English has become increasingly important in China. Numerous English teaching materials and courses have been developed in order to meet the diverse needs of Chinese EFL learners. In designing the course, teaching materials and syllabus, it is crucial for the designers to gain a clear idea of learners’ language proficiency, especially their vocabulary knowledge. In the vocabulary assessments reported the tested words from the word list included in “College English Curriculum Requirements”, which was based on words’ frequency, coverage and range. In this study, the comparative study on the receptive and productive knowledge of academic vocabulary of Chinese college EFL learners. The purpose of this study is to gain an insight into the academic vocabulary knowledge of Chinese college EFL learners, with implications for college English teaching and learning.