The study investigates writing proficiency in preservice English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers characterized by selected discourse features inherent in their writing performance. Eighty-one preservice EFL teachers from a key normal university in the Chinese mainland participated in the study. The discourse-analytic approach was adopted to provide evidence underlying teachers' writing performance. The results suggest that 11 out of 19 features selected are informative of preservice EFL teachers' writing performance in that they can successfully differentiate EFL teachers at various levels of proficiency. These findings have implications for the professional preparation and development of preservice EFL teachers and provide insight into the development of language assessment for this population.