This is a quick note about an idea that is used in Moodle and in language teaching, and two slightly different words that refer to it.

In the European Framework for Language Learning CEFR They talk about a “competence framework”. This consists of a collection of descriptors of abilities which relate to different levels of proficiency or skill. In this context people sometimes use the plural form “competences”.

In ordinary English “competence” is an uncountable noun… which means that we are unlikely to make it into a plural. The different abilities or skills that can be counted (grammatically speaking) are competencies, and this term seems better when we are discussing a table of descriptors or “can-do statements”. Examples are the UK civil service competency framework or the way competencies can be used to evaluate students’ progress in Moodle. Once a framework of competencies has been created in a moodle site, it is quite easy to share this with other instances in the form of csv files. I have shared two such frameworks in moodle net