A statistical analysis was made of the most productive term-formation processes in English, German, French, and Russian in the field of chemistry. The study deals with (1) the morphological aspect of term-formation, that is, the most productive affixes involved in term-formation in the four languages; and (2) the syntactical aspect, that is, the type of syntactic structure involved in the formation of complex terms. Examples are provided of the data and results in the field of spectroscopy, a subfield of chemistry. These are a list of affixes in the four languages arranged according to their productivity as well as according to the type of concept they designate. Results are given also on the syntactical aspect. These involve a listing of the syntactical structures of complex terms in the four languages arranged according to their productivity. The study and its results are applied to the field of language for special purposes (LSP) reading courses. It is suggested that instruction center on term-formation processes because a good knowledge of these would improve the reading skill necessary for reading scientific literature in the foreign language. (Author/AMH)