@ecsd @mikanshibano@fedibird.com
Thank you for your reply. I wonder if my comment will be a hint for your question about puzzling behavior of Japanese English-learners, but I will note my experience.
When I was in ESL writing class in Japanese university, English-native teachers always told us “Your essay should have thesis statement and every paragraph should begin with topic sentence”. We tried to write in accordance with their guidance again and again, but they rarely found thesis or topic sentence in our essay, they said and sighed. I noticed our habit in Japanese writing somehow lacks the solid logical structure common in English academic writing style.
As you say, if our explanation seems pointless and overexplain same thing needlessly, it will come from that. The skills required in ESL class is not only the linguistic aspect such as grammar and vocabulary but also how we construct the logical structure on which discussion can based. Though such analysis is stereotyped, it makes sense for me. I believed “Yes, this is the topic sentence Ms. X longed for, finally I wrote!”, but Ms. X said “No, it’s not topic sentence” and shook her head again…
This is just an episode in my personal experience, and maybe have no clear thesis, too. I do not have knowledge of programming language, FORTH, but I imagine it would be fragmental and its word order seems rather arbitrary? That is just my guessing from your example of Lafcadio Hearn’s observation of Japanese conversation.
In addition, extremely passive attitude seen in your student at "lang8.com" is, well, I know it is common character of Japanese “おじさん“, male in somehow higher position in society, and never reconsider their privilege in their self-enclosed world and being unconscious of it. I do not want to plead them but admit Japanese suchおじさんhave the tendency. I am sorry for the fact that you are forced to be a kindergarten teacher for them.