Reading is a basic skill that the students of the formal school must have. The Ministry of Education through BNSP has regulated the standard of reading ability for 1st-grade students of elementary school, that is able to read simple syllable, word, and sentence by using proper pronunciation and intonation. The aim of the research is to improve the reading ability of 1st-grade students in elementary school who is still less fluent to read. Phonics method is used as an intervention due to its

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... ematic instructional step by practicing the phonological awareness, phonics and reading fluency (Hindle, 2007). The Informal Reading Assessment (IRA) developed by Ruscoe is used to measure the students' reading abilities. It is adjusted in Bahasa Indonesia by using adaptation process. The result of pretest and post-test shows the increasing of score and achievement category of reading skill. Further analyses reveal that improvement in reading ability happens in phonological awareness and phonics, but no significant improvement in reading fluency. In conclusion, it is required a lot of reading practice in order to make it more fluent.