Exploring How Lecturers’ Behaviours Relate to Students’ Motivation to Participate in Self-Directed Learning in African Higher Education

Abstract

Lecturer feedback, dialogical pedagogies, and supportive relationships are recognised as important for motivating participation in self-directed learning (SDL), yet the transferability of predominantly non-African evidence remains uncertain amid diverse African sociocultural, institutional, and resource conditions. This systematic review examined lecturer behaviours associated with African higher education students’ motivation to participate in SDL and challenges constraining lecturer practice. Searches of Web of Science, Google Scholar, Sabinet African Journals, ERIC, and African Journals Online for peer-reviewed evidence published during 2015–2026, supplemented by citation and companion-report tracing, yielded 460 records and 269 full texts; 85 publications were included: 72 empirical reports representing 63 study families, 5 reviews, and 8 conceptual publications. Thematic synthesis identified five behaviours: supporting student agency and ownership; providing psychologically safe support; using engaging instruction associated with intrinsic motivation; modelling self-direction and lifelong learning; and contextualising teaching and learning. These behaviours were reported as supporting autonomy, confidence, and participation. Lecturer preparation and institutional conditions constrained implementation, while students’ prior opportunities to develop SDL readiness shaped participation as a cross-cutting condition. Evidence was cross-disciplinary but concentrated in South Africa. Advancing SDL requires guided autonomy, lecturer development, equitable infrastructure, and contextually responsive pedagogy adapted cautiously beyond represented settings.