The initial step in the listening process is:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → Reception of a message

Listening is a process that involves reception, attention, assignment of meaning, and the listener’s response to the message.

Option (1) Listening passively — Incorrect. Listening may look passive because it involves silence, but this image of passivity is far from true: it requires a person to be attentive, patient and ready to analyse and respond. Passivity is not a step of the process at all.

Option (2) Reception of a message — Correct. The initial step in the listening process is the reception of a stimulus or message, auditory and/or visual. People receive it through hearing and also through their visual system, watching facial expressions, posture, movement and appearance.

Option (3) Distraction — Incorrect. Distraction works against listening. After reception comes attention, the stage in which other stimuli recede so that we can concentrate on the words or visual symbols of the message.

Option (4) Speaking loudly — Incorrect. Speaking is the sender’s part of communication, not a step of the listener’s process.

Note: The listening process, which begins with the reception of a message, was there in the chapter ‘Developing Psychological Skills’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, and is not there in the NCERT book (2025-26).

NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Listening … At first, listening may appear to you as a passive behaviour, as it involves silence. But this image of passivity is far from true. Listening requires a person to be attentive. S/he should be patient, non-judgmental and yet have the capacity to analyse and respond. Hearing and listening are not the same. Hearing is a biological activity that involves reception of a message through sensory channels. It is only a part of listening, a process that involves reception, attention, assignment of meaning, and listener’s response to the message presented.…”

“Reception … The initial step in the listening process is the reception of a stimulus or message. A message could be auditory and/or visual. The hearing process is based on a complex set of physical interactions that take place involving the ear and the brain. In addition to using the hearing mechanism, people listen through their visual system. They observe a person’s facial expressions, posture, movement, and appearance, which provide important cues that may not be obvious merely by listening to the verbal part of the message.…”