ABSTRACT
Delivery was banished to places beyond the English classroom, that is, to speech and theater departments, and stayed in exile until the contemporary writing process evolved. Nonetheless, aspects of delivery can be seen in a variety of practices currently used in writing classes: debates, role-playing, town meetings, and simply reading aloud to peers, teachers, or both. This chapter discusses the areas of current writing theory and practices, along with some new approaches to theory that have not yet been applied to the writing classroom. Although many contemporary theorists advocate oral discourse in a writing class, Robert Ochsner points out the dangers of this practice. He believes that speech and prose differ in their production and delivery and admonishes that it is important for students to understand the problem of using a speech-based rhythm for generating writing. Some theorists have praised the value of speaking in a writing class, and many contemporary classrooms make use of speaking as an invention tool.
