Volume 9, December 2021

We are pleased to announce the release of the ninth volume of the Asian Journal  of English Language Studies (AJELS), the official international, peer-reviewed, and open access journal of the Department of English of the University of Santo Tomas (Manila, the  Philippines). 

Volume 9 features six articles out of the 32 papers submitted to the journal by the  authors coming from different parts of the globe in 2021. The relatively small number of  approved manuscripts suggests that AJELS pays enormous attention to the quality of articles it  accepts for publication. Moreover, AJELS remains to be a preferred avenue for dissemination  of knowledge and research findings, which attests to its untarnished academic reputation.  

The first article by Ryoma Oda and Camilla Vizconde (University of Santo  Tomas) examines the impact of the mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) policy on the language use and the language attitudes of 5th graders in Pampanga,  the Philippines. The second paper written by Richard Oandasan (Midway Colleges, Inc.)  investigates linguistic politeness and power relations in request emails sent by the employees  to the chief executive officer of a higher education institution in the Philippines. The third  article written by Nerissa Ogardo-Zara (University of the Philippines) shares an interesting  study on the social semiotics of quarantine checkpoint signages for COVID-19 pandemic  in the Philippines. From the findings, the proponent draws further insights for developing  disaster literacy. The fourth article was written by six senior high school students who had  genuine interest in forensic linguistics (FL): Alicia Cassandra Ablian, Raphaela Benzon,  Jewel Abyjah Caña, Sofia Doreen Ceniza, Jessica Anne Morales, and Anna Laeticia Reyes  (Manila Science High School). These students worked collaboratively with one of the few  FL researchers in the Philippines, Rachelle Ballesteros-Lintao (University of Santo Tomas),  when they explored the language of evaluation in the Maguindanao massacre case. The  fifth article falls under the domain of migration linguistics. Mikhail Alic Go (Tamagawa  University) and Ariane Borlongan, Founder and Head of the Migration Linguistics Unit at  the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan), interestingly present a linguistic biography  of an English-dependent Filipino migrant in Japan. The sixth and final article included in this  volume written by Ronald Hennessy Esguerra (Ateneo de Manila University) endeavors to  analyze the linguistic resistance and counter-colonization in the narratives of three Philippine  short stories in English.  

Publishing six papers at this point is an enviable accomplishment. Despite the  uncertainties brought about by the global pandemic and other unforeseen challenges,  AJELS is able to feature studies and investigations which language enthusiasts and language  researchers may find timely, relevant, and useful.  

AJELS would like to express its sincerest gratitude to the following academics for  painstakingly reviewing the papers sent to them despite their very busy schedule: Francisco  Dumanig (University of Hawaii at Hilo), Xinghua Liu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University),  Catherine Young (Summer Institute of Linguistics), Michael Tanangkingsing (Taipei Tech Department of English), Supong Tangkiengsirisin (Thammasat University), Mark Ulla  (Walailak University), Carolyn Castro (Montgomery College), Aiden Yeh (Wenzao Ursuline  University of Languages), Lee Kooi Cheng (National University of Singapore), Shaomin  Zhang (Guandong University of Foreign Studies), Resty Cena (University of Alberta),  Rochelle Irene Lucas (De La Salle University), Ruanni Tupas (University College London),  Shirley Dita (De La Salle University), Ariane Borlongan (Tokyo University of Foreign  Studies), Katrina Topacio (University of Santo Tomas), Remedios Miciano (De La Salle  University), Andrew Moody (University of Macau), and Roger Barnard (University of  Waikato). 

The tenth volume of AJELS is in the offing, and it marks the tenth year of the journal  in circulation. The members of the editorial board look forward to receiving and publishing  papers which tackle more thought-provoking topics and more contentious issues relevant to  English language studies.  

On a final note, when the Department, through the founding Editor-in-Chief,  Marilu Rañosa-Madrunio started the journal, it was envisioned that it will be a key venue for  important works on English language studies not only in the Philippines but in the region.  The last decade has seen the publication of many works in the journal which pushed the  boundaries of the discipline and rethought paradigms. A more fruitful next decade of the  journal is therefore hoped for and envisaged.


ALEJANDRO S. BERNARDO, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Asian Journal of English Language Studies