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 AL-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
IAIN Sultan Amai Gorontalo 

Volume 4, Nomor 2, Agustus 2019 
ISSN 2442-8965 (P)  
ISSN 2442-8973 (E)  

http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/al 

 

Flashcards as A Media in Teaching English Vocabulary  

La Aba 

mrsiure2@gmail.com 

IAIN Sultan Amai Gorontalo 

 

Abstract 

This article aims to observe the using of flashcard as media in 

teaching English vocabulary. The importance of language element is 

vocabulary because it is the vital organ of language. Teaching 

language needs media to deliver material to motivate the students and 

to put material easy to be understood. Therefore, this article examines 

two questions, namely how flashcard was used as media in teaching 

English vocabulary and is flashcards media effective in teaching 

English vocabulary. Classroom Action Research was used as a 

research method in this research. The result showed that the flashcard 

was prepared by teacher according to his/her creativity, such as the 

size and the content of words on the flashcards. The teacher used 

models of teaching vocabulary using flashcards, namely rhyme and 

lines flashcards, vocabulary introduction, find the pictures, story 

cards, categorizing vocabulary, and flashcard memory game. All the 

models have their steps. The result of research also showed that 

flashcard as a media is sufficient to improve the students' vocabulary. 

It is indicated through the achievement of a pretest, where only two 

(2) students have 500 words. However, 6 (six) students got 1200 

words in the posttest.     

 

Abstrak 

Tulisan ini bertujuan meneliti penggunaan kartu kata sebagai media 

dalam pengajaran kosa kata bahasa Inggris. Kosa kata adalah unsur 

penting dari bahasa, karena merupakan organ vital dalam sebuah 

bahasa. Pengajaran bahasa membutuhkan media untuk menyampaikan 

materi dalam rangka memotivasi siswa dan membuat materi yang 

disampaikan lebih mudah dipahami. Oleh karena itu, tulisan ini 

menjawab dua pertanyaan penelitian yaitu, bagaimana kartu kata 

digunakan sebagai media dalam mengajarkan kosa kata bahasa Inggris 

dan apakah media kartu kata efektif digunakan dalam pengajaran kosa 

kata bahasa Inggris. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian 

tindakan kelas Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kartu kata 

dipersiapkan sesuai dengan kreativitas guru. Misalnya dari segi 

ukuran dan kata-kata yang digunakan pada kata tersebut. Guru 

menggunakan model-model pengajaran kosa kata menggunakan kartu 

kata, yaitu, kartu kata irama dan garis, kartu kata pengantar kosa kata, 

Keywords: 

Flashcard 

Media;English 

Vocabulary; 

Rhyme and Line 

Flashcard 

http://u.lipi.go.id/1421293761
http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/al


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kartu kata menemukan gambar-gambar, kartu kata cerita, kartu kata 

mengelompokkan kosa kata dan kartu kata permainan memori. Setiap 

model-model tersebut mempunyai langkah-langkah pengajarannya 

tersendiri. Selain itu, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kartu kata 

efektif digunakan dalam meningkatkan jumlah kosa kata siswa. Hasil 

pretest menunjukkan terdapat 2 siswa yang mempunyai kosa kata 500, 

tetapi hasil posttest menunjukkan terdapat 6 siswa yang mempunyai 

kosa kata 1200. 

 

A. INTRODUCTION 

  A teaching and learning process needs to fulfill the requirements of the 

teaching and learning process itself. They are a method, media, and content material. 

Those items will keep the teaching and learning run well and success. They are known 

as the teaching components. They have an essential role in teaching and learning 

because they support and relate to each other. The teaching method is method and 

technique which are used by the teacher in doing his/her instruction to the students, to 

deliver the content material and the students get knowledge about the material given. 

Content material is a set of knowledge material which are consisted of fact, concept, 

principle, and generalization, which is based on the curriculum. 

The other components of teaching and learning are the media. Media has a 

function to help the teaching and learning goes well because it is directing students’ 

motivation and making achievement in the classroom. Teaching media should be 

various and qualified. Teaching media is as graphic tools, photographic, or electronic to 

catch process and reconstruct information visually or verbally. Learning media is media, 

which is deliver instructional message or information. 

In using various media, a teacher needs a creative mind. Media is created 

according to students’ need by considering students’ interest, and facilities are prepared. 

Some good media criteria are durable, interesting form and colorful, simple and easy to 

be applied, fix size, give the real concept, picture, or diagram, stimulate students’ 

abstract thinking, elicit students to be active in manipulating the media.  

In teaching the English language mainly in elementary school and primary 

school, media has a crucial role because it gives motivation to students. Why motivation 

is fundamental in these levels because elementary and primary students do not have 

internal motivation, they study English because it is on their school curriculum. 



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Therefore, their internal motivation should be elicited, one way to do is creating 

teaching and learning media which can attract their interest and easy to be used.  

  Talking about English teaching and learning, language element is vital to be 

taught is vocabulary. Jeremy Harmer in his book The Practice of English Language 

Teaching (1992) said that if language structures make up the skeleton of language, then 

it is vocabularies that provide the vital organs and the flesh. When structure allows us to 

generate sentences, then vocabulary helps us to express our meaning and thought. 

However, the level of an English learner, they need to study vocabulary. Patsy and Nina 

Spada (2009) said that the first element of language acquisition is vocabulary.    

  Learning vocabulary can be delivered in teaching through the media of 

flashcards. Flashcards is a set of picture cards which are equipped with a word. It is 

introduced by Glenn Doman, a brain surgery from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 

pictures on the cards can be classified into animal, fruits, clothes, color, shapes, and 

numbers. The contents of the flashcards can be modified according to the level of 

students, whether they are basic, intermediate, or advanced.   

Those paragraph above indicate that vocabulary is important to be learned when 

someone learn the language, however to make it easy to be understood and to attract the 

students’ motivation, it should be used media. Flashcard becomes one of the popular 

media in teaching English vocabulary. Therefore, this research answers the question of 

how flashcards were used in teaching English vocabulary and are the flashcard effective 

in teaching English vocabulary. This article aims to describe the process of using 

flashcards in teaching English vocabulary. 

 

B. RESEARCH METHOD 

This research used Classroom Action Research (CAR) referring to the model of 

John Elliot with four steps, namely planning, action, observation, and reflection. The 

syllabus and the lesson plan were prepared in the planning stage and the model of 

teaching English vocabulary using flashcards was included. The action was applied in 

two cycles, four meetings in first cycle and four meetings in second cycle. Every 

meeting was conducted in one hour and thirty minutes. The observation step was 

conducted during the classroom action. Based on the observation and posttest in the first 

cycle, the reflection step was done. The result of reflection in the first cycle was used to 



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come to the second cycle by repairing the action step. The students’ vocabulary did not 

achieve the minimum standard have been determined, where at least 50% of students 

master 1200 words. They need additional meetings. In the second cycle, the step of 

research directly went to action, observation, and reflection. The observation was still 

done in the second cycle to check the students’ response to the activity in applying 

flashcard. The reflection step was done to determine whether the process of using 

flashcard was right.  There were ten students be the samples of this research. They are at 

the junior high school level.       

 

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 

Result 

   The planning step both in first cycle and in the second cycle was done by 

preparing 6 (six) models of teaching vocabulary by using flashcards. They are listed on 

the lesson plan as follows:  

1. Rhyme and Lines Flashcards 

Course  : basic vocabulary     

Grade level  : beginner 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 

Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : flashcards, LCD 

Content material : Legend of “Malin Kundang”  

Description  : Present story with key vocabulary and pictures using 

flashcards and encourage your learners to interact both verbally and non-verbally 

through actions, mime and repetition. Show the flashcard pictures as they are 

mentioned in the story. Let the students to watch the story again, this time you 

only show the cards.  

2. Vocabulary Introduction 

Course  : basic vocabulary     

Grade level  : beginner/intermediate 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 



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Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : flashcards 

Content material :Legend of “rabbit and Crocodiles”  

Description  : Introduce each vocabulary item with the flashcards  and 

ask the students to explain/describe additional details (e.g. explain what an 

elephant looks like, how it moves, what sound it makes). 

3. Find the Picture 

Course  : basic vocabulary     

Grade level  : beginner/intermediate 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 

Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : Picture flashcards 

Content material : Mixed picture on noun  

Description  : Place the flashcards around the classroom (on the wall, 

door, window, chairs, floor) and ask your students to point to, or go up to the 

correct flashcard when they hear it. 

4. Story Cards 

Course  : basic vocabulary     

Grade level  : beginner/intermediate 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 

Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : Picture flashcards 

Content material : Mixed picture on legend story. 

Description  : Place the cards on the table and ask the students to tell you a 

story connecting all the pictures. 

5. Categorizing Vocabulary 

Course  : basic vocabulary     



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Grade level  : beginner/intermediate/advanced/adult 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 

Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : Picture flashcards 

Content material : Mixed pictures on animal, fruits, and household the story 

is “Monkey and Turtle” 

Description  : Give each group a set of flashcards and ask the students to 

sort them into categories. For young children, a mix of different flashcards can be 

categorized into colors. For older children and adult students, use more difficult 

categories. For example: Animal flashcards – sorted into four legs, two legs; those 

that can fly those that can’t. Food cards can be sorted into fruits, vegetables, sweet 

and sour, to be eaten cooked or raw. Household items can be sorted into wood, 

plastic, solvents and fabrics. 

6. Flashcard Memory Game 

Course  : basic vocabulary     

Grade level  : beginner/intermediate/advanced/adult 

Objectives  : to learn vocabulary through short story 

Method  : group 

Time   : 90 minutes 

Preparation  : 10-15 minutes, to print and laminate the cards 

Media needed  : Picture flashcards 

Content material : Food pictures flashcard 

Description  : Give each group of students a set of flashcards with two 

copies of each card. Spread the cards face down on the table. In turn, each player 

turns up two cards and says what they are. If they turn up the same cards, they 

keep the pair and have another go. If the cards are different, they replace them and 

the next player has a go. The player with the most pairs is the winner. 

 

 

 



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Discussion 

The action, both in first cycle and in the second cycle was done in accordance to 

the model above. However, the result of posttest in the first cycle showed that the 

students did not achieve the minimal standard of vocabulary have been determined, 

namely 1200 words. The reflection result in first cycle showed that the students needed 

additional meetings.  Therefore, the second cycle was done. However, the observation 

sheet, both in the first cycle and in the second cycle showed that the students have high 

motivation in following the activity, because it is like playing game. They were put in 

group, and the end of action, the teacher made a competition between groups by 

presenting a quiz about the vocabulary have just learned. 

Before doing the action, the students done pretest to know their prior ability. 

The pretest result showed that five (5) students have 100 words, three (3) students have 

450 words, and two (2) students have 500 words. The result of posttest in the first cycle 

showed that three (3) students have 500 words, two (2) students have 800 words, and 

five (5) students have 1000 words. In the second cycle the result of posttest showed that 

two (2) students have 800 words, two (2) students have 1000 words, and six (6) 

students have 1200 words. 

  The result in the first cycle and in the second cycle proven that the students will 

easy to remember the words given when constucting into proper media for them. It is 

also proven that the students will get good impression about the material, when the 

content material is a story. Besides, it can attract the students interest, maintance the 

students’ memory, and increase their motivation. The impressed moment has very good 

impact on students’ long term memory.  

  Moreover, flashcard and legend short story material is easy to be applicated in 

teaching and learning process. The students can independently make his/her own 

flashcard and browse or download the legend short story according to their own 

preference. The important thing is the teacher give guidance to them to make the 

flashcard and to browse the story. The students who we were given treatment, got ttheir 

very good progress in vocabulary, because they did not only study during the teaching 

and learning process, but also carried their own flashcard at their house. In other words, 

they study independently.  

  Vocabulary is the content of language, because it is building the skeleton of 



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language. In doing function of language as mean of communication, we need words 

which are giving meaning to our communication. If we are going to describe how we 

feel at this very moment, we have to be able to find a word which reflects the 

complexity of the feeling. The words we choose to use when we want to invite 

someone out-especially if we think they may be reluctant-can make all the difference 

between acceptance and refusal.  

  Teaching vocabulary is not as easy as we image, because vocabulary or word 

has its own component. They are meaning, pronunciation, usage, and diction. One of the 

problems of vocabulary teaching is how to select what words to teach. Dictionaries for 

upper intermediate students frequently have 55,000 words or more and there may be 

many meanings for a word. A word is representing a small fraction of all the possible 

words in a language. Therefore, we have to make sense of this huge list and reduce it to 

manageable proportions for the learners.  

  A general principle in the past has been to teach more concrete words at lower 

levels and gradually become more abstract. Words are such as ‘table’, ‘chair’, ‘book’, 

etc are easy to be introduced and understood by the students, because they appear in 

front of the students. The idea of teaching vocabulary by selecting words is on the track 

with the children development of acquiring their first language. some theories about 

how  language is acquired have almost the same claim that language need is learned by 

preparing stimulus and response as Stephen Krashen theory in behaviorist theory, 

because they already have competence to say the language. It is said by Noam Chomsky 

with cognitive theory.  

 There are some methods can be used to teach vocabulary such as using pictures, 

realia, etc. To direct the method then the teacher need media. One of media is teaching 

and learning vocabulary is flashcards. Flashcard is introduced by Glenn Doman, a brain 

surgery from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nowadays, it becomes very popular as 

teaching media particularly for teaching English language. We can find it in many kinds 

of book resources and also in online references. Some website offers the flashcard to 

teach and learn English for example, learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/flashcards.   

 

 

 

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D. CONCLUSION 

From the discussion above, some conclusion can be drawn as follows: Flashcard 

is effective media to teach vocabulary because it can be modified in accordance to what 

the students need. Flashcard is effective in maintaining the students’ interest and 

motivation in learning, because it is designed colorful and well-structured. Legend short 

story is able to attract the students’ motivation to involve effectively in teaching and 

learning process. Legend short story can be used to keep students’ long term memory, 

thus they will easy to memorize the vocabulary give 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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