Besides his academic writing, he has translated extensively from Indonesian and Malay, from Vietnamese Francophone literature, and also co-translated from Hindi.
He later described this as a time when the Malaysian government was in desperate need for foreign professors to teach in their newly revitalised education system; Malay teachers during the period were earning doctorates abroad.
In 2001 Ohio University Press published his study of Indonesian poetry during the New Order under President Suharto, which outlined the development of the medium in its socio-historical context.
[6] Aveling was a Member of the Doctoral Studies Committee for the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and taught there in 2008 and 2009.
In Nov, 2015, Dr Aveling returned to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as a visiting professor to teach the course "Translation Studies" for Vietnamese MA students by the invitation of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature.