WRITING 5

USING R.A.F.T. AS A STRATEGY TO TEACH WRITING

ADVERTISEMENT FOR SECOND GRADE OF JUNIOR
HIGH SCHOOL
It is submitted to fulfill the assignment of Writing 5

Created by :

NIKEN ANASTASIA KUSUMA WARDANI

(2223110660)
5A

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SULTAN AGENG TIRTAYASA UNIVERSITY
2013

I.

INTRODUCTION
One criteria of success in learning English is to be able to communicate to

other people by using English. One of the form of communication is writing.

Teaching writing, as one of language skills, becomes challenge for teacher. For some
reasons, students find the difficulities to write their thoughts and emotions based on
the purpose. It is also difficult as a teacher to guide them to write. As stated by
Gebhard (2006:211) that writing deals with the choice of words, the use of
appropriate structure (grammar, subject, verb, tenses, etc), the words order (syntax),
punctuation, spelling, and the organization of ideas to make it coherence and cohesive
which make writing skill is complicated. Based on the observation, one of the
students difficulties in learning English for junior high school in second grade is
writing functional texts. One of the functional texts that is learned by the students is
advertisement
As stated by the teacher of second grade in Junior High School 1 Ciruas, that
the main problem in the wrting functional text, especially advertisement, is the
difficulty in developing the idea instead of the vocabularies and grammar. She said
that many students cannot write the advertisement because they do not understand
how to arrange their ideas into a good and targeted advertisement. Based on the
interview with the teacher, she used to help the students in wrting advertisement only
by giving them the example of the text then she asked them to make their own
advertisement based on the example which has been given. The weakness from this
strategy is that the students get the limitation of their writing style because they only

focus on the example, without knowing the appropriate guidance to write creatively.
They do not know how to organize their idea.
A teacher needs to know how to help them solve their problems in writing
creatively. In order to teaching writing, as stated by Brown (1994:10) that there are
some stages in writing activity, they are prewriting stages; writing stages which
include generating ideas, organizing ideas, and writing the first draft; and rewriting,
that consist of two separate processes they are revising and editing. The teacher can
use a strategy based on those stages to encourage them to write. It must be interesting
and easy to be applied by the students.
Actually, there are many strategy in teaching writing functional text, one of
them is using R.A.F.T. strategy. According to Ganske and Fisher (2010:125)
R.A.F.T. can encourage students to write a creative product to express their new
knowledge accordance with the topic, purpose, target, and the audience of the text.
R.A.F.T. stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. This strategy guide the
students to focus on the position of themselves as a writer, the audience of their
purpose, the format of writing, and the topic they will write about.
This paper will describe about a) the definition of writing, b) teaching writing,
c) how R.A.F.T is used by the teacher as a strategy to help the students write
advertisement text, and d) the advantages of using R.A.F.T. It is also expected to help
them in writing advertisement by considering the role, topic, format, audience, and
purpose of the text.

II.
2.1

DISCUSSION
Teaching Writing
2.1.1 Definition of Writing
There are several definition of writing stated by many experts. Lannon

(1989:9) views writing as the process of transforming the material discovered by

research inspiration, accident, trial or error, or whatever into a message with a
definite meaning that writing is a process of deliberate decision. According to Nunan
(2003:23), writing is both process and product. The writer imagines, organizes, drafts,
edits, reads, and rereads.
Another definition stated by Scholes and Comley (1985:9) that writing is a
way of thinking as well as a means of communication. They also say that writing is
not simply frozen speech. It means that if you write a message for others to receive,
they have to read it. They have to speak to themselves in their own voice though not
in their own words.
According to Hoshima and Hogue (1999:2) writing is never a one-step action;
it is a process that has several steps. In other word, writing has more than one step.
The steps in writing process are prewriting, planning, writing and revising draft, and
writing the final copy to hand in.

2.1.2 Types of Writing

In teaching writing to junior high school based on Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan
Pendidikan 2006, the students are supposed to be able to produce two kinds of texts,

they are functional texts (announcement, short message, advertisement, memo, label,
sign, notice, and invitation) and monologue texts (procedure, descriptive, recount,
narrative, and report). It can be said that teaching writing to junior high school is
more focus to functional texts rather than monologue texts. In this session, the writer
will explain about several kinds of short functional texts, they are; announcement,
memo, advertisement, and invitation.
1. Announcement
Announcement is a public statement that is usually formal and has a
specific purpose containing information about an event that has happened
or is going to happen. This type of short functional text is commonly
found in the public place or media, respectively, such as at school (on an
announcement board), a newspaper, magazine, a window of a shop, a city
park, etc. Announcement commonly has the following features.
a. The sentences are written concisely.
b. The information is written completely and clearly, so that the
readers can understand it quickly and easily.
c. It contains type of event, date and time, place, and contact
person or address.
2. Memo
Memo, commonly sent to colleagues and co-workers, is derived from
the word memorandum from the Middle English word 'memorandus'
meaning 'to be remembered'. They differ from letters as they are more

informal and do not require a salutation or a closure statement as in formal

letter. This type of text is used to convey some basic information,
particularly to persuade action, to issue a directive, or to provide a report.
Newman (2009) suggests the following general guidelines to write a
memo.
a. The purpose of the memo is clearly stated in the subject line and in
the first paragraph.
b. The language should be professional, simple and polite.
c. Sentences are written shortly.
d. Using bullets if a lot of information is conveyed.
e. Proofreading before sending.
f. The memo is addressed to the person(s) who will take action on
the subject, and CC those who need to know about the action.
g. Additional information is attached rather than placed in the body
of the memo.
3. Advertisement
The essential point is that it functions to inform and draw attention,
and it can be stated that an advertisement is information which functions
to persuade people. Thus, advertisement can be defined as typical
information used to persuade audience (readers or listeners) to do
something or to take some action. This type of short functional text
usually contains the name of a product or service and the explanation of

how the product or service benefits the audience. Language use is very
crucial in every advertisement since it greatly helps customers to identify
products and remember them effortlessly. Although it is commonly argued
that visual content and design play very powerful roles in advertisements,
the use of language cannot be neglected.
4. Invitation
An invitation is a type of letter which is written to invite a guest to a
particular event or celebration. The present and the future tenses are used
within the invitation letter. The former conveys information about the
event and the latter ensures that the guest is going to attend. Invitation is
categorized differently. Some categorize it into a formal and informal
invitation while others categorize it into a business and friendly invitation.
The purposes of writing the invitation determine the types of the letters.
For example, an invitation letter inviting peers or clients to an event
hosted by the company or inviting persons for an important meeting is a
formal letter. Those letters are categorized as business invitation letters
and are written in a formal tone. Invitation letters sent to friends and
family members can be less formal. This type of letter is sent for a social
function such as such as birthday, marriage, baby shower ceremonies, etc.

2.1.3 How to Teach Writing

Teaching English writing in the junior high school is based on phases stated
by Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan in Permendiknas No.41 Tahun 2007 (Standar
Proses) that there are three phases for teaching activities:
1. Pre teaching activities, the teacher prepares and motivates the students to
learn. After that, teacher build students background knowledge about the
lesson includes giving model to the teaching objective.
2. Whilst-teaching

activities,

including

exploration,

elaboration

and

confirmation.
3. Post- teaching activities. In this phase, the teacher and the students conclude
the lesson well individually or cooperatively. At the end of the lesson, the
teacher should convey lesson plan for next meeting in order that the students
can prepare themselves at home.
Teacher must be aware that teaching writing is not an easy matter to do. For
students who learn English as a foreign language, it will be more difficult to express
their feelings throughout their writing. Both teacher and student need to know that
writing must convey a message with a meaning. Teacher also needs to work
continually to aid the students in their search for fulfillment as writers, as stated by
Graham & Harris (1993) cited in H (2011).
Harmer (1991) stated that before making a plan, a teacher needs to know
several things. This includes knowledge of how to teach, including ideas for different
activities, and knowledge of useful technique. Being an English teacher who teach
writing means that the teacher have to know the order of writing process and be

consider with the process of teaching writing. It is supported by Hairston (1982) cited
in Gebhard (2006:211) statement that teacher cannot teach students to write by
looking only at what they have written. Teacher also have to understand what goes on
during the act of writing. If teacher wants to affect its outcome, so the teacher has to
do the hard thing; examine the intangible process, rather than the easy thing; and
evaluate the tangible product. The teachers roles in teaching writing are being a
facilitator, helper, motivator, consultant, prompter, advisor and only then assessor.
Those roles are purposed to help learners by organizing writing as a series of stages.
First of all, students need to feel the necessity of writing. Teacher have to guide the
students to find out their purpose of writing by using these questions: Why should I
write? What is the point of writing?
Ur (2002:169) assured that the writing process is the starting point for
developing students writing abilities, teachers must recognize that students need a
range of writing experiences to develop themselves as writers. She also stated that
students learn to write through writing. One of our main tasks then, as teachers, is to
get the students to write a lot, thinking, as they do so and learning from their own
writing experience. In addition, in order to become good at writing, learners need
concentration, instruction, practice, and patience. The teachers task is to assist her
learners to gain control over the written word.

2.2

The Implementation of Using R.A.F.T. to Teach Writing

Advertisement

2.2.1 Definition of R.A.F.T

Hairston in Gebhard (2006:211) said that the teacher should understand the
process of how their preparation until they produce their writing. The preparation can
be done by applying R.A.F.T strategy to help them express the meaning in a clear
way. Based on the statement from Alisa and Rosa (2013), R.A.F.T. is first introduced
by Santa and Havens in 1995. The acronym stands for Role, Audience, Format, and
Topic. It means that the students have to consider in drafting their works. First, they
need to consider what is the role that they author will be when writing the text.
Second, they have to consider their audience that they will address. After that, they
should think what the format of their writing is. The last one, they also need to think
the topic for their writing.

R.A.F.T. activity infuses a writing assignment with

imagination, creativity, and motivation. The strategy involves writing from a

viewpoint other than that of a student, to an audience other than a standard
assignment or written answer to questions.

2.2.2 How to Apply R.A.F.T. in Teaching Writing

In order to use R.A.F.T. strategy in the classroom, there are some steps and
activities that the teacher should be consider on. The steps of using R.A.F.T. in
teaching writing advertisement as stated by Alisa and Rosa (2013) are as follow.
The first one is about teachers preparation. The teacher have to prepare the
materials, media, and lesson plan before coming to the classroom and deliver the

material. The preparation of those things is very important in order to do the teaching
and learning process run well.
The second one is the teaching process. The teaching process is divided into
three steps, they are pre-teaching activity, whilst teaching activities, and post teaching
activity. In the pre-teaching activity, teacher prepares the students both
psychologically and physically to involve in the learning process. The teacher may
begin the lesson by greeting to attract the students attention and showing them the
advertisement video. After that, teacher may introduce them with R.A.F.T. strategy
and tell them about the objectives materials that will be learned.
In whilst teaching activities, there are three activities that should be done in
the classroom, they are:
1. Exploration
In exploration activity, the teacher checks how far students knowledge
about advertisement text by showing them two different posters which sell the same
product. Then teacher may ask them these question:

What is the first poster about?

What about the second poster?

Is there any differences?

What did the posters say?

Then the teacher should explain the communicative purpose of the

advertisement text continued by explain about the language features of the text.
2. Elaboration

In this activity, teacher divides the students into several groups and asks
them to structure their writing based on these elements.

Role: Who are you as writer?

Audience: Who will read your writing?

Format: What kind of form will it take?

Topic: What will the advertisement about?

For example, the teacher tells that she or he is going to write an

advertisement about milk. To explain why a writer needs to consider R.A.F.T when
she or he writes, the teacher shows two kinds of R.A.F.T in the table and
differentiates one of the components. Here, the teacher makes the same role, format
and topic but differentiates the audience. The teacher also lists some vocabularies that
may be used in the format table.
Idea:

Selling
milk
Milk
seller

Teenagers

Advertisement
Using

Drink
attractive milk

sentence
Using

without
suggestive worrying

expression
Vocabularies: grow up,
need, fat, let, drink,

the fat

available.
Milk

Old

Advertisement

seller

people

Using

Drink
attractive milk

sentence
Using

without
suggestive worrying

expression
Vocabularies:

the fat
protect,

strength, get, drink.

After displaying a complete R.A.F.T example in front of the class, the

teacher discuss the key elements together. Next, she shows the students how to write
it into an advertisement text based on the structure of advertisement text, R.A.F.T and
the vocabularies given.
3. Confirmation
Teacher may ask students to make one R.A.F.T. table based on their own
idea. After that, every member in each group writes the advertisement individually
based on the table. The students can show and read their advertisement in front of the
classroom.
The last activity is post teaching. In this stage, the teacher gives feedback
to the students such as giving reward to each group which can make the
advertisement well then teacher should conclude and summarizes the lesson together
with the students.

2.2.3 The Advantages of Using R.A.F.T. in Teaching Writing

There are a lot of advantages of using R.A.F.T strategy in increasing and
motivating students to write at junior high school. They are:
a. R.A.F.T strategy will help students to understand their role as writer, the
audience they will address, the variety format and the topic of their writing.
b. This strategy provides opportunities for the students to demonstrate their
understanding of a topic or subject through a writing experience that helps
them to think about subject and communicate their understanding of it in
creative and interesting way.
c. This strategy can be great pre-writing tool because it encourages students to
organize their thoughts and brings life and creativity their writing.
d. After finished R.A.F.T assignment, the students will more proficient to
develop their style of writing.
e. At the end, this strategy increases the students motivation in writing, because
when the students can keep their attention and they are interested with the
writing activity, they automatically will increase their motivation in learning
English.

f. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

a. Conclusion

Based on the discussion in the previous chapters, it can be concluded that the
teacher should consider to the strategy used in teaching writing. R.A.F.T strategy can
be chosen for the alternative strategy to teach writing skill especially in writing
advertisement text. R.A.F.T. can help the students to think creatively about the
various topics, the format of the text, specific audience that will read their
advertisement, and about their role as a writer. R.A.F.T. also suitable with the concept
of writing itself as a process and product. Using R.A.F.T. strategy means that teacher
guide the students in a process to convey the message of the advertisement text and
helps them in producting the text. The process of teaching and learning advertisement
text can be held well if the teacher can guide the students to write advertisement text
using R.A.F.T. through the good order of teaching activity.

b. Suggestion
In order to reach the goal of teaching and learning writing especially
advertisement text, there are some suggestions for the teacher. First, the teacher
should be creative in selecting and using the interesting and appropriate technique to
the students; second, the teacher should know what the common problem that is faced
by the students to decide which technique will be used to solve that problem; third,
the teachers should use real object and media that closely related to students life;
fourth, the teacher should be creative in organizing a good teaching and learning
process.

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Accessed

on

October 18, 2013

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