Abstract

Since French is still consistently included as an established option in foreign language programs in college campuses across the United States, an important question arises: what is presented as French culture to the novice student? How much cultural information is presented in textbooks for introductory courses of French? What do authors offer in order for students to attain an understanding of ‘la francophonie” worldwide? Also, which of the myriad of francophone countries are represented? This paper examines the amount and type of cultural content of five popular French textbooks in the attempt to analyze the current trend in current American textbook publishing for successfully incorporating culture into texts for first-year college students.