Language, Speech and Dialogue Processing

Course manual 2020/2021

Course content

The course intends to provide a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals and most recent approaches to dialogue modeling including natural language and speech processing in dialogue systems. An important part of the course is a collaborative learning environment for students to experiment and apply the theoretical knowledge in practice. The students are expected to practice formulating their own research questions, self-organize, plan and distribute the subtasks to effectively work in a team.

Objectives

• The student has basic knowledge of dialogue and its formal modelling in at least one subdomain of dialogue modelling.
• The student can describe the relevant features of information structure, prosody, syntax, semantics, pragmatics in speech and language
• The student can apply previously obtained knowledge on speech and language, their structure, and the technology to process them, to the task of processing and generating dialogue.
• The student can describe the state-of-the-art and propose ways of moving beyond the state-of-the-art.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• Self-study
• Presentation/symposium

The students will acquire theoretical knowledge in the lectures, and practice in teams working on a joint project under supervision providing regular feedback and progress monitoring.

Learning activities

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

• For practical trainings and tutorials with assignments attendance is obligatory. The requirements for attendance might differ between courses and are stated in the course manual. When students do not meet the requirements for attendance, he or she cannot finish the course with a pass mark.
  

Assessment

Assignments

Team project

• Dialogue analysis project to be carried out during the course in teams of three students supervised by a TA

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. S. Vakulenko