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Five research questions are proposed to fulfill the research purpose at two perspectives—theoretical and pedagogical aspects．To be concrete，this study adopted many theoretical frameworks in order to ensure the scientificity of the research．A framework of categorizing errors proposed by James（1998）is adopted to find out the patterns of errors committed by Chinese L2 writers while the framework of procedure of error analysis proposed by James（1998）is employed to conduct the procedure of error analysis．Interlanguage hypothesis developed by Selinker（1972）explained the linguistic reasons to cause these errors，while a questionnaire cited from many scholars（Alivernini＆ Lucid，2008；Payne，2012；You＆ D · o · rnyei，2016；You，D · o · rnyei＆Csizér，2016）examined the relationship between writing errors with writing attitudes，writing difficulties and corrective feedback．Those are quite important factors influencing students’writing errors．Regarding semi-structured interview part，the methods and the procedure are mainly quoted from the scholar Yang（2009）who provided an overall methodology in qualitative study，in which semi-structured interview is usually adopted because of its flexibility in exploring deeper reasons after conducting the questionnaire．
As we have mentioned in the previous section，many scholars（Corder，1974；Ellis，1995；James，1998）developed their own ways to categorize the writing errors．Compared with other scholars’framework，the categorization ofJames（1998）in writing errors is quite clear and the error patterns fit to what these Chinese L2 learners committed in their writing．Therefore，this framework is quoted as the main structure of this study in descriptive part of writing errors．This categorization consists of five main categories and 25 sub-categories，which refers to different layers of the passage，from single words to sentences．Thus，this kind of category in writing errors can help this study to investigate the patterns of writing errors in two levels．
In addition，this study will employ a questionnaire which is composed of many other scholars’questionnaires（Alivernini＆ Lucid，2008；Payne，2012；You＆D · o · rnyei，2016；You，D · o · rnyei＆Csizér，2016）．The purpose of this questionnaire is to investigate the relationship between writing errors and writing motivation，writing attitudes，writing difficulties and corrective feedback．To investigate the scientificity of the questionnaire，a pilot study is conducted to categorize the factors with the participants from a normal university．After the pilot study，this questionnaire will be more suitable for the participants，which can conclude with the accurate statistics．
Last but not least，to investigate deeper about the writing errors and the possible causes to commit these errors，a semi-structured interview will be adopted to achieve the above goals．The semi-structured interview is widely used in qualitative research（Edwards＆ Janet，2013）．Qualitative methods，such as interview，are believed to provide a “deeper” understanding of social phenomena than would be obtained from purely quantitative methods，such as questionnaires（Silverman，2020）．In semi-structured interview，the interviewee can express their ideas or opinions freely，and ask the interviewer questions during the interview．They could more easily supply the reasons for their answers during the interview（Keller＆ Katharina，2020）．The flexibility in semi-structured interviews makes it possible to cross-check and validate information from previous interviews（Bryman＆Bell，2015）．
Based on the theoretical framework and empirical studies discussed above，five research questions were formulated to guide the investigation into Chinese L2 writer’s error types，error analysis and its causes：
Research question one ：How many errors of each type occur in each group？What are the patterns of errors in Chinese L2 learners’writing？And what are the differences among proficiency level groups？
Research question two ：What is the relationship between Chinese L2 learners’writing errors and their writing proficiency？
Research question three ：To what extent are linguistic factors（interlingual or intralingual transfer）responsible for Chinese L2 learners’writing errors？Is there a difference among different proficiency groups？
Research question four ：What is the relationship between Chinese L2 learners’writing errors and writing attitudes，writing difficulties and corrective feedback？What are the differences among different proficiency groups？
Research question five ：What any other particular variables can affect Chinese L2 learners’writing errors？
Research question one is the descriptive analysis on the collected compositions，which will identify the total numbers of writing errors of each year，the number of errors in each type，the writing patterns of writing errors，and the differences of writing errors in three proficiency groups．Through the first question we can have an overview of the writing errors in the past eight years in Chinese L2 writing，which can provide implications to avoid such errors as much as possible and for the future teaching．
Research question two tries to explore the relationship between Chinese L2 learners’writing errors and their writing proficiency．The results will show to what degree students’writing errors are related to their writing proficiency．Meanwhile，the results will verify the previous literature we will review in Chapter 2．
Research question three intends to investigate the causes of writing errors，which is very important for teaching implications．If students’writing errors are caused mainly by interlingual transfer，the differences between Chinese and English language should be revealed and taught in English class，which can raise students’awareness of differences of two languages．Otherwise，if intralingual transfer is responsible for the main writing errors in Chinese L2 writing，the concrete analysis of English rules or more practices are needed to make students familiar with these rules．
Research question four examines the relationship between Chinese L2 writing errors and writing attitudes，writing difficulties and corrective feedback．Non-linguistic reasons can still be the main causes to writing errors，which implies that when teachers conduct their teaching，students’learning attitudes，the difficulties of composition and the corrective feedback should be taken into account．Thus，students’writing proficiency can be improved to a quite high degree．
Research question five explores the other particular variables that can affect Chinese L2 learners’writing performance，indirectly affecting the writing errors in their composition，such as teachers，teaching material and the school administrations．These elements will be concluded from the semi-structured interview，which also provides effective suggestions to improve students’writing performance．