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Comprehensive English dictionaries list multiple meanings for the words “competence” and “competency”. Although the variety of meanings may not matter in ordinary conversations, in rigorous thinking about the measurement and development of competence or competencies, clarity is indispensable. For the purpose of developing the theme in this chapter, a distinction is made between what may be conceptualized as an integrated and large-scale characteristic, capability or attribute, and smaller-scale identifiable elements that contribute to such an attribute, in particular demonstrable skills in performing a task. The first of these, the envelope term, is referred to as competence; a contributing element is referred to as a skill or competency, the latter two being used more or less interchangeably.(Elsewhere, competencies may be called competences, and skill may be restricted to physical or psychomotor activity.) The …