The central concern of this book is to analyze the way resources from different semiotic modes are integrated and connected into a coherent multimodal discourse.This research objective requires that the most important task be an in-depth analysis of the coherence construction of the English learning advertisements.The analysis will follow the framework sketched out in Section 3.1 in order to be systematic and theoretically grounded.Specifically，the analysis will be structured around the three levels of coherence construction，namely global coherence，local coherence，and surface cohesion，with the English learning advertisements as materials.Therefore there will be three main chapters of textual analysis，each contributing to one of the three levels.The textual analysis will concentrate on how the global coherence，local coherence，and surface cohesion are constructed in the semiotic configurations in the English learning advertisements.That is，the focus of the textual analysis will be the patterns of verbal and visual components in the English learning advertisements.

Another important research task in this book concerns the reader reaction to the levels of coherence construction in the English learning advertisements.It is important for several reasons：Firstly，as suggested in Chapter 2，text coherence is largely established in the comprehension process，thus text coherence cannot be separated from examination of its comprehension.Secondly，the empirical research on reader reaction can mitigate the limitation of subjectivity，and thus complement the first research task—the textual analysis which takes a semiotic approach.Thirdly，since it is the reader who receives and acts on the information the document offers，designers need to determine the information needs of readers in order to specify the topic（s）in the document.In this sense，readers do not only process and comprehend documents，but they also indirectly determine the design of them（Lentz and Pander Maat's，2004）.Therefore，an empirical research on reader reaction is necessary and will contribute to the research goal of this book.

In the empirical research on reader reaction，specifically，the eye movement，memory and evaluation of the readers during the comprehension process will be investigated.The main aim of the empirical research part is to provide evidence and support for the three-level theorization of coherence construction and results of the textual analysis in the English learning advertisements.

The research framework in this book is shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5　Research framework of this book

As shown in Figure 3.5，the semiotic analysis of the coherence construction in the texts is the major research phase.It comprises three parts，corresponding to the three levels of coherence，namely global coherence，local coherence，and surface cohesion.Another research phase is the empirical research on the reader reaction to the coherence construction resources in the advertisements.Since its aim is to provide empirical support for the three-level framework of coherence construction in multimodal discourses，it is designed with considerations of the features of the three levels of coherence construction.The results of the empirical studies in this research phase will be discussed with reference to the three levels.

What needs to be specially noted is that the three empirical studies in Chapter 7 are all designed with reference to the three-level framework of coherence construction proposed in Section 3.1.That is，global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion are designed as the possible influencing forces for the reader's mental responses to the English learning advertisements，including online processing，memory and appreciation.In this sense，the results of the empirical studies should have been reported and discussed in correspondence to global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion，that is，in Chapters 4，5 and 6 separately.However，the separation of the empirical studies into three chapters will cause substantial inconvenience for the description of the studies because they have been conducted in a holistic manner.Therefore，the solution is that the empirical studies are included in another chapter independent from Chapters 4，5，and 6，as the present situation is.The introduction and results of these studies will be given in a holistic manner and the discussion will be done separately corresponding to global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion.Despite the apparent independence of Chapter 7 from the previous chapters，what must be kept in mind is that the empirical studies in Chapter 7 reflect another aspect of the three-level framework of coherence construction which complements the textual resources analyzed in Chapters 4，5，and 6.

The following chapters are arranged as follows.The chapter on global coherence（Chapter 4）will focus on the coherence between signs of various semiotic modes and the discourse topic and global structure of the whole advertisements.The chapter on local coherence（Chapter 5）will focus on the semantic connection between verbal components and pictorial components in various stages.The chapter on surface cohesion（Chapter 6）will describe the various typographical resources in the layout which serve to mark the relations among components of the whole advertisements.Discussion of the three levels of coherence construction will be strengthened by evidences from empirical research on reader reaction in discourse processing in Chapter 7.