Her research has pioneered what are now accepted baselines in the field, showing that language learning begins in early infancy (even before birth) and is shaped by experience across the first year of life.

[2] She is a Canada Research Chair and Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia and is the recipient of the 2015 SSHRC Gold Medal.

[3][4] On 29 December 2017, Werker was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, "for her internationally renowned contributions to our understanding of speech perception and language acquisition in infants.

[7] Werker uses both behavioural and neuroimaging (particularly NIRS and ERP) methodology to identify maturational milestones that make it possible for children to begin the process of language acquisition.

She attributes her interest in language acquisition to living in Vancouver, where most children grow up in bilingual households.