See what I'm saying? Comparing Intelligent Personal Assistant use for Native and Non-Native Language Speakers
This addresses usability challenges for non-native language speakers interacting with IPAs, which is an incremental improvement in understanding user needs.
The study compared how native (L1) and non-native (L2) English speakers use Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs), finding that L2 speakers prioritize utterance planning due to linguistic limitations and prefer smartphones for visual feedback, while L1 speakers prioritize succinctness and prefer smart speakers for audio feedback.
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.