1.1
Research Background and Purpose

Regarding the factors which influence L2 writing，Brown（1994）and Littlewood（1998）ever mentioned that “language learners’errors come from systematic and non-systematic sources”．Systematic sources mainly refer to interlingual errors of interference from the native language and intralingual errors within the target language，while non-systematic sources focus on the psycholinguistic cognitive strategies，sociolinguistic context of communication and countless affective variables（Littlewood，1998）．Therefore，a comprehensive understanding oflearners’motivation，writing attitudes，and language level through committing errors is crucial for second language learning（Takac＆Berka，2014）．Chinese students in one university are equipped with similar teaching environment and facilities，also with similar scores enrolled，but their English proficiency and application of English language vary from each other．With the development of globalization and the opening of China，the enhancement of English writing abilities has become a key objective for university students．

However，English writing teaching is considered a fruitless job even though the administrators attach great importance to it．According to the official statistics issued by College English Test Band4（CET-4）and College English Test Band6（CET-6）—two official standardized exams implemented in 1987，more than half of non-English major students at the top Chinese universities failed the writing section of the test（Qiao＆Yu，2017）．The test results of non-English majors at average universities were even less impressive．Even the writing performance of English majors on the same national exam were judged to be below satisfactory．Thus，this question attracted much attention from teachers，that is，is it worth spending so much time on teaching English writing？

With the development of globalization，China inevitably participates in international exchanges in the fields of economy，science，culture，technology，and many other aspects．To meet the demand of Chinese development，competent talents are the most important part to stimulate the academic professions．Among these，English in higher education has become an important discipline in China．Education Ministry of PRC issued a series of policies to foster talent training improvement．The latest version is The Guidelines on College English Teaching（2022）（hereinafter referred to Guidelines ）and The English Syllabus for Non-English Majors（Ministry of Education，MoE，2022）．

At present，college English is still a compulsory program for universities all over the country，even different universities with different requirements．College English courses in top level universities，like Tsinghua University，Peking University，etc．，usually provide some professional lessons for their non-English majors，like English Linguistics ， English and American Literature ， Chinese-English Translation ，etc．The hypothesis based on this policy is that those students have grasped the basic information of English language，and they all got quite high score in their English exam in National Entrance Examination．Hence，it is unnecessary to open the general English course for them．The courses usually opened for English majors can broaden and deepen their vision in English learning．The rest of universities usually adopt such a policy of college English teaching，that is，students receive 3 hours of instruction in English per week during a 16-week course． New College English Course Textbook and New Horizon College English are two popular textbooks adopted by most universities in China for college English course in speaking，listening，reading and writing．Course texts，like New College English Course Textbook series，are expected to provide instructional material for a one-semester course covering 1.5 hours per week of reading and writing plus 1.5 per week of listening and speaking．Course textbooks are different from one university to another．In some universities，students are required to take four semesters of College English courses while others take two semesters and the rest two semesters with selective English courses．Language proficiency for non-English majors is measured by CET-4 and CET-6，like we have mentioned before，these are two official standardized examinations in China．The objective of college non-English major is to earn the certificates of CET-4 or CET-6 because many universities regard these two certificates as the necessity for their graduation qualification and employment prospects．

Classroom size is usually large in most Chinese universities because the ratio of students and teachers is large．Especially since the year of 1998，Chinese government issued the policy of “increasing enrollment of college students”，so there are 45 to 60 students in one class on average．Despite the large class size，college English teaching also made great progress over the past two decades．However，the traditional teaching methods still dominate English classes，which is also challenged by social and international development．Besides，lots of aspects are neglected in English teaching process．For example，most teachers still neglect student-centered learning，or students’ability to apply the knowledge．Meanwhile，teachers are used to control the whole teaching process but neglect releasing openness-centered teaching and learning．Students’uniqueness is also omitted，and little inspiration and exploration students get from English class（Liu＆Wu，2008）．

To deal with the challenges mentioned above，administrators，experts，researchers，and teachers have tried their best to improve the condition by carrying out many kinds of teaching reforms across the country．These reforms include a mixed-teaching model，flip class，Massive Open Online Courses（MOOCs），and Production Oriented Approach（POA）．However，these new teaching methods failed to deal with the present problems in college English teaching and were also questioned by many researchers and experts（Hu，2015；Zheng＆Zhang，2014）．The above analysis on such issues suggested that even though English is highly valued by Chinese students，teachers and experts，the problems which are grounded in English teaching and learning are still lingering．

College English writing has an embarrassing situation in college English teaching，because for most universities，there is no fixed time for students to learn and practice．Writing is usually regarded as a selective course provided for college students．However，the EFL writing curriculum is still influenced by national guidelines/syllabus．The guidelines/syllabus of 2022 for college English writing part stated that the students should be able to describe experiences，emotions，events，and perceptions in English．Students should also be capable of writing short passages or general topics or outlines with complete language structure，clear ideas，appropriate words，and coherent semantics（MoE，2022）．CET-4 and CET-6 still have the required standard for English writing，such as in CET-4，it is said that the students should write a relevant composition on a given topic with at least 120 but no more than 180 words．And of course，CET-6 has a higher requirement than CET-4，not only in the word number but the word choice，the coherence of the passage and the overall level of the compositions．

With the development of technology，more and more online marking systems for English writing have flourished，such as Grammarly . com and Pigai . org ．It is said that there are more than 400 universities that have adopted this kind of online system．The reasons to adopt this is due to the large size of English class and the overall students numbers English teachers should take．Taking my university as an example，English teachers should take four or five classes，with an average of 50 students in one class，and there are more than 200 students for each teacher．Apparently，teachers need much time and energy to accomplish their task，so online checking system is created and applied．With this system，students can upload their compositions online and get their scores and feedback from the Internet．Definitely，online writing checking system is also questioned by students，teachers，and experts since its creation．This kind of system has its disadvantages and advantages．On the one hand，it relieves teachers of tons of students’writing compositions，and students can upload their compositions repeatedly．The system will supply feedback repeatedly，too．From this feedback，students can correct their improper expressions and upload the revised compositions．On the other hand，teachers cannot see the overall view of students’compositions．Thus，it is impossible to adjust their writing strategies timely．What’s worse，these programs can only identify spelling errors and grammatical mistakes．The content，structure or any other elements of assessing a good writing cannot be recognized and checked．Last but not least，without feedback from their teachers for a long time，students’interest in English writing might be impaired，which is also a problem worth noticing．

Under the guidance of the syllabus and guidelines，non-English majors only receive writing instruction during their first two years of undergraduate study．However，writing skills development is involved in other broader compulsory courses，like listening，speaking，grammar，vocabulary，and reading．The courses are designed to improve students’overall English skills．The time allocated to English writing depends on the teachers’individual choice，and there is no equivalent standardized syllabus．Therefore，according to English teaching reforms，some universities encourage teachers to open the optional writing course for students who want to enhance their writing abilities．

Regarding the direction of English writing，most teachers like to teach according to the CET-4 composition reference books，which，they think，can help their students to pass the test．CET-4 composition has its form and model．Thus，students tend to memorize the model-led essays before the exam．As a result，students acquired the pattern with highly structured paragraphs and passages with fixed opening and concluding sentences．Chinese college English teachers often noticed similar sentences or structures when marking student compositions．In such situation，statistics showed that most students fail the writing section in CET-4（Cai＆ Fang，2006；Deng，2002）．

Many studies conducted in Chinese L2 writing suggest it is not optimistic on the current state of English writing instruction in Chinese universities．Most students report that they have low interest and low satisfaction towards inefficient English writing instructions and learning outcomes（Feng＆ Zheng，2016；Wang，Xuan＆ Chen，2006；Zhang，2008；Zhao，Hao＆ Gao，2010）．One possible reason for such phenomenon is that test-oriented writing teaching and learning．The focus on test preparation might exert a negative impact on helping students with an active role in writing．Because the writing should be acquired in a natural way，from surface to deep root，to explore the writing interest．Such a writing acquisition model explodes students’exploration in English writing，and provides a shortcut for English writing．Eventually，students lose interest in various writing styles and are reluctant to write at all．

Reichelt（2009）argued that environmental factors significantly shape Foreign Language（FL）writing instruction based on what he investigated in China，Japan，and Spain．Therefore，non-linguistic factors，like motivation and writing attitudes，also play very important roles in fostering students’L2 writing． bLOkVCZV4Gaxda90xmx7MW7emG3kM2FT9ZIGv32vMBqrYkT6uzyZnFIM5ut1GNxT