Writing can be challenging for EAL learners, especially when they are asked to begin with a blank page.
They may understand the topic perfectly well but still struggle with questions such as:
What should I write?
Who am I writing to?
What kind of language should I use?
How should I organise my ideas?
The RAFT writing strategy can make these decisions much clearer.
RAFT stands for:
R – Role: Who are you writing as?
A – Audience: Who are you writing to?
F – Format: What type of text are you writing?
T – Topic: What are you writing about?
Instead of simply telling students to “write about animals” or “write about the story”, RAFT gives them a clear purpose for communicating.
For EAL learners, this structure can be particularly helpful because it turns an open-ended writing task into something much more concrete.
Here are seven practical ways to use RAFT in the EAL classroom.
1. Introduce One Part of RAFT at a Time
For learners who are new to English, introducing all four elements at once may feel overwhelming.
Begin with the easiest concept: Role.
Ask:
Who are you?
Students might choose:
a teacher
a firefighter
a dog
a scientist
a character from a story
Then introduce Audience:
Who are you talking or writing to?
a friend
your teacher
your family
the class
a newspaper reader
Once students understand these ideas, introduce Format and Topic.
You could build the complete RAFT gradually on the board:
Role: a lost dog
Audience: its owner
Format: a letter
Topic: Please come and find me!
Breaking the strategy into smaller steps allows EAL learners to understand each concept before they are expected to combine them.
2. Use Pictures to Build the RAFT
Visuals can make abstract writing concepts much easier to understand.
Show students a picture, for example, of a penguin standing on melting ice.
Instead of immediately asking them to write, build a RAFT together.
Ask:
Who could be speaking?
Students might suggest:
the penguin
a scientist
a polar explorer
Who could they speak to?
children
the government
other animals
What could they create?
a letter
a poster
a diary entry
a speech
What might the topic be?
protecting the environment
losing a habitat
climate change
A possible RAFT could become:
Role: a penguin
Audience: humans
Format: a letter
Topic: Please protect my home.
The image gives students something concrete to discuss before they have to produce language independently.
For beginning EAL learners, provide sentence starters:
I am a __________.
I am writing to __________.
I want to tell you about __________.
Please __________.
3. Turn Familiar Stories Into RAFT Writing
Stories provide an excellent starting point because students already know the characters and events.
After reading The Three Little Pigs, for example, students could complete this RAFT:
Role: the wolf
Audience: the three pigs
Format: an apology letter
Topic: explaining what really happened
Or:
Role: one of the pigs
Audience: the local newspaper
Format: a news report
Topic: what happened when the wolf arrived
RAFT allows students to revisit the same story from a different perspective.
For EAL learners, this is valuable because much of the vocabulary and content is already familiar. They can therefore concentrate more attention on organising and expressing their ideas in English.
Before writing, collect useful language together.
For an apology letter:
I am sorry for…
I didn’t mean to…
I would like to explain…
Please forgive me for…
For a news report:
Yesterday…
According to…
Suddenly…
In the end…
Students are not simply practising writing. They are learning how language changes according to purpose and audience.
4. Let Students Speak Before They Write
EAL learners often benefit from rehearsing ideas orally before putting them on paper.
Once you have created a RAFT, let students role-play it with a partner.
Imagine the RAFT is:
Role: a student
Audience: the headteacher
Format: a suggestion
Topic: improving the school playground
Students can first discuss:
What is the problem?
What would you like to change?
Why would your idea help?
Useful speaking frames might include:
I think we should…
It would be better if…
One problem is…
This would help because…
Students can practise their ideas with a partner before writing them.
This oral rehearsal reduces some of the language pressure of writing and gives students an opportunity to hear vocabulary and sentence structures before they need to use them independently.
For beginning learners, the teacher can model the conversation first.
5. Use RAFT Across Different Subjects
RAFT does not have to belong only to the English lesson.
It can also help EAL learners develop the academic language they need in science, social studies, geography, and other subjects.
Science
Role: a drop of water
Audience: another water droplet
Format: a diary
Topic: my journey through the water cycle
Students might write:
First, I was in the ocean.
Then the sun heated me.
I evaporated and travelled into the sky.
Geography
Role: a river
Audience: people living nearby
Format: a warning poster
Topic: keeping the river clean
History
Role: a child living in Ancient Rome
Audience: a child today
Format: a letter
Topic: describing everyday life
Healthy Living
Role: a doctor
Audience: children
Format: an advice leaflet
Topic: healthy habits
This type of activity allows EAL learners to demonstrate subject knowledge while also practising meaningful English.
The writing is no longer just about producing correct sentences. Students are using language to explain, describe, persuade and inform.
6. Give Students Choices
One of the strengths of RAFT is that the same topic can lead to several different writing tasks.
Suppose your class is learning about animals.
You could offer:
Choice 1
Role: a zoo animal
Audience: the zookeeper
Format: a letter
Topic: what I need to be happy
Choice 2
Role: a wildlife expert
Audience: children
Format: a fact sheet
Topic: protecting endangered animals
Choice 3
Role: a pet
Audience: its owner
Format: a set of instructions
Topic: how to look after me properly
Choice can be particularly helpful in an EAL classroom because students may have very different vocabulary, background knowledge, and confidence levels.
However, too many choices can also become confusing.
For younger learners or students at earlier stages of English acquisition, offer two or three clearly explained options rather than asking them to invent every part of the RAFT independently.
As students become more confident, they can begin creating their own Roles, Audiences, Formats, and Topics.
7. Turn RAFT Into a Collaborative Activity
RAFT does not always need to be an individual writing task.
Students can work in pairs or small groups to create one response together.
For example:
Role: an alien visiting Earth
Audience: other aliens
Format: a guide
Topic: how to survive your first day at school
Before writing, students discuss:
What happens at school?
What objects will an alien see?
What rules will the alien need to understand?
What might seem strange?
Possible sentences could include:
First, you need to find your classroom.
Humans sit on chairs.
You must listen when the teacher is speaking.
At lunchtime, everyone eats together.
Don’t worry if you hear a loud bell!
Group work gives EAL learners an opportunity to hear ideas and vocabulary from classmates before producing the final text.
You can also assign roles within the group:
Idea collector – suggests ideas
Vocabulary helper – finds useful words
Writer – records the sentences
Reader – reads the final text aloud
This helps ensure that everyone participates.
Scaffold the Language, Not Just the Task
A clear RAFT prompt does not automatically mean that an EAL learner has the English needed to complete it.
Before students begin writing, ask yourself:
What language will they need to succeed?
Provide support such as:
- vocabulary banks;
- labelled pictures;
- sentence starters;
- model texts;
- linking words;
- question prompts;
- writing frames;
- word walls;
- dictionaries;
- partner rehearsal.
Imagine the task is:
Role: a school student
Audience: the headteacher
Format: a letter
Topic: asking for a greener playground
A learner may understand the task but still need expressions such as:
I am writing because…
I would like to suggest…
At the moment…
It would be helpful if…
One advantage would be…
Thank you for considering my idea.
Giving students these language tools allows them to concentrate on communicating their ideas rather than becoming stuck trying to construct every sentence from the beginning.
As their English develops, gradually reduce the support.
Adapt the RAFT to Different Levels of English
The same RAFT can work with students at very different proficiency levels.
Consider:
Role: a character from a story
Audience: a friend
Format: a postcard
Topic: describing an adventure
Beginning learner
Students complete sentence frames:
Dear __________,
I am in __________.
I can see __________.
I feel __________.
See you soon!
Developing learner
Students write several connected sentences using a vocabulary bank.
More confident learner
Students write independently and include descriptions, feelings, details, and reasons.
Everyone is working with the same idea, but the language demand is adjusted.
This can make RAFT particularly useful in mixed-proficiency EAL classrooms.
Start With a Model
Before asking students to complete a RAFT task independently, create one together.
Think aloud as you write:
Who am I?
Who will read this?
Why am I writing?
What type of language should I use?
What information does my reader need?
You can also compare two short pieces of writing.
For example:
A text message to a friend:
Come to my party on Saturday! It starts at 3. Hope you can come!
A formal invitation:
You are invited to our school celebration on Saturday at 3 p.m. We would be delighted if you could join us.
Ask students:
What is different?
Why is the language different?
RAFT helps make an important writing idea visible: we change the way we communicate depending on who we are speaking to and why.
From Supported Writing to Independence
At first, the teacher might choose all four parts of the RAFT.
Later, students can make some choices themselves.
For example:
Teacher chooses: Topic
Students choose: Role, Audience, and Format
Eventually, learners can design complete RAFT prompts for themselves or for their classmates.
The progression might look like this:
Teacher models → class creates together → pairs complete a RAFT → students choose from options → students create their own
This gradual release can be particularly helpful for EAL learners.
The aim is not for students to depend permanently on writing frames and sentence starters.
The aim is to give them enough structure to participate successfully while they develop the language and confidence to write more independently.
Final Thoughts
Writing becomes easier when students know why they are writing and who they are writing for.
RAFT gives EAL learners a simple structure for answering those questions.
Instead of facing an empty page, students begin with a role, an audience, a format and a clear topic.
They can imagine themselves as a character, an animal, a scientist, a journalist or even a drop of water.
They can write letters, posters, diary entries, speeches, reports, instructions and advertisements.
Most importantly, they begin to see writing as communication rather than simply another classroom exercise.
With visual support, oral rehearsal, vocabulary banks, sentence starters and clear modelling, RAFT can help EAL learners move from supported sentences towards increasingly confident and purposeful writing.
Sometimes changing one writing prompt from:
“Write about the water cycle.”
to:
“You are a drop of water. Write a diary about your journey through the water cycle.”
is enough to give a learner something very important:
a reason to write.
Source inspiration: Reading Rockets, RAFT. The original strategy presents RAFT as a framework based on Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. The examples, EAL adaptations, scaffolding ideas, and classroom applications in this Love4English article have been developed specifically for English as an Additional Language learners.
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