Position :

1960	Guru/Teacher, Sekolah Lanjutan Kampung/Trade School, Teluk Air Tawar
1962	Guru/Teacher, Government English School, Bagan Serai.
1965	Guru/Teacher, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan, Ipoh.
1968	Guru/Teacher, Sultan Abu Bakar School, Kuantan.
1968-1970	Tutor,  Department of English, University of Malaya.
1970	Pensyarah dan Ketua, /Lecturer and Head of Department of English Language and Literature, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
1973-1974	Pensyarah, IBKKM/ Lecturer, Institute of Malay Language,Literature and Culture.
1975-1976	Pengarah/Director, IBKKM/Institute of Malay Language,Literature and Culture.
1976-1977	Ketua/Head, Jabatan Persuratan Melayu,/Department ofMalay Letters, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi.
1978-1979	Timbalan Dekan/Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
1976	Profesor Madya/Associate Professor,  Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
1978 to1999	Professor, Department of Malay Letters, National University of Malaysia.
1977-1978	Visiting Professor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.
1981-1982	Asian Scholar in Residence, University of Michigan., Ann Arbor.
1992-1993	Fulbright Visiting  Researcher, University of California, Berkeley.
1993-1994	Kursi, Pengjian Melayu/Chair of Malay Studies, University of Leiden, Leiden,  Netherlands.
1995 to 1999	Pengarah/ Director, Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Universiti  Kebangsaan Malaysia.
1999-2000	Felo penyelidikan/Research Fellow,  Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto
2000	Profesor/Professor ,Pusat Ilmu Kemanusiaaan/School of Humanities,  Universiti Sains Malaysia, P.Pinang