In the stage of Course Information，the most salient feature is the use of tables.The reason for the prevailing use of tables should be attributed to：（i）the large amount of discrete pieces of information which are similar in nature and internal structure/organization，in this case，information concerning a long series of courses;and（ii）the features of tables which render it as the most effective and concise way of expressing these pieces of information.

According to Harris（1996，cited in Brasseur，2003：101），tables are one of the best ways to convey exact numerical values and to present data in a much more compact manner than if it were presented in sentence form.Tables are able to reduce complex information to a more understandable visual arrangement.They transform ordinary syntax into a medium in which repeated data relationships can be comfortably accommodated.Different from tables in other genres，especially scientific genres，the tables in the Course Information stage are all verbal tables rather than numeric tables.That is，the content in the rows and columns of the tables are verbal elements concerning the English teaching courses instead of numeric data.

The detailed description of the semiotic patterns of the tables in the stage of Course Information will follow Brasseur's framework.Brasseur（2003：101）describes the general arrangement and appearance of tables according to the following four aspects：（i）a matrix with rows and columns;（ii）the textual inclusion of an overall title，which is traditionally placed above the table or immediately below it;（iii）row and column headings that identify the nature of the information in the rows and columns;and（iv）grid lines to help viewers distinguish a visual separation between the individual rows and columns.

First of all we need to note that in the Course Information stage in the English learning advertisements，the number of tables varies greatly according to the macro-Theme or macro-Topic of the specific advertisement.For the leaflets which promote the brand image of a language school，there will be several series of courses，such as teaching programs for general purposes which include speaking，reading and writing skills，programs of going-abroad exams（for example TOEFL and IELTS），and business English.The amount of information naturally demands the use of more than one table.For the advertisements promoting a specific teaching program，however，the courses will be limited in number，thus one table is enough to accommodate all the course information.For example，the table shown in Figure 5.12 is excerpted from a double-page flyer which aims to boost the enrollment of their program for primary school children in the second to fifth grade，thus there are only four courses in the program compacted in one table.The title of the table，and also of the stage，is“课程设置”（the courses）which is placed above it.There are only two columns without column headings.The reason might be the designer's assumption that since there are only two columns，the column headings can be easily inferred by readers from the content in the columns.The grid lines which visually separate the individual rows are materialized by the visual feature of color striping.

Figure 5.12　A sample of simple table in Course Information

Figure 5.13 shown below is excerpted from a leaflet of another language school promoting the children programs.It has several series of courses designed for customers with different needs.Therefore，there are many tables each of which boosting each of the course series.These tables are formatted in matrixes with rows and columns.The column headings include the key aspects of the courses，including course title，course introduction，tuition，time，and target customers.The visual separation between individual rows and columns is realized by the grid lines and color differentiation.

Figure 5.13　A sample of complex table in Course Information

The relationship between the visual and the verbal in this stage involves two pairs of texts：one is the relationship between the table as a whole and the accompanying verbal text that either precedes or follows the table.Here it refers to the relationship between the table and its title.The use of titles，as with all other visual technical genres，is also important since a title should serve as the main idea or main point of the graphic.Readers need the title to grasp the general idea and form an expectation of the content of the table in their reading process.It is an indispensible cue in the top-down process in the reading.Another pair of visual-verbal relationship involves the visual and the verbal in the table.The visual refers to the visual arrangement and format of the table，and the verbal refers to the verbal information filled in the rows and columns of it.In this regard，tables are different from other visual genres in technical communication，such as diagrams，graphs and illustrations.Unlike the more visually dominant genres，tables rely on an almost equal consideration of either visual or verbal information or visual and numeric information（Brasseur，2003：102）.That is，in graphs and diagrams，the visual takes a more dominant role than the verbal，which can be supported by the fact that they are largely defined by the lines，arrows，and other visual links.Without them the diagram cannot be recognized as a diagram and cannot realize its meaning.The meaning of table，however，relies as much on the visual format as on the verbal row/column headings and content in them.The table expresses a large amount of discrete pieces of information with similar nature and internal structure/organization which will otherwise be quite lengthy and redundant if expressed in verbal paragraphs.The column headings are actually verbal elements which cue the common structure around which all these pieces of information share，such as the title of the course，its objective，features，time and location.Thus they can provide the structure which each piece of information can fit in.They are important for the realization of the meaning of the table.Reversely，the visual format—matrix of rows and columns—is also indispensible for the meaning-making of the table because it helps to segregate verbal information into categories，visually dividing them so they are perceived as separate but still aligned in a whole.