ENGLISH 1 HISTORICAL EVOLUTION, DEFINITION, AND MEANING OF COMPETENCE:

A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Abstract

This paper had two main objectives; 1) to analyze the historical evolution of the concept of competence and 2) to analyze and assess various descriptions and definitions of the term competence. This literature review was carried out by reviewing and assessing the selected research studies ranging from 1959 to date through various research databases. To find out the literature, keywords like competence, competency, professional competence, etc were used. At first, a total of 190 research articles were identified. In the second phase, detailed and comprehensive analysis and assessment were done to make sure the relevance of the selected research studies with the objectives of this particular research. In this manner, only 65 research studies were selected for this literature review. This literature review revealed that the term competence is being used in various fields with varying contexts. It also suggested that the term has varying descriptions and definitions based on its utilization and a single, unified and unanimous definition of the concept of competence is still needed.