edwards, Justin

AU - Cooney, Orla

AU - Doyle, Philip R.

AU - Clark, Leigh

AU - Cowan, Benjamin R.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was conducted with the financial support of the UCD China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scheme grant No. 201908300016, Science Foundation Ireland ADAPT Centre under Grant No. 13/RC/2106 and the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (D-REAL) under Grant No. 18/CRT/6224. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 ACM.

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - Limited linguistic coverage for Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) means that many interact in a non-native language. Yet we know little about how IPAs currently support or hinder these users. Through native (L1) and non-native (L2) English speakers interacting with Google Assistant on a smartphone and smart speaker, we aim to understand this more deeply. Interviews revealed that L2 speakers prioritised utterance planning around perceived linguistic limitations, as opposed to L1 speakers prioritising succinctness because of system limitations. L2 speakers see IPAs as insensitive to linguistic needs resulting in failed interaction. L2 speakers clearly preferred using smartphones, as visual feedback supported diagnoses of communication breakdowns whilst allowing time to process query results. Conversely, L1 speakers preferred smart speakers, with audio feedback being seen as sufficient. We discuss the need to tailor the IPA experience for L2 users, emphasising visual feedback whilst reducing the burden of language production.

AB - Limited linguistic coverage for Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) means that many interact in a non-native language. Yet we know little about how IPAs currently support or hinder these users. Through native (L1) and non-native (L2) English speakers interacting with Google Assistant on a smartphone and smart speaker, we aim to understand this more deeply. Interviews revealed that L2 speakers prioritised utterance planning around perceived linguistic limitations, as opposed to L1 speakers prioritising succinctness because of system limitations. L2 speakers see IPAs as insensitive to linguistic needs resulting in failed interaction. L2 speakers clearly preferred using smartphones, as visual feedback supported diagnoses of communication breakdowns whilst allowing time to process query results. Conversely, L1 speakers preferred smart speakers, with audio feedback being seen as sufficient. We discuss the need to tailor the IPA experience for L2 users, emphasising visual feedback whilst reducing the burden of language production.

KW - Intelligent personal assistants

KW - Non-native speakers

KW - Speech interface

KW - Voice user interface

UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.06328

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M3 - Conference contribution

BT - Mobile HCI 2020

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

T2 - 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services

Y2 - 5 October 2020 through 9 October 2020

ER -

See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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