Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LLT2520

 
TITLE Introduction to Computational Models for Language Data

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will provide a gentle introduction to computational modelling concepts using the Python programming language (https://www.python.org/). It is intended for students with a basic level of mathematics and who intend to use computational modelling for solving natural language related problems.

Topics that this study-unit will focus on include:
- a general introduction to computational modelling;
- evaluation of the outcomes of such models;
- various data preprocessing techniques;
- various models and algorithms such as decision trees, artificial neural networks, and nearest neighbours algorithms.

Lectures will focus on how to use computational modelling techniques in order to solve natural language related problems such as text classification and tagging.

Study-unit Aims:

- To provide a practical introduction to computational modelling concepts;
- To encourage students in the language sciences to use computational models in projects they may carry out.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- identify the correct model to use for different language data modelling tasks;
- identify the correct feature extraction method for different language data modelling tasks;
- evaluate and interpret the performance of trained models.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- write programs that use machine learning to learn to solve practical problems with a data set, especially linguistic problems;
- use the Python library Scikit Learn to model text data;
- use the Python library MatPlotLib to visualise data.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- Daumé, H. (2017). A course in machine learning (pp. 149-155). Hal Daumé III, available at: http://ciml.info/
- Jurafsky, D. (2000). Speech & Language Processing. Pearson Education India, available at: https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-Requisite qualifications: Programming in Python

Pre-Requisite Study-Unit: LLT2510 or equivalent

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Practicum

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit