Abstract:

Are stereotypes possible pillars supporting the learning of a foreign language or are they possible sources of intercultural misunderstandings? In most coursebooks, intercultural materials are embedded in teaching units. The understanding of others is closely related to the understanding of someone’s own culture as well as the target culture. Only when someone is aware of the own culture, then the target culture can be understood. In foreign language learning, it plays an important role, so that the knowledge of language structures alone is not enough to use the language successfully. At the same time, it requires cultural knowledge of the target language culture. This study focuses on the effects of culture-based fossilized prejudices on foreign language learning and to show the quantity of these stereotypes in given coursebooks. A coursebook analysis reveals to what extent stereotypes can be found in the respective GFL and TFL coursebooks. A compile of given stereotypes create an overall picture of foreign cultures. To what extent this overall picture reflects the reality has been handled at the end of this study.

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