A program of carefully controlled and guided writing can be an effective tool to help English as a second language (ESL) students overcome the difficulties they still have with basic English structure, as well as to expand their linguistic boundaries. Tailored to the needs and problems of adult immigrants reading at a level between grades 4 and 6, the program content focuses on features occurring in everyday language. Two basic types of composition are practiced throughout the 16-week course: rewriting a model passage and writing a precis. The term "controlled" is used to describe the kind of composition produced by following very specific instructions. Students rewrite model passages of from 200 to 300 words, making certain modifications specified in the instructions, and they produce precis from short passages by answering a series of specific comprehension questions designed to elicit simple, compound, and complex sentences. Exercises at the sentence level, such as expanding and combining sentences, ease ESL learners into the writing of continuous prose. Finally, guided composition leads ESL learners to the paragraph level so that they will be able to write a unified piece of continuous prose that conveys information in acceptable English. Its four steps involve sentence level writing, oral preparation, actual writing of the assignment, and correction of errors and rewriting. (JL)