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Abstract: The article raises the question of the image of a foreign country formation in textbooks on national language. The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of English as a foreign language textbook creation in the framework of socio-cultural approach and formation of a number of recommendations for authors of national language as a foreign language textbook. The basis of the study were the principles of content selection proposed by a number of authors, as well as cognitive strategies for the image of the country presentation. The study was carried out on the material of “Across cultures” textbook, containing the most positive examples of the above mentioned principles implementation, along with the unsuccessful decisions of the authors. The article notes the importance of the textbook targeting, problem-based approach, concentric flow of material and the associated redundancy, value meaning and value importance of the selected educational material. The culture of the country of the studied language is presented in combination of large (history, politics) and small (culture of everyday life) forms, as well as in combination of traditional and current cultural phenomena. Among the shortcomings of the considered textbook the absence of socio-cultural commentary and the inconsistency in consideration of some issues are noted. According to the results of the study, the author proposes a certain set of recommendations that may allow to present the image of the country of the studied language most fully and without distortion, aimed at creation of a positive image of the country in the context of the dialogue of cultures and emphasize the unique ethno-cultural features of the studied language native speakers.