Study Tours in Australia- an educational resource at the hosting university

For the past ten years, Japanese Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne has hosted English study tours from one of its academic exchange partners, Muroran Institute of Technology, through setting up a student-led intercultural learning program. While the content and format of the program, as well as the staff and the students involved in the reception, have changed over the last decade, the receiving school, RMIT University, has continuously valued the underlying principle of what the program aims to be; a student-led social activity where students encounter real-life challenges in communication, cooperation and leadership. The study aims to explore educational merits of hosting English study tours for those who study Japanese language at an Australian university. In this paper, we look at what learners of Japanese at RMIT experienced in hosting native speakers of their target language. By analysing logs of communication among the students involved from a social-constructivist lens, as well as their reflective comments after the program, the paper evaluates how such experiences can contribute to the self-development of students and verifies the educational potential of being in the host role for these study tours.