Chapter2　Writing Proficiency of Pre-service EFL Teachers

2.1 Introduction

This chapter has two major objectives.First,it sets out to examine writing proficiency of pre-service EFL teachers.The writing proficiency of pre-service EFL teachers is situated in the context of the professional preparation of English teachers.Current qualification/requirements regarding language proficiency in both native and non-native speaking settings are discussed.Following this,the construct inherent in requirements/standards of writing proficiency for pre-service EFL teachers,which has received little attention in the literature,is discussed.Third,a list of discourse features is proposed and its relevance to the analysis of writing performance of pre-service EFL teachers is evaluated.

The second aim of this chapter is to arrive at the discourse analytic measures for the selected features,which can be used as a basis for the empirical investigation of the writing performance of pre-service EFL teachers.Relevant literature on the operationalization and measures of each of these features is discussed.A list of discourse analytic measures is then chosen,which will be further explored and employed in Study One.