On the basis that English as a Second Language (ESL) writers encounter cross-cultural interference when dealing with the five-paragraph essay, a study was conducted to examine the writing of three ESL writers in a basic writing class. The case study of one of the subjects, a woman from Hong Kong, focused on her comments relating to the structure of one of her essays, as well as her readers' responses to that essay. The writer's responses indicated that she had a clear idea of the five-paragraph essay, and that knowledge influenced her decisions as she wrote. The readers comments, however, indicated that while the student's essay satisfied the criteria for the five-paragraph essay, it did not meet the readers' needs in terms of discussing ideas in depth. (HTH)