English as a second dialect (ESD) students are those who have developed linguistic patterns from their parents and other members of their cultural milieu. Since the ESD students seldom find themselves in a setting that demands the use of standard English, they come to higher education with a well developed linguistic pattern that is alien to academia. To teach composition in standard English, the teacher must convey to the students that their present language structure is a legitimate and viable one, but that academia and the business world require standard English. With the ESD student, the initial emphasis in teaching composition should be on verbalization in standard English, and not on the organization of ideas themselves. Some prewriting techniques that can be used include establishing an adequate oral background in standard English through role-playing and translating or rewriting the sentences so generated into standard English. In order to help the students to understand clearly what is meant by writing in standard English, they should be asked to write on the same topic in their regular dialect during one session, and at a subsequent date write another essay on the same topic in standard English. To teach standard English composition to ESD students, then, one must recognize the existence of dialect, distinguish the dialect from standard English, make students aware of the underlying conscious state of standard English, present opportunity for oral practice in standard English, indicate that writing is different from oral discourse, and emphasize writing and proofreading in standard English. (HOD)