• Editorship of Journals

He served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics from 1976 to 2018 (USA and HK), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Language Teachers’ Association from 1987 to 1994, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Language Teaching from 2011 to 2017, Taiwan, and advisory or editorial members of various journal in linguistics and Chinese linguistics.

• Establishment of academic programs and research centers

During his time at Southern Illinois University, he established the programs of Chinese and Japanese Languages and East Asian Studies. While at Ohio State University, he founded the North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. During his tenure at Chung Cheng University in Taiwan, he founded the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, the Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, the Center for Aging Society, and the Taiwan Center for Sign Linguistics.

• Publications

He has published 8 monographs and edited books and more than a hundred articles in linguistics and Chinese linguistics since 1970. His research interests can be divided into five stages: Generative Grammar (1970-1980), Cognitive Grammar (1980-2000), Sign Linguistics (2000-2020), Language and Aging (2010-2020), and Cognitive-Neuro basis of Learning Chinese Characters and Reading (2020-).