What is Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA)?

Meet Susie, a young girl facing challenges with her language skills. Susie’s parents sought help from a speech therapist, who introduced her to a helpful tool called semantic feature analysis (SFA). Here’s how SFA made a difference for Susie:

1. Understanding Words Better: Susie discovered that words have different parts, like “dog” having “four legs” and “barks.” Breaking words down into smaller parts helped her comprehend them more effectively.
2. Practice with Words: The therapist provided Susie with a list of words, such as “cat,” “bird,” and “horse.” Together, they identified relevant features like “whiskers” for “cat” and “feathers” for “bird.”
3. Rating Features: Susie used a scale of 0 to 5 to rate the importance of each feature. This process helped her assign meaning to the different aspects of the words.
4. Comparing Words: By comparing features across different words, Susie learned valuable insights. For example, she discovered that “cat” and “dog” both had “fur,” but only “dog” had a “tail that wags.”

Through SFA, Susie’s understanding of new words improved, and she formed connections between them. Her growing confidence in communication led her to incorporate new words into everyday conversations. Susie’s parents were thrilled with her progress and expressed gratitude to the speech therapist for introducing them to the powerful tool of SFA.