Preface

This book would not have been possible without the generous help and consistent support from a number of people.First and foremost,I'm greatly indebted to my parents.Their unwavering love,support and patience have allowed me to come this far.I would also like to thank Deng Pan,my husband,for his incredible patience,care and good cheer all the time.He has been a constant believer in me,who always encourages me when things looked their bleakest and reminds me that there is,indeed,life beyond research.

Specially,I would like to express my gratitude to Prof.Barley Mak from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Prof.David Coniam from The Education University of Hong Kong.Discussions with them have been my intellectual challenge and enjoyment.Barley's standards for scholarship have made me the researcher I'm today and given me the confidence to continue in academia.I'd like to express my special appreciation to Dave for his patient support and professional guidance at all stages of my research as well as the generous time spent reading my drafts.Also,I'd like to convey my heartfelt thanks to Prof.Yan Jin from Shanghai Jiao Tong University for providing me with constructive comments on the draft and the suggestions regarding my future academic development.

In addition,I am indebted to a number of people for their advice and assistance in various ways.They are Prof.Yan Zhou from Beijing Foreign Studies University,Prof.Zheng Zhang from Beijing Normal University,Prof.Li Lin and Dr.Linlin Cui from Capital Normal University.I'm also grateful to the pre-service EFL teachers and the raters who gave so generously of their time in taking part in two phases of the research.

Friends play a really important role in accompanying me during my journey of writing.Specially,I'm grateful to Dr.Tan Jin from Sun Yat-sen University for his professional assistance in reviewing and commenting on my work and the wonderful morning teas.I am hoping the collaboration can still be continued in the future.

To all these people,I dedicate this book.