Intercultural content of a foreign language textbooks: concept, texts, practices
Elena Genrikhovna Tareva – Alla Viktorovna Schepilova – Boris Vladimirovich Tarev
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2017.10.03.20
Abstract
At present, the potential of the intercultural approach to teaching foreign languages is looked at from different perspectives. Its acknowledged interpretation assumes that the student is constantly submerged in the situation of comparison between two cultures: the native and a different one. While acquiring another culture, he revises the native one, extending the vision of himself and of the surrounding world. This didactic concept requires changes in the system of foreign language teaching. The most obvious transformation must take place in the structure and content of the foreign language textbook.
The article contains the analysis of how the authors of modern textbooks of the French language understand the intercultural approach and how they implement it. This task is accomplished by a comparative analysis of the guidelines, texts, and educational assignments. The article raises an issue of how to prepare students for the dialogue of cultures.
Key words: the intercultural approach; the dialogue of cultures; foreign language textbook, interculturally marked components of a textbook.