In 1976, small special sections of English A (basic composition) were initiated within the English Department of the University of California at Davis to teach university-level writing skills to students in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), seventy-five per cent of whom speak English as a second language. This paper describes the design and implementation of the program and discusses the findings of a linguistic analysis that was conducted during the first quarter of the program. The study focuses on the following points: (1) identifying specific writing problems of students in EOP sections, particularly those problems that tend to disappear during ten weeks of intensive instruction and those that do not; (2) comparing the performances of students in EOP sections of English A with those of students in regular sections; (3) determining the relationship of writing errors to the first language, that is, the degree to which a student's first language or dialect interferes with his attempts to master standard English writing skills. The paper also includes statistical tables, a discussion of the results and a copy of the "Linguistic Errata Form Categories." (Author/AMH)