Teaching of intercultural communication: Criteria for selection of foreign textbooks

The authors focus on studying the potential of foreign textbooks for Russian system of teaching foreign languages, as well as on the issue of identifying criteria for the selection of foreign textbooks for the preparation of students for intercultural dialogue. The purpose of the publication is to justify the role and importance of foreign textbooks for language teaching from the point of view of the possibility of using their contents for regular and systematic comparison of two world pictures: native for the students and foreign in order to ensure the dialogical process of familiarizing with the culture of the country of target language and understanding the characteristics of the native conceptosphere. The conclusions made allow us to identify the set of foreign textbooks selection criteria for the implementation of the intercultural approach to foreign language education in the Russian educational context. The authors prove the prospects of using specially selected textbooks of foreign authors for the implementation of an interculturally oriented educational process in the Russian school. This kind of selection is the first step in the process of adapting a foreign textbook to the conditions for teaching a foreign language in the Russian educational space. The list of criteria for selecting foreign textbooks for the Russian educational context, contributing to the deepening of the national-cultural self-identification of students in the process of comparing two contact cultures, can be considered as practical results. The material of the article will be interesting for scholars studying the intercultural approach to linguodidactics, as well as for practical teachers.