The transfer of cultural elements to learners has always been a highly debatable issue within the field of foreign language education. When learning a foreign language, language learners do not only develop language skills but also develop an awareness of another culture from a comparative perspective. An analysis of foreign language teaching methodology from a historical perspective shows that different approaches to and methods of foreign language teaching have been quite influential on the cultural transfer processes. This study introduces the three fundamental approaches to the teaching of culture in foreign language education on the basis of the teaching of German as a foreign language and, further, discusses their reflections on German language teaching in Turkey. The study is founded on the evaluation of three different coursebooks, which have been used in Turkey for German language teaching since 1940s, with respect to the transfer of cultural elements. Moreover, the study discusses the compatibility of the cultural transfer processes to the changing foreign language teaching methods and approaches as well as the national context.