Implementation of the direct method of teaching foreign languages in French textbooks used in Galicia (the first half of the 20th century)

Abstract

The article under discussion deals with the analysis of French textbooks used at the lessons of the French language in Galicia in the first half of the twentieth century. The authors carry out an overview of the sources relevant to the issue under study and prove that the topic has never been an object of any scientific research before. In the article, we have reviewed five French textbooks and identified the main method of French language teaching implemented in them. The books, which were used, can be divided into three groups – textbooks, readers, and grammar reference books. All the textbooks under analysis were recommended by the education authority of Galicia. The textbooks are analyzed according to the criteria proposed by N. Borysko. Thus, the French textbooks used in Galicia are found to be compiled by means of the direct method of teaching foreign languages that is marked with a wide range of phonetic material, the absence of translation exercises, the emphasis on a practical approach to improving foreign language competencies.