FLESHING OUT THE FLASH: STUDENT USE OF FLASHCARDS IN

THE SPANISH CLASSROOM

Colbi CustisSalisbury University

RPDS ConferenceMay 2011

ABSTRACT AND RESEARCH QUESTION 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 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 last-minute 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 student-made 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

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 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 (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 (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% CStudents who did not use their flashcards averaged a 13.6/20 68% D

RESULTS (3) Did flashcards yield higher scores? Is

there a positive correlation?

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.

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 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:

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 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 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

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/ConsultantREFERENCES

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.