Reading: Music and the Brain
Music and the brain is a B1 reading text in the popular-science genre. The text covers how music affects cognitive function, emotional state, and memory: how musicians’ brains differ from non-musicians’, how listening to music while studying impacts retention, how music therapy helps with dementia and depression. Learners read for scientific claims, evidence, and qualified conclusions.
This worksheet builds B1 reading comprehension through a popular-science text on music and cognition.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- A B1 reading text (~450 words) on music’s effects on the brain
- Pre-reading vocabulary box with neuroscience and music terms
- Comprehension items: scientific-claim identification, evidence-finding, inference
- Vocabulary-in-context: cognition and emotion vocabulary
- Writing follow-up: describe how music affects you personally
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Scientific hedging at B1 is the central reading skill — research suggests, studies have shown, may improve, appears to enhance. Brain-and-cognition vocabulary: memory, attention, focus, processing, emotion, mood, dopamine, neurons. Distinguishing correlation from causation: people who play music tend to have better memory vs music improves memory — different claims.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) Reading and B2 First (FCE) preparation. Part of the Culture & Lifestyle Readings collection — the natural next step is The Olympics: History and Values, which extends popular-science reading into sport-and-history territory.
Every worksheet you'll ever need — ready to teach.
Stop building from scratch. 324 classroom-ready worksheets, every level, with answer keys and teacher notes on every sheet.
