8.1.4　Empirical studies on reader reaction

The empirical research in Chapter 7 is dedicated to the reader reaction to the three levels of coherence construction in the English learning advertisements.The purpose of the empirical studies is to provide empirical support for the three-level framework of coherence construction and the conclusions drawn from the semiotic analysis in Chapters 4，5 and 6.This chapter includes three empirical studies—an eye-tracking experiment，a memory recognition test and an evaluation investigation which are all designed and discussed with reference to the three levels of coherence construction in the discourse.

The eye-tracking experiment finds：（i）global coherence is significantly correlated with the looking time，（ii）the degree of local coherence is significantly correlated with the number of gaze switches between visual and verbal areas，and（iii）the cohesive devices in layout are heavily made use of by the readers in the course of reading.

The memory recognition test finds that there are significant effects of global coherence，local coherence and surface cohesion（salience）on the participants'recognition memory of the discrete elements in the English learning advertisements.Specifically，global coherence is significantly correlated with reaction time，local coherence with correction rate，surface cohesion with reaction time when all types of stimuli are concerned or with correction rate when only pictorial stimuli are concerned.

In the evaluation investigation five English learning leaflets were evaluated and the results further verify the assumption of the three-level model of coherence construction.That is，the leaflet which shows the best manifestation of all the three levels of coherence is appreciated best.The negative responses are elicited by elements that are irrelevant with the overall discourse topic or the other elements in the same segment of the discourse，or poor use of cohesive features in the layout.

A comparative analysis across the findings of the three empirical studies supports the conceptualization of the three-level framework of coherence construction，and also sheds some light on how the textual resources of coherence interact with reader's cognitive mechanisms.The interrelations between the three levels of coherence and reader's mental reaction are summarized in the following.

（1）Global coherence，measured by the reader expectation of the discourse topic，commands the arrangement of the visual and verbal elements of different topics in the different positions of the discourse on the one hand，and affects the allocation of attention on them in the time course of reading and the reaction time in retrieval on the other.

（2）Local coherence，measured by the degree of information linking，is related mainly to the comprehension of coherence relations between adjacent semiotic units and thus to the establishment of a coherent understanding of the whole discourse.Its manifestation in the discourse is that the verbal and the visual must be linked through at least one information unit either in a direct or indirect way.It manifests in the cognitive processes through the gaze switches which imply comprehension efforts in the eyetracking data，and the correction rate which is an indicator for comprehension in the memory recognition test.

（3）Cohesive devices are mainly shown in the multimodal discourses in the form of typographical features signaling the structure of the discourse and relative importance of semiotic elements.The empirical studies provide evidence that the readers make use of these cohesive devices to facilitate their reading process.They are also shown to have relation with the reader's recognition retrieval and appreciation of the discourse.

In all，these findings provide empirical evidence for the validity of the three-level framework of coherence construction and for the analyses of the patterns of coherence construction in Chapters 4，5，and 6.Moreover，the deep discussion of the relationship between reader reaction and textual coherence construction allows us to probe into the ways the textual coherence strategies and the reader interact in the dynamic process of comprehension in which discourse coherence is established.