RAFT Writing Technique

 RAFT Writing Technique

By Nelson Sanrami

The RAFT writing technique helps students plan their writing. The acronym RAFT stands for Role of the Writer, Audience, Format, Topic.

The role of the Writer has students consider who they are as a writer. It encourages them to decide if they will write from their own perspective or from the perspective
of another person, allowing them to adopt different personas and points of view.

The audience has students consider who their audience will be, which guides them to determine the appropriate register, language, and information.

Format refers to the text type; for example, blog, newspaper article, or comic strip. An awareness of the format helps students plan appropriate text features and consider appropriate language.

Topic refers to the subject, or main idea, of the text. Planning the topic helps students maintain focus and direction in their texts.

Students apply the RAFT writing technique twice in each set of lessons. They analyze the model text with RAFT in Getting Started and plan their own writing with RAFT in Planning My Text.

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Peer Review

The process of peer review supports collaboration and enhances student learning. Students employ critical thinking skills to analyze and comment on their classmates’ drafts. In turn, students expand this analysis to their own texts, which leads to more organized and accurate pieces of writing. 

Illustrations

Illustrations foster visual literacy by helping students understand and make connections between language and images. It can be rewarding for students to explore a variety of types of illustrations, such as paintings, collages, photos, and icons. 

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Presenting

This has several important benefits. First, knowing their classmates will read and comment on their writing motivates students and gives them a sense of audience. This task also provides an opportunity for students to develop a broader range of writing strategies, such as note-taking, writing responses, and writing introductions for their presentations. Finally, students develop presentation skills and reading strategies, such as pacing, pausing, making eye contact, and reading from notes. 

Rubrics

 Rubrics facilitate consistent, objective assessment and make the task of evaluating texts more structured for the teacher. Compass Writing Log rubrics provide teachers with

the option of formative or summative assessment by topic or by level. Scores can be calculated by assigning two points for each performance indicator (PI) “above level,” one point for each of those “at level”, and zero for each PI “below level.” The use of the rubrics is entirely at the teacher’s discretion. 

Other Strategies you might not forget

Writing Strategies

Brainstorming Words and Ideas

Brainstorming is a prewriting strategy. It encourages creative thinking and planning. It also activates prior knowledge about a topic and fosters
student collaboration.

Capitalizing Words

Capitalizing words is a fundamental writing skill. It signals the importance of certain words, such as names, countries and nationalities. It also functions as a text marker for new sentences, making it easier for readers to understand a text. In a diagram or plan, words are also capitalized.

Categorizing Information

The ability to categorize details enables students to define and understand sets of information. It helps students improve memory and recall by grouping similar items or ideas together. It is also an indispensable planning tool that helps students produce well-organized and clear writing texts.

Creating Interview Questions

An interview requires writers to formulate questions designed to help them learn more about a person,
an event or a subject. Students must be able to form questions in order to learn about other people and the world around them.

Describing the Position of Objects

In a description text, writers not only describe objects but also where they are in reference to other objects in the same space. Writers must be able to accurately describe the location of objects by using prepositions such as on, in, under, and next to.

Editing

Editing is a critical thinking strategy that is essential to the draft-writing process. When editing, students identify and correct capitalization and punctuation, spelling, and content in their texts.

Stating Key Details

An informational text contains key details (facts, evidence, and examples about a topic. Stating key details, such as personal information, is a common activity in real life—one student must be able to do.

Using Correct Word Order

A description text requires writers to provide details about objects. It is important they understand
that description words, or adjectives, are placed before nouns.

Using End Punctuation

Using end punctuation, such as periods, is essential to writing. A text must have end punctuation so readers know when one idea ends and another begins. An exclamation point at the end of a sentence indicates strong feelings.

Using Mind Maps

A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize ideas or information. It helps students understand and remember the information better.

Using Plans and Labels

This strategy focuses on identifying key objects in a diagram and creating brief, descriptive labels for them.

Writing a Concluding Sentence

A concluding sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph. It brings the reader’s attention back to the topic of the text and leaves the reader with a sense of closure. This is a fundamental writing strategy students must develop. 

Reading Strategies

Identifying Text Features

Writers use text features to give readers more information. In a student newspaper article, the title draws attention to the article, engages readers in it, and tells them what the article is about. The byline tells readers who wrote the article.

Pausing for Meaning

Proficient readers pause while reading a text to enhance comprehension. This strategy also applies to reading aloud. Readers pause briefly after commas and at
the end of sentences in order to facilitate listeners’ understanding of the text and to maintain their interest in it.

Reading a Diagram

Authors use diagrams to visually present information. The ability to identify relevant information in a diagram and understand its relationship to a text enhances reading comprehension.

Reading Clearly and Slowly

The ability to give presentations is a skill students need to develop because they are often expected to present their work in school. One characteristic of a good presentation is the ability to read aloud clearly and slowly.

Using Pictures

Pictures are the illustrations or photos that accompany a text. Students can construct and confirm their understanding of a text by looking at the pictures. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rost, Detlef H. "Reading comprehension: skill or skills?" Journal of Research in Reading 12, no. 2 (September 1989): 87–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.1989.tb00160.x.

Khan, Raja Muhammad Ishtiaq, Muhammad Shahbaz, Tribhuwan Kumar, and Imran Khan. "Investigating Reading Challenges Faced by EFL Learners at Elementary Level." Register Journal 13, no. 2 (October 3, 2020): 277–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v13i2.277-292.

Altmisdort, Gonca. "The Effects of L2 Reading Skills on L1 Reading Skills through Transfer." English Language Teaching 9, no. 9 (July 9, 2016): 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n9p28.