A principal cause of the seeming "foreignness" in the compositions of English as a second language (ESL) university students is discussed, and an approach to correcting the problem is suggested. It is asserted that the English language compositions of ESL students reflect native language rhetorical norms which are culturally based. Discourse bloc analysis is recommended as a tool for teaching the rhetorical norms of English expository prose. Written discourse patterns in a given language can be analyzed, characterized, and taught. University ESL curricula can provide students with the means of categorizing English expository prose on a continuum from acceptable to unacceptable which will ultimately lead to a reduction of the foreignness in their essays. Discourse bloc analysis involves the graphic depiction of errors in units of meaning, usually paragraphs, known as discourse blocs. The semantic relatedness of sentences within a bloc is depicted by block signals, devices which connect the sentences and contribute to the necessary linearity of discourse. (Author/RW)