Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences International , vol.12, no.1, pp.272-293, 2022 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
A common terminology unity has not been achieved yet on some concepts in the field of educational sciences. Some concepts defined in different terms or different meanings are assigned to those concepts. Some concepts, on the other hand, might evolve into different words and this situation causes a concept confusion in literature because a particular concept can be misunderstood or misconceived by various people. Besides, sometimes wrong Turkish-English equivalents can be used for these concepts. Three of the mostly used, yet misconceived concepts in Turkish are “yeterlik”, “yeterlilik” and “yetkinlik”, and in English “competence”, “competency” and “competent”. “Yeterlik and yeterlilik” and “competence and competency” are frequently used as synonym terms. This makes it difficult to grasp what those concepts actually mean. However, the same concept confusion is not exclusive to national literature. The confusion regarding those concepts do exist in international literature as well. So, establishing a common understanding of what those concepts actually convey and what should be their equivalents in Turkish would contribute to both educational sciences and humanresources fields. This study, which relies on document analysis concerning educational sciences and human resources, discuses the actual meanings of competence and competency. How those concepts are used and what they mean in national and international literature are showcased by extracts and how they should be used to avoid confusion related to those concepts is explicated.