There are 16 tablespoons of flour in one cup of flour.
So if your recipe calls for a cup of flour you need 16 tablespoons of flour to equal out the one cup.
There are always 16 tablespoons of ingredients in one cup of ingredients whether they are flour or anything else.
So if your recipe calls for a cup of flour or cup of other ingredients and you don't have a measuring cup you can fill a cup with 16 tablespoons of those ingredients and then it will equal out a cup of those ingredients.
Or just add the 16 tablespoons of ingredients to your recipe directly.
As long as you're scooping up 16 tablespoons of those ingredients then you'll have 1 cup of ingredients.
So in short there are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup of flour.