Email template variable sent instead of value

Describe the issue or problem
We recently upgraded our journals from OJS 3.3.0-13 and 3.3.0-14 to OJS 3.4.0-8.
There have been two instances where email template variable names are being emailed instead of the value. Specifically the issue has happened with the variable {$contextName} in the “Decline Submission” email.

Steps I took leading up to the issue
1.Decline a submission

What application are you using?
OJS 3.4.0-8

Additional information
Changing the template to use {$journalName} instead of {$contextName} resolves the issue but I am wondering why this is happening and how it can be fixed. Should all emails with {$contextName} be updated? I tried resetting the email templates as well but it did not resolve the issues.