  The determination of chemical composition is crucial for investigating the
formation and evolution of star forming galaxies and provides a powerful tool
to constrain the effects of galactic winds and accretion from the cosmic web.
In this regard stellar absorption line studies provide an attractive
alternative to the standard techniques using the strong emission lines of HII
regions. We discuss a number of newly developed methods: - multi-object
spectroscopy of individual blue and red supergiant stars, the brightest stars
in the universe at visual and NIR wavelengths, - NIR spectroscopy of super star
clusters, - optical spectroscopy of the integrated light of stellar populations
in the disks of star forming galaxies, and present results accumulated over the
last two years. We then discuss the scientific perspectives and potential of
these methods for the use of ELTs.
