The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Recitation \Rec`i*ta"tion\ (r[e^]s`[i^]*t[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [L.
   recitatio: cf. F. r['e]citation. See Recite.]
   1. The act of reciting; rehearsal; repetition of words or
      sentences. --Hammond.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The delivery before an audience of something committed to
      memory, especially as an elocutionary exhibition; also,
      that which is so delivered.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Colleges and Schools) The rehearsal of a lesson by pupils
      before their instructor.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

recitation
    n 1: written matter that is recited from memory
    2: a public instance of reciting or repeating (from memory)
       something prepared in advance; "the program included songs
       and recitations of well-loved poems" [syn: recitation,
       recital, reading]
    3: a regularly scheduled session as part of a course of study
       [syn: course session, class period, recitation]
    4: systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes
       perfect" [syn: exercise, practice, drill, practice
       session, recitation]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

69 Moby Thesaurus words for "recitation":
   address, after-dinner speech, allocution, assignment, chalk talk,
   debate, declamation, diatribe, discourse, disquisition, eulogy,
   exercise, exhortation, exposition, filibuster, forensic,
   forensic address, formal speech, funeral oration, harangue,
   homework, homily, hortatory address, inaugural, inaugural address,
   instruction, invective, jeremiad, lecture, lecture-demonstration,
   lesson, monologue, moral, moral lesson, morality, moralization,
   object lesson, oration, pep talk, performance, peroration,
   philippic, pitch, preachment, prepared speech, prepared text,
   public speech, reading, recital, sales talk, salutatory,
   salutatory address, say, screed, sermon, set speech, set task,
   skull session, speech, speechification, speeching, talk, talkathon,
   task, teaching, tirade, valediction, valedictory,
   valedictory address