Vocabulary Gains With Paper and Digital Flashcards

Language acquisition needs recycling or repetition (Nation, 2001; Schmitt.

2008). From the perspective of vocabulary learning, the most important point in teaching and learning vocabulary is the number of times of the target words that learners have learned, which is a factor that teachers manipulate through classroom activities (Folse, 2004). That is to say, the number and type of exposures affect learners’ vocabulary learning. A teaching method that provides multiple exposures to a word has been shown to improve vocabulary learning (Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986).

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Flashcards are portable and easy to use in various locations. The importance of the use of flashcards in vocabulary learning has been recognized since the first half of the 19^th century. With the rapid innovation of technology in recent years, the power and versatility of flashcards have increased (Gardner, 2013). Traditional flashcards/notecards are pieces of paper which have a term written on one side and a definition or translation on the other side. Learners usually look at one side and attempt to recall the contents of the other side. As a replacement for traditional paper flashcards for vocabulary learning, digital flashcards for vocabulary learning have rapidly emerged.

Both paper and digital vocabulary flashcards have advantages and disadvantages. According to Haycraft (1978) and Cross (1991), the advantages of using flashcards are as follows: they can be utilized to strengthen vocabulary; they are motivating, eye-catching, effective, and inexpensive; they can be used everywhere, studied at anytime, and provide a visual link between L1 and the target language; and they can be used for practicing structure or for various games. The advantages of traditional paper flashcards/notecards in particular may be as follows. First, users can write definitions or translations on one side of the paper, which engages them in memorization; second, users depend on their own knowledge to create card sets.

Diouri (2009) stated that the advantages of paper-based flashcards are kinesthetic and personalized. The former means that users can touch and interact with the flashcards with a kinesthetic learning method and the latter means users can design their cards in a personalized and autonomous learning way. Based on students’ feedback from Diouri (2009), the advantages of digital flashcards/e-flashcards are that they are

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portable, audio-based, visual, interactive, self-assessed, flexible, friendly to use, and come in a wide variety of options. However, the disadvantages are lack of an audio recording, difficult to organize, search, and browse and the sets are predictable.

Başoğlu and Akdemir (2010) conducted a study with sixty undergraduate students in Turkey. These participants were divided into two groups. During a six-week period, thirty students who used mobile phones with the vocabulary program ECTACO Flash Cards were placed in the experimental group, while the other 30 students who used traditional vocabulary flashcards (new words on paper) acted as a control group. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used as a mixed-method study. The results showed that using a vocabulary learning program on students' mobile phones was more effective and entertaining than using flashcards on paper. The participants showed positive attitudes toward the use of mobile phones for vocabulary learning. The results provided two implications for learning vocabulary.

One is that English vocabulary programs on mobile phones can be used as an activity outside the class, which provides students’ opportunities to learn at anytime and anywhere. The other is that although the control group also improved in vocabulary scores when they employed flashcards on paper, the mobile phone group with the vocabulary program outperformed the control group in vocabulary learning. The study suggested that further studies should explore the effects of utilizing vocabulary programs that possess visually intriguing screens and multimedia (pictures and sound).

Another study of Nikoopoura and Kazemib (2014) employed digitized and non-digitized flashcards as vocabulary learning tools to evaluate 109 university

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students’ vocabulary gains during a ten-week program. Participants were divided into three groups, using mobiles, online, and paper flashcards. After a pretest, students were asked to use 70 flashcards in a week, undergo biweekly progress tests, and take a post-test. The results were drawn from the collected data and feedback from participants through the post-test, questionnaire, and interview. It was found that when two digitized tools (mobile and online flashcards) were used, a significant difference in vocabulary learning was found. Mobile group outperformed online group. The researchers stated that it seemed to be due to the portability and high accessibility of mobile phones. Moreover, comparing digitized tools (mobile and online flashcards) with non-digitized ones (traditional paper-based flashcards), no significant difference in vocabulary learning was found. Furthermore, when comparing portable tools (mobile phone and paper flashcards) to non-portable ones (online flashcards), there was a significant difference in vocabulary learning. The difference was not due to being digitized or paper, but rather to the portability of the materials; online participants could not take their flashcards with them anytime and anywhere. According to the questionnaire and interview, students demonstrated a significant difference in their attitude toward using mobile phones. After the study, use of the program on mobile phones increased.The findings in accordance with the following related studies (Abdollapour & Asadzadeh Maleki, 2012; Başoğlu &

Akdemir, 2010; Zhang, Song, & Burston, 2011). The study indicated that language learners' preference in using mobile phones for vocabulary learning. Students tend to have a positive attitude towards learning vocabulary if they are able to use mobile phones. Availability, ubiquity, and accessibility of mobile phones seem to have been

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decisive factors, which motivated students to use them as vocabulary learning tool.

According to Hung (2015), word cards or flashcards come in different forms, ranging from printed to digital. Although flashcards have long been employed in language classes, use of digital vocabulary flashcards and their pedagogical implications in educational technology have more recently kindled the interest of language researchers. However, their effects have not been thoroughly investigated.

The present study therefore aims to explore the use of digital flashcards through Quizlet.