Learning about Word Vector Representations and Deep Learning through Implementing Word2vec

Abstract

Word vector representations are an essential part of an NLP curriculum. Here, we describe a homework that has students implement a popular method for learning word vectors, word2vec. Students implement the core parts of the method, including text preprocessing, negative sampling, and gradient descent. Starter code provides guidance and handles basic operations, which allows students to focus on the conceptually challenging aspects. After generating their vectors, students evaluate them using qualitative and quantitative tests.