Introduction The users of English language as a second language especially in schools have a higher temptation of committing plagiarism. ESL students are also not very confident on their original English words especially when they use them in addressing a native English speaker. Some countries where these students come from like China and Japan put little or no emphasis on the need for proper citation in acknowledging the works of others. This may be the foundation of academic dishonesty among such students. According to (Dant, 1986, p.81) students in high schools are taught to copy without giving credit to the owner of a certain written work. There are also debates on what plagiarism is as others argue that there are no original words as all people use words learnt from others. Learning institutions that admit students who use English as their second language (ESL) should put in place the necessary measures to educate them on the evils of plagiarism besides showing them how to avoid it. This will benefit both the students and the schools in improving the learning standards. As such, the paper seeks to discuss the factors that predispose ESL students to be more involved in plagiarism. Reasons why ESL students are more likely to plagiarise ESL learners may be ignorant of plagiarism. According to (Piety, 2002, p.1), people have done plagiarism at some point unintentionally. Most of the people who find themselves in gross violation of plagiarism standards do not know whether they are plagiarising other peoples work or not. There are various reasons as to why students who use English as their second language are more likely to be involved in plagiarism. Although there is no conventional definition of plagiarism, it can be defined as the use of words or even phrases of another person and rewording thoughts of another person in a closely related manner. This means that students who use English as a second language may involve themselves in plagiarism without any intention. Some schools even go to the extent of encouraging students to copy others’ work from the textbooks in most Chinese schools, for instance. The use of other people’s work is also a show of learning and accomplishment in China (Buranen, 1999, p.69). Such students are ignorant of their plagiaristic actions. Since they have been taught to use other people’s work as a sign of having read the work, they use direct wordings of the writers to prove it. In some schools, teachers also demand direct wording of answers as they appear in certain books. Some academic discipline may also encourage ESL students to plagiarise. For example, science subjects require direct answers as they appear from the discipline masters. This implies a higher likelihood of plagiarism in the works of undergraduate students. Students that use English as the second language also face difficulties in distinguishing between plagiarisms and paraphrasing. The ESL students therefore plagiarise more due to confusion and variation in expectations. According to (Hall, 2005, p.12), plagiarism arises from confusion and different expectations. Confusion between plagiarism and paraphrasing will always exist. This means that, up to date, there is no clear distinction between the two. In many cases, students are taught to paraphrase original work when writing their academic papers and dissertations. To the ESL students who have language variety limitation, paraphrasing ma