The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, investigating the materials (mainly textbooks) used in the process of ELT at the Algerian middle school level. In other words, the research aims at exploring the reliability of the used textbooks in regard to their cultural content and fi nding out whether or not they promote cultural prejudices against the target culture. Secondly, it investigates the pupil’s attitudes towards the target culture being dealt with in the English language classroom and, attempts to find out the main reasons b ehind such attitudes. The Middle School English textbooks are quantitatively and qualitatively analysed and evaluated in terms of their cultural focus , using criteria of analysis created by Risager (1991) , Skopinskaja ( 2003 ) and Michel (1986). T wo questionnaires are designed: one for English language teachers, and the other for middle school learners to obtain quantitative and qualitative data to guide us in our investigation. The obtained qualitative and quantitative results indicated that though l earners showed admiration for the foreign culture, yet they refused and showed a negative attitude towards some behaviours which are considered to be acceptable in the foreign culture. Also, the elicited information from teacher’ s questionnaire indicated t hat textbooks represent an inadequate source for teaching /learning language through culture . One of the reasons behind this judgment is the presence of gender stereotyped depiction of the characters. F urthermore, we noticed that no textbook encourage s or invite s learners to come toge ther in order to discuss and examine their opinions regarding the several cultural topics encompassed in the coursebooks. In the light of the obtained results, some practical recommendations are made in order to remedy the weaknesses observed to offer better teaching context for our young generation