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

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.