The development of readability formulas for the evaluation of foreign language texts began with research in the United States on reading materials used in second language learning and has extended to many other countries first by adaptation of formulas intended for English language texts and then by original investigation. There exist now many instruments to measure the readability of languages other than English, but controversy exists over the variables to be included in the formulas. In some cases, cloze procedures have been developed to overcome the lack of a feasible readability formula. (Sixty-seven references are attached.) (RS)