Converging Public Speaking and College Composition ©
     
From the Preface


SPEAKING AND WRITING: A DIALECTICAL APPROACH

 Exploring, analyzing and understanding the dialectical relationship between the spoken and written word is the premise of this book. This premise affirms and acknowledges the rhetorical undergirding that is fairly consistent in public speaking and college writing courses. However, most university and college composition and public speaking programs do not teach explicitly this approach. Rather, rhetoric instruction is split: public speaking is taught by the Communication Department and argumentative writing is taught by the English Department.

This bifurcation has many organizational benefits, but this approach teaches students about discontinuity and dissonance and, for the most part, only emphasizes the differences between speaking and writing. There are, of course, important differences but such differences are studied with more intention in classes that examine speaking and writing together. Both disciplines, however, recognize the importance of the other. Composition teachers encourage and depend on a range of oral or speech-related activities in their classes, such as individual and group responses, class discussions, and oral reports.

These oral components are part of the norm of learning writing and strongly indicate an intuitive understanding that oral discussions can lead to an enhanced understanding of reading and writing. This social and rhetorical dynamic is universally understood as a fundamental part of learning writing. Additionally, speech teachers understand that writing plays an integral role in the production of speeches, so teachers often require evidence of preparation, such as annotated bibliographies and outlines or copies of note cards. Speech teachers often require their students to write analytical papers that demonstrate a rhetorical understanding of different speech acts.

 In many ways, there is great commonality in spirit and purpose related to teaching language in its wonderfully varied forms. Despite this encouraging and promising pedagogical practice of bringing together speaking and writing, the unfortunate result is there is no modern example of a textbook that offers a historical and rhetorical approach to teaching speech and writing together. Because our project bridges the institutional divide between public speaking and college composition, our book may appeal to the rhetoric and composition instructor looking for a modern context to teaching writing and argument, or a speech teacher looking for alternative content beyond the standard technique-based textbook. However, this book is dedicated to those small but growing number of faculty who opt to teach speaking and writing together.

More from the Preface: Pedagogy of Oral and Written Communication

The Speaking/Writing Connection: A Rhetoric

David Ryan and Fredel Wiant

From the Preface | Table of Contents | Review

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© 2007
248 pages, softbound/perfect binding
ISBN 0-9765684-9-7
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