| The importance of SRS is often overstated. To my knowledge, there isn’t a single study showing SRS as effective for language learning where it was an experimental variable. There’s anecdotal evidence thrown about, which gives us some indication that it’s helpful. But I have doubts that it’s a good return on investment. To avoid diving deep into long arguments about this or that, I’ll keep my advice short:
If you use an SRS, make sure that the item your test goes through the brain structures you want to get good at, eventually reading can help with listening, but because you’re not processing the language through the typical brain structures that handle it, you’re delaying getting good until you’ve exercised these “muscles”. Also, don’t learn words in isolation. Better is to learn the words in context. Better yet is to vary the practice, maybe hookup an LLM to vary the cloze word, if that’s your cup of tea. Use audio if possible. If you’re comfortable with the language, use a TTS. |
Spaced repetition is a fundamental learning method that is attuned to how the brain works. It's not really tied to a specific method like flashcards. Rather, flashcards are merely the most logical and easy implementation of spaced repetition.