Abstract
Persons appearing in foreign language textbooks are an important element in the process of forming intercultural competence in foreign language teaching, because through them pupils get to know the typical features of the culture of the target language and at the same time these persons are perceived by pupils as representatives of this culture to a large extent. In addition to references to the current state of research on this issue, the article presents the results of a study that was devoted to the analysis of selected textbook sets from the point of view of protagonists and other persons appearing in German textbooks.
The basic characteristics of people in textbooks for elementary schools and the corresponding grades of eight-year high schools were determined according to established criteria. On the basis of a questionnaire aimed at the pupils of these schools, a possible influence on the formation of pupils' ideas about the culture of countries with German as their mother tongue was determined.