FLESHING OUT THE FLASH:
STUDENT USE OF FLASHCARDS IN THE
SPANISH CLASSROOM
Colbi Custis
Salisbury University
RPDS Conference
May 2011
ABSTRACT AND RESEARCH QUESTION
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Will flashcards for students to study from increase
quiz scores? This action research looks at James
M. Bennett High School students enrolled in three
Spanish II classes. The purpose of the study is to
find out whether or not students’ quiz grades
improve with student-made study aids (specifically,
the creation and use of flashcards). Should the
results show that the flashcards improve quiz
scores, this method of studying will be used
throughout the rest of the school year.
INTRODUCTION
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My Spanish II students perform poorly on quizzes. Perhaps it is because
they are not effectively studying the material. This may be because they
have poor studying strategies.
Kornell (2009) investigates how today’s students rely on cramming and lastminute review to be successful on examinations. He specifically looks at
cramming with the use of flashcards in high-stakes testing. In this sense, it
is important that when we make the flashcards in class, I have students
look at the flashcards over time as well as push my students to use the
student-made flashcards in and outside of the classroom often.
Martin-Chang, Levy, and O'Neil (2007) investigate the effectiveness of
flashcards and how using flashcards with contextualized information (i.e.
definitions, synonyms, and example sentences on one side with the word on
the other), result in better retention of material. In this way, the studentmade flashcards will have context driven information on each card.
Glen (2007) looks at the pros and cons of using flashcards to study. What
will be taken into consideration for the action research are the drawbacks of
the flashcard process. Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor at Purdue
University, argues that “dropping” (meaning the laying down of flashcards
when a student already thinks he/she knows the term) may actually hinder
the outcome on an assessment. This concept will be taken into
consideration when doing the action research.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
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I created a flashcard sheet with squares that had 10 terms to be on
the quiz and those terms’ definitions. The definitions encompassed
key words related to the terms, a sentence with the term, and an
image with the term (all in the target language).
All students received the flashcard sheet and 10 index cards.
Students created their flashcards by cutting out the squares,
matching up terms with definitions, and then pasting them on the
designated index cards.
I then used 2 days in class to give students the opportunity to quiz
each other using the flashcards. This promoted speaking, properly
using the flashcards, and allowed me time to answer any student
questions.
The students then took a quiz that was designed by the teacher with
at least 10 questions related to those flashcards. Students received
their quiz scores and were asked to fill out an exit ticket about their
use of flashcards at home.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: TIMELINE
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Day 1 – Pass out flashcard sheet in class as a cut & paste activity:
Students cut out the squares of Spanish terms and definitions,
match them together, and then paste the term on one side of the
index card and the definition on the other side of the index card; 10
cards in total
Day 2 – Flash in class: Students take 5 minutes to quiz each other
using the cards in class as a quick and pre- and post-activity for the
day
Day 3 – Flash in class: Students take 2 minutes at the end of class to
quiz each other; encouraged to study cards at home
Day 4 – Encouraged to study cards at home
Day 5 – Quiz
Day 6 – Quiz score received by student
Day 7 – Flashcard exit ticket
RESULTS
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(1) Did students improve scores on this quiz
compared to scores from a previous quiz?
Period
Previous quiz score (15)
Quiz score now (20)
1
11.0  73% C
14,56  72.8% C
2
11.83  78.86% C
15.36  76.8% C
4
9.41  62.73% D
12.95  64.75% D
RESULTS
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(2) Did students who used flashcards at home perform
better than students who did not use flashcards at home?
Period
Scores of students who used
flashcards (20)
Scores of students who did
not use flashcards (20)
1
14.0  70% C
13.4  67% D
2
16.5  82.5% B
14.3  71% C
4
12.2  60% D
13.17  65.85% D
Students who used flashcards averaged a 14.2/20  71% C
Students who did not use their flashcards averaged a 13.6/20  68% D
RESULTS
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(3) Did flashcards yield higher scores? Is there a positive
correlation?
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In other words, the whole goal of this activity was to have more A’s and
B’s – higher test scores. Did flashcards produce the high scores? With
the chart below, there were 21 A’s and B’s total.
 Out of the 21 A’s and B’s, 10 were from students who used
flashcards at home.
 Out of the 21 A’s and B’s, 10 were from students who did not use
flashcards at home.
 *One A came from a student who did not turn in an exit ticket.
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From this set of data, we can firmly say that flashcards do not seem to
have any influence on high test scores. Perhaps, they are not an
appropriate study tool in the foreign language setting.
DISCUSSION
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Question 1: Did students improve on this quiz compared to a previous quiz?
It was predicted that with flashcards, students would improve in their test
scores. Based on the average breakdown per class period, however, scores
did not increase when looking at values from a previous comparable quiz to
this quiz. In fact, in periods 1 and 2, the class average quiz scores
decreased slightly. First period decreased from a 73% to a 72.8% (-0.2%).
Period 2 decreased from a 78.86% to a 76.8% (-2.06%). Although period 4
increased their quiz score average, the average only increased +2.2%.
Because the quiz score averages from a previous comparable quiz and this
quiz are so close in range, it seems as though the flashcards did not
improve scores.
This information, however, could be deceiving because there may have been
students who, while given flashcards, opted not to use them. For this
reason, an exit ticket was given to students, identifying those who had and
had not used their flashcards at home. The students were informed that the
exit ticket had no bearing on their grades and were asked to complete the
ticket honestly. Students answered the following three true/false questions:
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1. I used my flashcards to study at home.
2. I made more than the required flashcards to study from at home.
3. I will use making flashcards to study from in the future.
DISCUSSION
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Question 2: Did students who used flashcards at home perform better than
students who did not use flashcards at home?
Looking at the data, period 1 and 2 scores increased when students used
flashcards, but only slightly. Period 4 seems to be the anomaly because
scores actually decreased for students who used the flashcards. One
reason for why the drop may have occurred is because only 5 students used
flashcards in that class. If one student did poorly while the rest did well, this
would still negatively affect the period’s average score. Overall, the
students who studied using flashcards performed better than those who did
not use the flashcards; however, the improvement is not significant enough
(+0.6%) to say that flashcards could be a preferred study option.
DISCUSSION
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Question 3: Did students who used flashcards at home perform better than
students who did not use flashcards at home?
Interestingly enough, most of the students who used flashcards said that they would
use this study tool again. These students ranged from A’s to E’s. It makes sense
that students with A’s would opt to use flashcards again, but for students who
received a D or E to also say that they would continue to study this way is somewhat
confusing. Clearly, this method of studying did not help them improve their scores,
yet they would continue to use the same method again? It would be interesting to
know why. Nine students said that they would not use flashcards again even though
they did for this quiz. I suspected that these individuals may have yielded poor
results on the quiz, but was surprised to see that of the nine, six received A’s or B’s.
So, why if their test scores were high, would these students decide not to use
flashcards again in the future?
An also equally interesting concept was taking a look at students who did not use
flashcards and whether or not they would choose to use them in the future. There
were some students who answered that they did not use flashcards this time around
but would use them in the future. Why? Looking at these students’ scores, many of
them performed poorly on the quiz. Knowing that they performed poorly, these
students may feel that it is because they chose not to look at the flashcards and
regret not taking advantage of the study tool. This would be interesting to look into
as an extension to see if for the next quiz, those students would actually create
flashcards to study from and do better on the next quiz.
FURTHER RESEARCH
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In this study, the use of flashcards improved test scores overall,
but only slightly. More studies need to be done in order to
effectively show the benefit of flashcards as an effective study
tool.
There also needs to be further research into student motivation
and student perception of flashcard use. Student views were
extremely inconsistent and confusing, as shown by the table
comparing individual scores and answers given on the exit
ticket. Perhaps motivation (or lack thereof) is the reason
behind the inconsistencies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
James M. Bennett High School
 Mackenzie Vizard, Teacher Prac/Consultant
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REFERENCES
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Glenn, D. (2007). Why cramming doesn’t work. Chronicle of
Higher Education, 53(40), A17. Retrieved from ERIC.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards:
Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive
Psychology, 23, 1297-1317. Retrieved from ERIC.
Martin-Chang, S, Levy, B, O'Neil, S. (2007). Word acquisition,
retention, and transfer: Findings from contextual and isolated
word training. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96(1),
37-56. Retrieved from ERIC.