ASSESSING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN VST, PERCEPTION FOR THE ABILITY OF READING COMPREHENSION AND PRACTICAL READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE Fang He Nanning University, China Feng Teng Nanning University, China Abstract This research investigated the relationship between the students’ Vocabulary Size Test (VST) results, perception for the ability of reading comprehension and practical reading comprehension performance. The VST, a questionnaire on self -perceiving reading comprehension ability, and a practical paper -and-pencil reading comprehension test were conducted among an intact class of 45 learners. Results showed that there was no significant correlation between the practical reading comprehension performances and reading comprehension ability perception results. In this case, most students were not able to efficiently and reliably assess their own reading comprehension ability. In addition, vocabulary size did affect the learners’ self -perception for reading comprehension ability accordingly. The upper level learners could assess their ability of reading comprehension more accurately than the intermediate level learners, and the intermediate level learners obviously had better self- perception towards their ability of reading comprehension than the low level learners. The correlation between the students’ VST and actual reading performance was positive and significant; the higher the score of the VST that the students earned, the higher score of the practical reading task they achieved. Key words: Vocabulary size test, ability of reading comprehension, self -perception, practical reading comprehension performance Introduction It is widely acknowledged that reading is indispensable to language learning for students who learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Through reading, one can better understand