This study examined the perspective of a cohort of 60 Chinese EFL pre-service teachers with regards to microteaching. Reflective paper writing was employed to explore the student teachers' perceptions of the experience. The study results show that microteaching was a useful tool for the pre-service teachers' professional development; however, the experience was not without flaws. The most commonly perceived deficiency was artificiality, which appeared to have to some extent limited the student teachers' development of real-life classroom teaching competence. The study suggests that microteaching should be supplemented with various alternative forms of school experience and practice.