Kerstin Mueller DemblingSara JacksonKeenan, Emmalie2024-04-262024-04-262020-052020-0510.7275/17603540https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/33994Elementary German language textbooks today lack diverse representations of gender, social class, race, and ability. This thesis argues that the exclusion of those categories of diversity impedes the objectives of the communicative learning approach for students in first-year German courses. It examines research on diversity in textbooks with a focus on the concept of the “third space”, and shows how these findings apply to German students. An analysis of chapters from three German textbooks published between 2018 and 2020: Netzwerk neu A1, Impuls Deutsch 1, and Grenzenlos Deutsch provides specific examples of how images, texts, dialogs, grammar, and vocabulary exercises could be designed or redesigned to make the German language classroom a space in which all students are able to communicate and express themselves.Diversity in elementary German textbooksdiversity of gender in german textbooksdiversity of social class in German textbooksdiversity of race in German textbooksdiversity of ability in German textbooksGerman Language and LiteratureLanguage and Literacy EducationOther Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studiesthesishttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1694-8616