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"Let Me Ask Them to Clarify If You Don't Want To" - A Clarification Agent for Nonnative Speakers

Authors:

Wen Duan,

Naomi Yamashita,

Sun Young Hwang,

Susan FussellAuthors Info & Claims

CHI EA '18: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Paper No.: LBW524, Pages 1 - 6

https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188600

Published: 20 April 2018 Publication History

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Abstract

When non-native English speakers (NNS) encounter messages they do not understand, they are often reluctant to ask native speakers (NS) for clarification. In this paper, we explored whether a conversation agent that asks clarification questions would increase NNS' willingness to ask questions. We compared two agents: one that asked for clarification about specific message elements and one that asked general clarification questions. NNS and NS rated how disruptive the agent was, the quality of the conversation, and whether they would feel embarrassed to ask their own questions. NNS found both types of agent less disruptive than NS did, but both found the specific agent more disruptive than the generic agent. NS rated the conversations higher in quality than NNS, but there was no effect of agent condition. We discuss potential of using conversational agents to boost NNS's confidence in conversation.

References

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Helen Ai He, Naomi Yamashita, Chat Wacharamanotham, Andrea B. Horn, Jenny Schmid, and Elaine M. Huang. 2017. Two Sides to Every Story: Massachusetts Institute of Technologyigating Intercultural Conflict through Automated Feedback and Shared SelfReflections in Global Virtual Teams. In Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 1, CSCW, Article 51

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Cited By

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Duan WMcNeese NFreeman GLi L(2024)Mitigating Gender Stereotypes Toward AI Agents Through an eXplainable AI (XAI) ApproachProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869698:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686969
Chen XLi SLiu SFowler RWang X(2023)MeetScript: Designing Transcript-based Interactions to Support Active Participation in Group Video MeetingsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36101967:CSCW2(1-32)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610196
Rodolico AZhu QYamashita NWang H(2022)Understanding the Effects of Profile Display in Multilingual Computer-Mediated Team FormationCompanion Publication of the 2022 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3500868.3559458(175-178)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3500868.3559458
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Index Terms

"Let Me Ask Them to Clarify If You Don't Want To" - A Clarification Agent for Nonnative Speakers
1. Human-centered computing

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Published In

CHI EA '18: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2018

3155 pages

ISBN:9781450356213

DOI:10.1145/3170427

General Chairs:
Regan Mandryk
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Mark Hancock
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Perry
Brunel University London, UK
,
Anna Cox
University College London, UK

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 April 2018

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CHI '18

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SIGCHI

CHI '18: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 21 - 26, 2018

Montreal QC, Canada

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CHI EA '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 1,208 of 3,955 submissions, 31%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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CHI 2025

Sponsor:
sigchi

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2025

Yokohama , Japan

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Cited By

View all

Duan WMcNeese NFreeman GLi L(2024)Mitigating Gender Stereotypes Toward AI Agents Through an eXplainable AI (XAI) ApproachProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869698:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686969
Chen XLi SLiu SFowler RWang X(2023)MeetScript: Designing Transcript-based Interactions to Support Active Participation in Group Video MeetingsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36101967:CSCW2(1-32)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610196
Rodolico AZhu QYamashita NWang H(2022)Understanding the Effects of Profile Display in Multilingual Computer-Mediated Team FormationCompanion Publication of the 2022 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3500868.3559458(175-178)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3500868.3559458
Duan WYamashita NShirai YFussell S(2021)Bridging Fluency Disparity between Native and Nonnative Speakers in Multilingual Multiparty Collaboration Using a Clarification AgentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34795795:CSCW2(1-31)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3479579
Lee YYamashita NHuang Y(2021)Exploring the Effects of Incorporating Human Experts to Deliver Journaling Guidance through a ChatbotProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34491965:CSCW1(1-27)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3449196
Duan WYamashita NFussell S(2019)Increasing Native Speakers' Awareness of the Need to Slow Down in Multilingual Conversations Using a Real-Time Speech SpeedometerProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33592733:CSCW(1-25)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359273

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