As contingências verbais promovidas pelo ambiente da educação infantil são importantes para que crianças pré-escolares desenvolvam seus repertórios verbais. Estudos indicam que a leitura compartilhada de histórias (LCH) tem efeitos significativos no desenvolvimento desses repertórios, principalmente quando associada a estratégias de ensino explícito de vocabulário. Porém, muitos educadores não têm conhecimento sobre essas estratégias e sobre como ocorre a aprendizagem a partir da LCH. Este trabalho, composto por três estudos, teve dois objetivos gerais: identificar as principais estratégias de LCH empregadas para o ensino explícito de palavras a crianças pré-escolares, estudadas pela literatura; e elaborar e implementar duas intervenções: uma delas voltada diretamente para crianças pré-escolares, e outra para professoras da Educação Infantil, ambas focadas no ensino de palavras por meio da leitura compartilhada de histórias. O Estudo 1 consistiu em uma revisão integrativa das estratégias de LCH testadas como prática de ensino publicadas em diferentes bases de dados entre 2006 e 2016. Foram analisados 13 artigos e foi possível identificar que todas as estratégias analisadas foram correlacionadas positivamente com ganhos por parte das crianças em diversas habilidades linguísticas. O Estudo 2 teve como objetivo testar os efeitos cumulativos do uso de estratégias de ensino de palavras a partir de sessões de LCH na aprendizagem de palavras por crianças pré-escolares. Foram realizadas três sessões de leitura compartilhada de uma mesma história e uma sessão composta por uma atividade complementar sobre as palavras da história lida, em uma classe de 13 crianças de 4 a 5 anos. Em cada sessão foi implementada uma estratégia de ensino de substantivos e verbos: Destacar a palavra-alvo, Explicar o significado da palavra-alvo, Iniciar conversas sobre a palavra-alvo e Atividades Complementares. Foi possível identificar ganhos significativos (p<0,05) das crianças em tarefas de emparelhamento ao modelo para substantivos e ganhos muito significativos (p<0,01) nas tarefas de nomeação tanto para substantivos quanto para verbos, na comparação entre medidas de pré e pós-teste. O Estudo 3 testou os efeitos de um programa de desenvolvimento profissional sobre estratégias de ensino de palavras a partir de LCH no uso dessas estratégias por parte de três professoras (medida primária) e na aprendizagem de palavras por parte das crianças, alunas dessas professoras (medida secundária). O programa de desenvolvimento profissional foi composto por um workshop sobre estratégias de ensino de palavras a partir de LCH e sessões de consultoria colaborativa, testados em um delineamento de linha de base múltipla. Foi possível identificar um aumento no uso de estratégias por parte das professoras após o workshop, além de manutenção e aumento desse uso durante os períodos Atividade de Contação de História e Atividades Complementares, respectivamente, após a implementação das sessões de consultoria colaborativa. Verificou-se, também, ganhos muito significativos (p>0,01) por parte das crianças nas tarefas de emparelhamento e definição de palavras. Além disso, as sessões de consultoria colaborativa permitiram a identificação de problemas vivenciados pelas professoras que influenciam, tanto em atividades cotidianas em sala de aula, quanto nas atividades propostas por esse estudo. O conjunto dos estudos confirmou a eficácia da LCH para ensino de repertórios verbais a crianças e apontou a necessidade de desenvolvimento de mais intervenções voltadas para professores nessa área / Verbal contingencies, promoted by early childhood education, and are important for preschool children to develop their verbal repertoires. Studies indicate that shared book reading (SBR) has a significant effect in developing there repertoires, especially when associated with explicit vocabulary teaching strategies. However, many educators have no knowledge about those strategies or about how SBR can promote learning processes. This research, composed by three studies, has two general purposes: to identify the main vocabulary-teaching strategies used during SBR with preschool children studied by the literature; and develop and implement two interventions: one applied to preschool children, and the other applied to early childhood educators, focused on vocabulary-teaching through SBR. Study 1 consisted in an integrative review of strategies used in SBR activities, tested as a teaching practice, published in different databases between 2006 and 2016. We analyzed 13 articles and identified that all strategies analyzed were positively correlated with gains in several language skills. The Study 2 aimed to test the cumulative effects in the use of word teaching strategies through SBR in word learning by preschool children. Three sessions of SBR of the same story, and one session of one complementary activity about words found in the story were implemented in a class of 13 children, from 4 to 5 years old. In each session, one teaching strategy was implemented to teach nouns and verbs: \"Highlight the target word\", \"Explain the target word\", \"Start conversations about the target word\" and \"Complementary Activities\". Significant gains (p <0.05) in matching to sample tasks for substantive and more significant gains (p <0.01) in naming tasks, between pre-test and post-test measures were identified . Study 3 tested the effects of a professional development program of word teaching strategies through SBR in measures of strategies use by three educators (primary measure) and in word learning by children in their class (secondary measure). The Professional development program was composed by a workshop about word teaching strategies trough SBR and collaborative consulting sessions, tested in a multiple baseline design. We identified a raise in strategies use by all the teachers after the workshop, and also a maintenance and a increase of this use in Telling Story Activity and Complementary Activities periods, respectively, after the implementation of collaborative consulting sessions. Significant gains (p>0,01) in childrens matching to sample and definition tasks performances were also observed. Moreover, collaborative consulting sessions allowed the identification of problems experienced by those educators that had influence, not only in everyday activities, but also activities proposed by this study. This set of studies confirm the efficacy of SBR in teaching verbal repertoires to children and pointed out the necessity of developing more interventions for educators in this area

A leitura compartilhada de livros para crianças é uma atividade que tem sido estudada como forma de ensino incidental de vocabulário, que envolve, dentre outros processos, o responder por exclusão. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi investigar a ocorrência de aprendizagem de relações entre estímulos visuais (figuras) com seus respectivos estímulos auditivos (palavras) a partir de diferentes condições de leitura compartilhada de livros para crianças com Síndrome de Down (SD) e com desenvolvimento típico (DT). Para a pesquisa foram desenvolvidos dois estudos. No Estudo 1, participaram seis crianças com SD com seis a sete anos, e seis crianças com DT com três a quatro anos (amostras pareadas em função do nível de vocabulário). Foi utilizado um livro de história produzido pela pesquisadora, no qual havia dois substantivos e dois adjetivos desconhecidos (estímulos visuais S1, S2, A1, A2), apresentados uma única vez na história. Esse livro foi lido para cada criança duas vezes em sequência por sessão e em cada sessão foi realizada uma condição de leitura diferente. Foram apresentadas três condições de leitura e cada criança passou por todas, mas em diferentes ordens (contrabalanceamento). Na Condição 1, o livro foi lido para a criança sem intervenções. Na Condição 2, o livro foi lido para a criança e ela tinha que repetir o nome dos estímulos desconhecidos. Na Condição 3, o livro foi lido e foram realizadas perguntas relacionadas aos estímulos-alvo. Ao final de cada sessão foram realizadas sondas de aprendizagem (sondas de emparelhamento ao modelo e nomeação), e após uma semana da última sessão foi aplicada uma sonda de manutenção e uma de generalização. As crianças com DT apresentaram maior número de acertos que as com SD, e os acertos foram mais relacionados ao estímulo S1. As crianças não aprenderam a relação nome-cor. A análise dos resultados sugeriu que o número de estímulos-alvo era excessivo e com apresentações insuficientes no livro. No Estudo 2 participaram seis crianças com DT de 3 a 4 anos e seis crianças com SD, de 5 a 8 anos. O procedimento utilizado no Estudo 2 foi semelhante ao primeiro com as seguintes alterações no livro: utilização de apenas duas relações-alvo (um substantivo-alvo e um adjetivo-alvo - S2 e A3), cada uma sendo apresentada três vezes ao longo da história, em figuras que possibilitavam o responder por exclusão. Também foi acrescentada uma tentativa de exclusão nas sondas de aprendizagem. Nesse estudo, todas as crianças com DT conseguiram selecionar e nomear estímulo S2 e duas mostraram indícios de aprendizagem do estímulo A3. As crianças com SD apresentaram um menor número de acertos nas sondas de emparelhamento, mas apresentaram algumas nomeações corretas, o que não foi observado no Estudo 1. Os dados sugerem que as mudanças realizadas no livro melhoram o desempenho das crianças com DT, mas não o das crianças com SD. Não foram encontradas diferenças entre as condições de leituras nos dois estudos. No entanto, são necessários estudos adicionais para avaliar essas diferentes condições e as variáveis envolvidas na aprendizagem de palavras a partir da leitura compartilhada de livro. / Shared book reading for children is an activity that has been studied as an incidental vocabulary teaching that involves, among other processes, exclusion responding. The aim of this research was to investigate the occurrence of learning of the relation between visual stimuli (figures) with their respective auditory stimuli (words) in different shared book reading conditions to Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD) children. This research was performed in two studies. In Study 1, participated six DS children from six to seven years old and six TD children from three to four years old (paired samples based on vocabulary level). In this study, the conductor of the experiment used a storybook produced for this research. The book contained two nouns and two unknown adjectives (visual stimuli S1, S2, A1, and A2), presented one time in the story. The conductor of the experiment read the book to every child two times in sequence for each session. In each session, the conductor of the experiment applied a different reading condition. Three reading conditions were presented in various orders (counterbalance) for each child. In Condition 1, the book was read to the child without interventions. In Condition 2, the book was read to the child, and the unknown stimuli names were asked to be repeated. In Condition 3, the book was read to the child, and questions related to the target stimuli were made. At the end of each session, learning probes (matching-to-sample and naming probes) were made. After one week of the last session, maintenance and generalization probes were applied. TD children showed more correct answers than DS children. The right answers were mostly related to S1 stimuli. No child learned name-color relations. Result analysis suggested that the target stimuli was excessive and with insufficient presentations in the book. In Study 2, participated six TD children from three to four years old and six DS children from five to eight years old. The procedure of Study 2 was similar to Study 1, except for some alterations in the book: there were only two target-relations (one target-noun and one target-adjective S2 and A3), each being presented three times along the story, in figures that allowed the exclusion responding. It was also included an attempt of exclusion in learning probes. In this Study, all TD children could select and name S2 stimuli and two children showed indications of learning of A3 stimuli. DS children showed a smaller number of correct answers in matching probes but showed some correct nominations, which were not observed in Study 1. The data suggest that the changes in the book improved the TD children performance, but not to DS children. The results showed no difference between reading conditions in both studies. However, additional studies that evaluate different conditions and variables related to word learning in shared book reading are necessary.

The purpose of this study is to examine reactions on the implementation of a method for word learning among participants in a group of pre-literate students within a beginners’ course of Swedish for immigrants. The learning method uses individual wordlists, based on personal experiences. Data were collected through lesson observations of the group as a whole and interviews with six of the students, and analysed from a pragmatic point of view, with its emphasis on life experience and social interaction as important factors for successful learning. The study focuses primarily on conceptions of activity, participation and motivation. The result shows that the students experienced differences regarding all these factors, compared to their earlier experiences of word learning. Motivation was the most positively influenced factor. When it comes to activity, more time than before was spent on homework. The study also shows that the possibility to exert an influence on the learning process through participation entails a certain amount of doubtfulness as well as increased motivation.

I denna studie har jag administrerat ett ordinlärningstest och ett vokabulärtest för barn som har en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Ordinlärningstestet är baserat på en svensk anpassning av Storkel, Armbrüster &amp; Hogan (2006) engelska ordinlärningsparadigm. Syftet var att undersöka effekterna av fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannordstäthet på ordinlärning. Storkel et al. (2006) genomförde paradigmet ursprungligen på en grupp med vuxna och i tidigare studier då paradigmet använts på barn har det anpassats på olika sätt. Anpassningarna i denna studie har varit ökade upprepningar av orden under testningen samt att barnen har fått peka på bilder istället för att säga orden som svarsalternativ då många av deltagarna har begränsade möjligheter att utrycka sig med ord.   Resultaten av vokabulärtestet och ordinlärningstestet har jämförts med typiskt utvecklade barn. Utifrån vokabulärtestets resultat så har testgruppen för barn med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning presterat lägre än barn med typisk utveckling. För framtida studier skulle ett vokabulärtest kunna utformas med mer anpassade och tydliga bilder för barn med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning.   Resultaten för ordinlärningstestet med pekningar som svarsalternativ har inte kunnat ge ett fullständigt resultat utan det har endast kunnat ske visuella inspektioner av den insamlade datan. Utifrån den visuella inspektionen kunde man inte antyda något tecken på ökat lärande eller effekter av fonotaktisk sannolikhet eller grannordstäthet. Vid jämförandet med typiskt utvecklade barn antyder det att dessa barn når ett högre resultat än testgruppen med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Däremot har det skett intressanta beteendeobservationer under ordinlärningstestet. Det skedde spontana verbala repetitioner av orden under testningen. Antal gånger orden repeterades ökade för varje testomgång och det fanns också trender för kombinationerna hög fonotaktisk sannolikhet &amp; hög grannordstäthet och låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet &amp; låg grannordstäthet. För framtida forskning kan dessa resultat och hur testen administreras vara intressant för hur nya studier skulle kunna designas. / In this study, I have administered a word-learning test and a vocabulary test for children with intellectual disabilities. The word-learning test in this study is based on a swedish adaptation of Storkel, Armbrüster &amp; Hogan (2006) english word-learning paradigm. The purpose was to investigate the effects of phonological probability and neighborhood density on word-learning. Storkel et al. (2006) originally implemented the paradigm on a group of adults and in previous studies when the paradigm was used on children it has been adapted in different ways. The adaptations in this study have been increased repetitions of the words during the testing and that the children have been allowed to point at pictures instead of saying the words as a response alternative, because many of the participants have limited opportunities to express themselves with words.   The results of the vocabulary test and the word-learning test have been compared with typically developed children. Based on the results of the vocabulary test, the test group for children with intellectual disabilities performed lower than children with typical development. For future studies, a vocabulary test could be designed with more customized images for children with intellectual disabilities.   The results for the word-learning test with pointing as a response alternative have not been able to give a complete result, only visual inspections of the collected data have been possible. Based on the visual inspections, there was no indication of increased learning or effects of phonological probability or neighborhood density. However, interesting behavioural observations has been observed during the word-learning test. Spontaneous verbal repetitions of the words were observed during testing. The number of times the words were repeated increased for each test session and there were also trends for an effect for the combinations high phonological probability &amp; high neighborhood density and low phonological probability &amp; low neighborhood density. For future research, these results and how the tests were administered may be interesting and helpful in how new studies could be designed.

Examensarbetet bygger på tidigare forskning som visat att två egenskaper hos ord, hög/låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet och hög/låg grannskapstäthet, kan påverka ordinlärning hos vuxna och barn. I examens­arbetet upprepas ett ordexperiment som tidigare genomförts i USA och Neder­länderna. Syftet var att, genom en experimentell design, undersöka påverkan av fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannskapstäthet på ordinlärningen hos 21 elever i åk 3 med typisk språk­ut­veckling. Sambandet mellan elevernas ordinlärning och vokabulär, fonologisk medvetenhet och/eller verbalt arbetsminne undersöktes också. Varje elev genomförde ett ordexperiment i en sagokontext med inlärning av 16 nonord som representerar svenska substantiv. De verbalt och visuellt förmedlade orden har skapats utifrån den svenska fonotaxen. Eleven mötte orden upprepade gånger och skulle genom sagans olika episoder lära in och reproducera dessa. Denna studies resultat är i linje med tidigare resultat från USA och Nederländerna. Eleverna genom­förde också ett test av ordförrådets bredd, PPVT-IV, fonologisk medvetenhet och verbalt arbets­minne, NEPSY-II.  Statistisk analys (ANOVA) visade att repetition förbättrade inlärning­en. En korrelationsanalys visade ett starkt positivt samband mellan antalet inlärda ord och fonologisk medvetenhet. Då det fanns en effekt av hög/låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet i interaktion med hög/ låg grannskapstäthet hos elever med typisk språkutveckling, kan det i vidare forskning vara av intresse att undersöka om denna effekt även gäller för elever med språkstörning och/eller dyslexi. / This student thesis is based on former research which claims that certain characteristics of words, high/low phonotactic probability and high/low neighbourhood density, may affect word learning in adults and children. In this thesis a word experiment, formerly used in the USA and the Netherlands, was replicated. The aim was through experimental design, examine the impact of phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density on word learning in 21 pupils in grade 3 with typical language development. Correlations between pupils’ word learning and vocabulary, phonological awareness and/or verbal short-term memory were also examined. Each pupil performed a word experiment through a story context where 16 pseudo words representing Swedish nouns were learned. The verbally and visually presented words have been created using Swedish phonotactics. The student encountered the words repeatedly and was tasked to during the different episodes learn and produce the words. The result of this study is in line with former studies in the USA and the Netherlands. The pupils also performed tests of vocabulary, PPVT-IV, phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory, NEPSY-II. Statistical analyses (ANOVA) suggested that repeated training improves learning. Correlation analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between number of words learned and phonological awareness. Since there was an effect of high/low phonotactic probability combined with high/low neighbourhood density in pupils with typical language development, future research may examine this effect in pupils with developmental language disorder and/or dyslexia.

Ordförrådet är en central del i språkförståelsen. Forskning visar att svårigheter inom detta område kan leda till sämre förutsättningar att utvecklas kunskapsmässigt i skolan. Därför är det betydelsefullt att speciallärarens arbete är evidensbaserat för att främja och utveckla ordförrådet hos eleverna. Ordinlärning är ett komplext område med många ingående delar. Två variabler som har undersökts i internationell forskning för att få kunskap om ordinlärningsprocessen är fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannordstäthet. Att brister i fonologisk medvetenhet försvårar ordinlärning har också uppmärksammats. I vårt arbete utfördes ett ordinlärningsexperiment och tre språkliga/kognitiva tester med 16 elever i årskurs 1 med typisk utveckling. I experimentet varierades ords fonotaktiska sannolikhet och grannordstäthet i syfte att undersöka vilken roll dessa variabler hade vid ordinlärning. Eleverna fick lyssna på två olika berättelser där 16 non-ord presenterades. Målet var att försöka lära sig dessa ord. Vi undersökte också, genom ett test i fonologisk medvetenhet, hur sambandet såg ut mellan ordinlärning och fonologisk medvetenhet. I studien uppnås inte ett signifikant resultat för variablernas påverkan vid ordinlärning. Däremot kan en ordinlärningsprogression säkerställas allteftersom exponeringarna för non-orden ökar. Korrelation mellan ordinlärning och fonologisk medvetenhet påvisas inte. Studiens resultat beror på att golveffekter uppnås i samband med experimentet. Eleverna lär sig få ord, vilket beror på att testet är för svårt. Framtida forskning bör vid liknande experiment med aktuell åldersgrupp beakta och överväga ett större urval, öka antalet exponeringar av målorden i testsituationen samt ändra rättningsförfarandet

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This study explores storybook illustrations in learning word meanings among English learners in a university intensive language program. The impact of children’s literature on the comprehension and vocabulary development of second language children is well-documented. However, the use of the literature with adults still needs to be researched. Therefore, a mixed-method study was designed (1) to investigate whether readers who read an authentic illustrated story differed from those who read the same story without illustrations; and (2) to learn more about the readers’ process of learning words from storybook illustrations. Results suggest that illustrations play an important role in both comprehending the text and learning individual words, however issues related to the accessibility of the text and readers’ ability to use context should also be taken into consideration. The findings support prior research that the benefits of learning from context take time to become robust. The study suggests that illustrated storybooks provide a rich context for adults to infer word meanings and recommends children’s literature as an alternative source of reading in programs serving adult English learners.

Chez les enfants souffrant de troubles spécifiques du langage oral (TSLO), des déficits demémoire à court terme verbale et d’acquisition lexicale sont fréquemment décrits. Ces capacités sont évaluées par des tâches de répétition et plus généralement de production verbale, mettant en jeu demultiples composants susceptibles d’être altérés dans les TSLO. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif généralde cette thèse était l’examen de mécanismes de mémorisation verbale à l’aide du paradigme dumonde visuel. L’oculométrie consiste à analyser les mouvements oculaires des participants sur desimages, à la suite de stimulations verbales. La reconnaissance et la mémorisation à court terme demots parlés familiers ont été examinées à travers quatre études, auxquelles les participants avec etsans TSLO âgés de 5 et 6 ans, ont obtenu des résultats comparables. Seules des différences enfonction de l’âge ont été révélées, reflétant les changements développementaux du traitement lexical.Dans un second temps, le paradigme d’appariement rapide pour l’acquisition de nouveaux mots(« fast mapping »), nécessitant peu de présentations, a été proposé à trois groupes d’enfants. Leurscapacités d’acquisition lexicale ont à nouveau été évaluées via le paradigme du monde visuel à unetâche de reconnaissance de mots parlés. Les groupes TSLO présentant des déficits en répétitionverbale, ont néanmoins reconnu et apparié les nouvelles étiquettes lexicales aux images référentes,comme leurs pairs au développement typique. Les études menées ont permis de mettre en évidenceque le maintien à court terme de l'information verbale ainsi que l’encodage de nouvelles informationssont efficients chez les enfants avec TSLO, lorsque la production verbale n’est pas sollicitée. / In children suffering from specific language impairment (SLI), verbal short term memory disorders and lexical learning inability are frequently described. These skills are assessed through repetition tasks and more generally, with verbal output modality which variety of components can be impaired in SLI. In this context, the general aim of this research work was the examination of verbal memorization processes through visual world paradigm. This eye-tracking tasks consist in analyzing eye movements of participants on pictures, consecutively to verbal stimulations. Recognition and short term retention of familiar spoken words were investigated through four studies, in which participants aged 5 and 6, with and without SLI, shown similar patterns of result. Only age differences were revealed, suggesting developmental changing of lexical processing. In a second phase, the fast mapping word learning paradigm requiring few occurences of new words, was proposed to three groups of children. Their lexical learning abilities were again assessed within the visual world paradigm and a spoken word recognition task. SLI groups with poor performances in verbal repetition tasks, have nevertheless associated the new lexical label with referent picture, as their peers with typical development. These studies suggest that verbal information retention in short term memory and encoding of new information are efficient in SLI children, when the tasks do not require any verbal output.

Das Wortlernen begleitet unser Leben von der Kindheit bis ins Alter. Kleinkinder lernen ihre Muttersprache(n), aber auch Erwachsene lernen neue Wörter, z.B. beim Fremdspracherwerb. Unter gewissen Umständen muss eine neue Sprache wieder erlernen werden, wie z.B. nach einer Gehirnläsion. Wie meistert unser Gehirn diese herausfordernden Wortlernsituationen? Um die Neuroplastizität des Wortlernens zu untersuchen, wurden unterschiedliche neurowissenschaftliche Methoden (Elektroenzephalographie, funktionelle Nahinfrarotspektroskopie, voxel-basierte Läsion-Verhalten/EEG Mapping), teilweise in Kombination, bei Kleinkindern, Kindern und Erwachsenen sowie Patienten mit einer Gehirnläsion im Vergleich zu älteren Kontrollprobanden angewendet. 5 Experimente untersuchten die neuronale Verarbeitung von Pseudowörtern, welche mutter- und fremdsprachlichen phonotaktischen Regeln (d.h. die Kombination von verschiedenen Phonemen) folgten, in unterschiedlichen Lernsettings bei monolingualen Teilnehmern. Gesunde Erwachsene aber auch 6monatige und ältere Teilnehmer und Patienten konnten diese Regeln differenzieren. Beteiligte Gehirnareale umfassten ein links-hemisphärisches fronto-temporales Netzwerk. Die Verarbeitung universeller Spracheigenschaften, andererseits, zeigte sich in parietalen Regionen. Während Erwachsene eine klare Dominanz der linken Hemisphäre aufwiesen, nutzten 6monatige noch beide Gehirnhälften. Unterschiedliche Sprachtrainings (semantische Trainings oder Passives Zuhören) an drei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen veränderten auch die Gehirnaktivität der Kleinkinder und der Erwachsenen und wiesen auf eine erhöhte Lernflexibilität hin. Im 6. Experiment lernten 5jährige bilinguale Kinder anhand pragmatischer Eigenschaften neue Adjektive und zeigten effizientere neuronale Mechanismen als Monolinguale. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Wichtigkeit multi-methodologischer Ansätze, um genauere Einblicke in die komplexen Mechanismen der Neuroplastizität zu erlangen. / Word learning accompanies our everyday life from infancy to advanced age. Infants have to learn the native language(s) but also during adulthood word learning can take place, for example if we learn a new foreign language. Sometimes people are confronted with a situation in which they have to re-learn a language because of a brain lesion. How does the brain master these challenging word learning settings? To assess neuroplasticity of word learning several neuroscientific methods (electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, voxel-based lesion-behavior/EEG mapping), partially in combination, were used in infants, children, and adults as well as in patients suffering from a brain lesion compared to matched elderly controls. In 5 experiments neuronal processing of pseudowords corresponding to native and non-native phonotactic rules (i.e., the combination of different phonemes) was investigated under different learning conditions in monolingual participants. Healthy adults but also 6-month-old infants and elderly subjects and patients were able to differentiate these rules. Involved brain areas included a left-hemispheric network of fronto-temporal regions. When processing universal linguistic features, however, more parietal regions were involved. While adults revealed a clear left-dominant network, 6-month-olds still recruited bilateral brain areas. Differential language trainings (semantic or passive listening trainings) over three consecutive days also modulated brain activation in both infants and adults suggesting a high flexibility for learning native and non-native linguistic regularities. In a 6th experiment, bilingual 5-year-old children learned novel adjectives by means of pragmatic cues and revealed more efficient neuronal mechanisms compared to monolingual children. Findings underline the importance of multi-methodological approaches to get clearer insights into the complex machinery of neuroplasticity.