8.1.3　Textual analysis：global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion in the English learning advertisements

The three-level framework of coherence construction mentioned above is proved valid to some extent，by the analysis in the three chapters for their way of realization in the English learning advertisements（Chapters 4—6）.That is，Chapters 4，5 and 6 analyze the verbal and visual patterns and their interaction through which global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion are achieved in the various stages of the English learning advertisements.

Chapter 4 analyzes how global coherence is constructed through the hierarchical discourse topical structure in the English learning advertisements.The textual analysis of the topics in the visual and verbal elements in the multimodal English learning advertisements has two main findings.One is that the main visual and verbal elements all contribute to the higher-level topic in the hierarchy although their ways of expressing meaning are different.The other is that，not only the topics the visual and verbal modes represent，but also the patterns of how these topics are represented，are different across the various stages of the English learning advertisements.Specifically，each functional stage，due to its special communicative purpose and hyper-topic，needs to be，and actually is，built by semiotic elements of certain topics in a certain way of combination.

Chapter 5 analyzes the semantic relations between visual and verbal elements in various stages and phases of the English learning advertisements.Different from the prevailing practice of identifying and labeling the semantic relationship which is an increasingly challenging task with the development of advertising，this book looks to the degree of information linking for solution.Although the principle of information linking applies to all the visual-verbal relations of local scope，the textual analysis shows that there are sharp differences in how it is realized across the different stages of the English learning advertisements.In the Reader Attraction stage where the picture and the verbal slogan have relatively equal status，the degree of information overlapping is used as the single criterion of measuring local coherence.A variety of ways of information linking between the visual and the verbal are found.In the Corporate Profile and Testimonial stages where the verbal mode takes the dominant role and fills in the overall topical structure，the picture departs from one of the topics in the verbal text and develops it into full detail to elicit emotions and attitudes in the reader.In the phase“Learning Method”under the stage of Statements of Competitiveness，the diagram and the verbal texts are more closely connected through repetition of lexical items and sharing one or more information units in their respective representation.In the Course Information stage，table，as the dominant visual format，segregates verbal information into categories and visually divides them so they are perceived as separate but still aligned in a whole.

After identifying the cohesive function of the typographical features in layout，Chapter 6 proposes a working framework of surface cohesion in multimodal discourses on the basis of existing models of layout analysis.These resources in layout mark the structure of the discourse and information importance between elements in proximity.The cohesive devices for discourse structure include visual similarity，framing，and spatial nearness，whereas those for the information importance include the color，relative size，spatial placement，among others.The textual analysis finds that these devices are usually employed simultaneously to achieve the intended layout design and they often cooperate and align with the coherence strategies in the content level of advertisements.