This study investigates whether Libyan university students studying English as a foreign language are able to correctly interpret substituted items found in written texts such as one, ones, do,, so and not and whether this positively impact their reading comprehension. As a cohesive relation between linguistic items such as clauses or independent sentences, substitution is a sort of counter which is used in place of the repetition of a particular item. It is hypothesized that Libyan students learning EFL encounter problems in correctly interpreting these substitutes and consequently fail to have satisfactory understanding of their reading materials. A quasi-experiment was organized to test the ability of a hundred Libyan university students to interpret a number of substitutes mentioned in modified statements and consequently comprehend the message of these statements. The results revealed that the majority of the study participants failed to get the passing mark which is 50 over a hundred and the average mark they got was 45. This result may have many pedagogical implications which concern the syllabus and the teaching methods.  

This paper focuses on the revision of the literature related to the reading skills as a background and reading for comprehension as the final desirable product of practising reading. This includes an overview of reading theories, reading skills, and reading strategies and the difference between them. The involvement of conjunctions as defined and classified by Halliday and Hasan (1975) in the reading theories, reading skills, and reading strategies will be highlighted. The study offers important pedagogical recommendations for teachers and curriculum designers. Explicit teaching of reading strategies with clear focus on conjunctions may contribute to the development of reading for comprehension and other English language skills.

Key words: reading comprehension, skills, strategies, conjunctions.

Testing reading comprehension can be achieved by using many types of tests. Tests such as open-ended, multiple-choice and rational cloze tests are widely used by school teachers and language researchers. In this research a multiple-choice rational cloze test was used as the measuring instrument for both pre and post-tests. 

Soil samples were used to isolate different protease producing bacteria. Casein hydrolysis media was used to screen proteolytic bacteria which produced clear hydrolyzed zone. Isolates showing positives result for all isolates. The media (MD8) indicated maximum protease production for Bacillus cohinii. Glucose showed maximum enzyme activity of 14.49 U/ml for BS1. In nitrogen source , ammonium chloride showed to be best with enzyme activity as 7.85 U/ml for BS1 in MD5 media. MD5 media supplemented with NaCl works best for alkaline protease production. But a concentration of 11% NaCl showed maximum activity with 10.87 U/ml for BS1. It was found that all the isolates showed maximum protease production at 45°C in MD5 media

Bacteria were isolated from soil samples using serial dilution method. Different isolates were then screened for their alkaline protease producing capability using skim milk hydrolysis test. The bacterial species were identified as Bacillus cohnii using 16S rRNA amplification and phylogenetic analysis. BLAST program and the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity demonstrated that the query sequence was 99% similar to Bacillus cohnii (gb|JF689927.1) strain APT5.

•This paper examines the ability of Libyan university students studying EFL to identify the language items which are called conjunctives and recognize their meanings and functions before they can benefit from them in their reading and writing skills

Abstract— The study was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas of Gharian district, northwestrn Libya. All the samples were analyzed for four physicochemical parameters such as total hardness, pH, nitrate and sulfate and twelve heavy metals, Al, Ba, Se, Hg, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn using standard procedures. The analysis indicated that concentrations of the metal were mostly far below the maximum allawable concentration. However, the concentration of Ni in some of the water samples were relatively high when compared to the Libyan and International standards values. Relatively high concentrations of Se had been detected in all samples. The results showed that other parameters differ form each sample. Total hardness, nitrate and sulfate concentration of all samples were higher than the International standards. The pH of all analyzed samples was within the allowable limit. 

Keywords— Groundwater, wells, Heavy metals, Gharian.

The Effect of Recognizing Lexical Cohesive Relations of Written Text on the Reading Comprehension of Libyan EFL University Students

Abstract: This paper investigates the ability of supplying the elliptical items omitted from a written text and its impact on the reading comprehension of Libyan university students studying EFL. Ellipsis can be defined as the omission of one or more lexical items that are understood in the context, but which are required to make the sentence or utterance grammatically correct. An elliptical item could be nominal, verbal or clausal. 4th year English Department students from the English Department- Faculty of ArtsGharian in Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi University completed reading comprehension test. Seventy one out of a hundred and four students accepted to participate in the study. The test was modified to include many elliptical items and the students were asked to supply them. The results, which were statistically analyzed, suggested that the study participants were not able to supply the correct elliptical items and consequently had poor reading comprehension results. The mean marks achieved were only 33.8. This result may have many pedagogical implications. Keywords: Ellipsis, nominal, verbal, clausal, reading comprehension 

This paper studies the impact of the implementation of

extensive reading programme on the reading comprehension

and the development of other English language skills such as

speaking, spelling and writing of Libyan university students

studying EFL. 50 students studying English in the English

Department, Faculty of Arts, Al-jabal Algharbi University had

read a written materials of their choice, summarised their

main events and completed a self-completion questionnaire.

The findings of the questionnaire data analysis suggested that

the respondents had a positive attitude towards their selfreading,

learned some new words. These findings may encourage the

teachers of reading comprehension courses to implement

extensive reading programme to complement the intensive

reading programme which is practiced in classroom. Also,

reading materials are required to be available in the

educational institutions' libraries.found the information of the written texts useful and