The purpose of the study is to identify the nature of sociocultural units selection as subjective or objective in Russian as a foreign language textbooks by the example of personalities and idioms. In the research the methods of the study are a method of personalities continuous selection from Russian as a foreign language textbooks for Beginners, content-analysis of Russian as a foreign language textbooks for Beginners and modern Russian idioms textbooks for foreign students; analyses of different forms of sociocultural units presentation and the results of sociocultural units selection in Russian as a foreign language textbooks.
The results of the study reveal the subjectivity of sociocultural units selection that reflects the author’s creative nature, the lack of common selection criteria and compulsory minimum lists of sociocultural units for different levels of Russian as a foreign language. Besides, the tendency to decrease the national component in Russian as a foreign language textbooks was determined in the study and the process of globalization is assumed to be the reason of this change in sociocultural context.
The study contributes to the theory of learning materials selection in teaching foreign languages. It creates the necessary prerequisites for further development of sociocultural units selection issues, for example, the influence of subjectivity of sociocultural units selection on the process of sociocultural competence development, the possibility of common requirements for sociocultural units presentation in Russian as a foreign language textbooks, etc.