This study used a pre-test-instruction-post-test design to explore the efficiency of teaching faculty email requests to a group of 28 intermediate-level Chinese students of English. The quantitative analysis demonstrated that the students made overall progress after instruction. The qualitative analysis though disclosed that the students made greater advances in framing moves (i.e., subject, greeting and closing) than in content moves (i.e., request strategies and request support). This is because the former are interpersonally oriented and formulaic in nature, thus more verifiable in an instructional setting and easier for the students to learn.