Xpress: crowdsourcing native speakers to learn colloquial expressions in a second language

Authors:
Yung-Ju Chang;Lezhong Li;Shih-Hsuan Chou;Min-Chih Liu;Surong Ruan
Affiliations:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA;University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
Venue:
CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2013

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Abstract

Many second language (SL) learners want to speak fluently to native speakers. However, formal language education and existing tools are insufficient for learning language for use in daily life. We propose Xpress, a mobile Q&A-based system that crowdsources native speakers to provide everyday expressions to SL learners. To enable native speakers to understand SL learners' questions, Xpress allows SL learners to compose "context-embedded" questions with the help of multimedia. In addition, Xpress allows SL learners to explore expressions broadly and search for topic-specific expressions. Finally, Xpress provides several facilities to help effective learning of expressions. The results of our study confirm the above design idea and show Xpress' potential to help SL learners effectively learn colloquial expressions.