Flashcards and styles of learning
I have noticed the sterling work that has been done to further improve the quality of this site with regard to flashcards etc.
It got me thinking though.....
For me personally, I have always thought that flashcards don't work. I much prefer to use words in context. But then I thought.... perhaps I am being a little narrow minded here. Perhaps they can work and vary my learning experience in a positive way. So, I've been looking at this part of the learning process again and come up with something that I hadn't realised before.
That is:
I think flashcards can be really useful for learning words such as nouns. Nouns don't often (I know some do lol) change in whatever context they are used and learning more of them would obviously increase one's vocabulary.
However, when it comes to verbs and expressions/phrases then, for me personally, flashcards don't work. In fact used incorrectly I think this can actually be detrimental to the learning process. I say this because - like in English - verbs and expressions/phrases etc can take on a multitude of different meanings depending on the context in which you are trying to communicate. Therefore, learning these in isolation can lead to a naive understanding of the language. Also you could get something completely set in your mind and 'hardwire' a rule or usage into your brain that makes it difficult to understand if you then notice the words being used in a different way further down your learning journey.
So, its nouns = flashcards for me lol, and verbs, expressions/phrases will be saved for our fantastic experts on 'word of the day' posts etc.
12 Answers
Flashcards are one tool in the toolbox. You have to know the vocabulary to use the language, and flashcards are good at that. OTOH, you'll never learn a language using only flashcards.
The best way to learn a language is to use it, be immersed in it, read, listen, talk, etc. There's no substitute for that. But flashcards are good for learning individual words and phrases that you can then use in your conversations.
Well, in my experience, for kids they do work
I create and have created tons of flashcards for my students. They have to know the words anyway, and for them, a flashcard exercise has the added advantage that they can compete.
The other day the exam consisted of 30 words, jeeeeeez, that teacher is something else. 
However, they all passed, all had done the flashcards. Before, I just couldn't make them learn the vocabulary, now it is working fine, and as they are seeing the results, they actually DO the flashcards.
I don't know for adults...but for kids, they sure work
I agree completely.
For me: flashcards, long lists, grammar books, methods such as "learn 1000 useful expressions", dictionaries, the 99% of the websites on the internet, just don't work.
What works? 1. Exposing myself to the language through listening and reading, and 2. my attempts at speaking and writing.
I agree somewhat. I make many flashcards and lists that use the word in context.
So, if I want to learn the word "tienda" I'd write "Voy a la tienda a las cinco."
I think that flashcards are useful for adults too. I have learned a lot of words through the flashcards. Besides, they provide a a very good opportunity of listening activity. moreover, I find them very amusing.
The issue here most definitely is different learning styles.
Anything seen in print, goes into "permanent storage" for me after three glances at it.
While anything coming in verbally can literally be repeated thousands upon thousands of times without any ability to recall whatsoever. Sigh. 
I'm in agreement. Flashcards don't really help me for most things, and I think if you build up your vocabulary without dedicating equal time to studying grammar you end up being incomprehensible and making errors that you've made so many times you find them difficult to correct.. you end up speaking English with Spanish words instead of speaking Spanish with Spanish words!
But they're really useful for me for things like remembering what preposition goes with what verb like "sonar con" for example when in English we say "dream of" and other individual tricky words. And it depends on the person as well of course. When I make my own flashcards (which i do more in real life than on this site) I always write entire sentences and never individual words. And I never write the English translation, I always make myself guess/remember what the word meant by looking at the sentence again and thinking about it.
During many years as a teacher of languages I became convinced that everyone has different techniques, strategies, if you will for language learning.
As a rule of thumb I tended to group these diverse approaches into two general groups which of course, overlapped.
One group I characterised as: 1. "rule-based, grammar oriented" and the other as 2. "intuitive-creative, flexible".
This is a pretty straight-forward and even obvious generalisation but it does help the teacher to plan classes designed to help every group member, the trick being to have a good flexible mix of activities which will hold everyone's interest, sometimes catering more fully to one group for a bit then shifting the approach. It's a useful way to figure out which in this particular group is the majority.
Essentially group 1 will tend to hang back until a rule is stated and clarified, they will pay more attention to fine detail, conversely they will be less likely than group 2 to approach listening comprehension and speech in the target language with ease. They are less likely to take chances and be inventive, if they speak they want it to be grammatically sound.
They don't like making mistakes and even fear being seen to make mistakes. They seek certainty. This "scientific" approach is quite common and you need quite subtle psychological instincts to encourage the virtues of the approach, instill confidence and at the same time, reduce the unhelpful aspects of the overly nit-picking, self-censoring fear factor which inhibits listening and speaking fluency..
When using small-group work you should choose who works with whom according to what kind of mix you think will best help both categories. In other words you can make them unwittingly teach each other useful learning skills.
Group 2 tends to be the more free-wheeling creative, humour-driven bunch. They will put together appalling phrases, walk all over the grammar, invent words which do not exist. They are a bit like "jazz as opposed to group 1's "classical" approach. They tend to be better at listening comprehension and have a good ear, playing with different approaches to pronunciation.
Often their written work is appalling and even incomprehensible.
This is already much too long. I suggest that recognition of these two generalised categories and a judicious mixing and matching of students and classroom activities based on these tendencies can be very helpful for lesson-planning and materials creation as well as contributing to the creation of a vibrant but comfortable classroom dynamic.
Verbal diarrhea
Sorry!!! 
I suspect different techniques work better for different people, I also suspect different techniques work better at different stages in learning.
Originally I did flashcards to learn basic words so that I could practice sentence writing and basic reading skills without having to look up every word. If I could do the exercises without having to interrupt them continuously to look in a dictionary, I found it much more effective.
I liked being able to do new sets each time, I learned the words that were repeated there often quite well. I sometimes print out the word lists and study them on paper until I can do a credible job on them, but I really enjoy going to a new list where possible.
Then I quit for a while and did other things with vocabulary learned more in context.
Then I went back, and at this stage I find flashcards useful for:
Turning words I kind of know into ones I know instantly and without hesitation- through repetition of words over and over until I can do them while my mind drifts elsewhere. This is where having access to different sets is very nice; I think doing the same set over and over would kill me- but not knowing quite what the set is going to throw at me keeps me more interested.
Familiarizing myself with other words that I will firm up in context in reading- I find that if I know the word from flashcards I can pick up how it is used much more quickly in reading. For instance “apresurar” and “asustar” were quite common in my initial readings, but not words I saw much in the flashcards, so it took me quite a while to be able to read through them without having to stop and think. The words that I have repeated over and over on flashcards actually mean something to me in Spanish, I do not have to stop and mentally translate or think about them.
I admit that I like to sit in a chair with my book, and read it. For the story. So I need enough words via flashcards that I can do that. If I were the type of person who was going to sit in front of the computer and look up each new word and analyze the sentence, I would pick a different strategy. But I read straight through, and as long as I can follow what is happening in the story, I just read it, even if I have to guess a bit (I mean, for example, did the horse whinny, snort, or make some other horse noise?).
I switch from thing to thing depending on my mood, doing what is interesting when it is interesting, and not doing it when I don’t enjoy it. I am probably not as efficient as I could be if I followed some proper schedule, both of repeating words at proper intervals and in picking what exercises I do when, but as long as I enjoy the process, that is all I care about.
The biggest problem I have with flashcards is that most of them tend to place an inordinate amount of emphasis on the translation process, i.e. this word in language X = this word in language Y.
The longer I have studied language, the more firmly I have come to believe that, while there are some short term benefits to this method, in the long run it can actually be detrimental to language acquisition. Namely, it reinforces the need to translate in our heads, a need which works against building fluency with the language.
For me, its predominantly listening (movies, television, music, etc) and reading, along with a smattering of grammar (generally written in Spanish by native speakers), that keeps my ship afloat.
I do think, however, that with these learning methods there also comes a point of diminishing returns, a point where flashcards, reading and listening become progressively less effective. At such a juncture, to keep from stagnating, it becomes necessary to focus more heavily on two way communication. I feel, however, that it is at this point that the disadvantages of relying too heavily on certain flashcard methods can be seen.
Of course, I am myself by no means fluent, and it would be fair to say that perhaps mine is not the most qualified opinion. Therefore, it might be best to take what I have to offer with a grain of salt. In any case, I certainly agree that there is something to be said for learning styles. There is obviously no "cookie cutter" method that will suit every learner perfectly, so if you find flashcards useful then keep using them, and please, don't view my opinion as a condemnation of your efforts. Whatever floats your boat.
Even when I was in high school many years ago, I would make index cards of the vocabulary words to carry around for review at various times of the day. This reinforced the learning of the words for the week and reviewing the decks of already learned cards was a good way to study word definitions and spelling for a test. It is a good idea to include sentences on your personal flashcard deck. When I take a Spanish course in school, I still use index cards and I see students who are still using them. Of course, now many students make cards on their IPADs or other devices, but the index card method, as well as our flash cards here, are still very useful methods to learn any kind of vocabulary words. The more you repeat a word, the more it will stick with you.
When I started learning English there were no flashcards, or at least, my teachers didn't know or didn't prefer to use this method.
I agree with you Billy, flashcards help me learn nouns or objects more easily, as I am the type of person who learns better when something is represented visually. Flashcards with pictures are even more helpful. As far as the rest is concerned (verbs, phrases etc), I use a combination of books, TV and music.
