diff --git a/src/frontends/LyXView.C b/src/frontends/LyXView.C
index 73699d1646..9017b09e9b 100644
--- a/src/frontends/LyXView.C
+++ b/src/frontends/LyXView.C
@@ -100,6 +100,20 @@ void LyXView::setWorkArea(WorkArea * work_area)
 }
 
 
+// FIXME, there's only one WorkArea per LyXView possible for now.
+WorkArea const * LyXView::currentWorkArea() const
+{
+	return work_area_;
+}
+
+
+// FIXME, there's only one WorkArea per LyXView possible for now.
+WorkArea * LyXView::currentWorkArea()
+{
+	return work_area_;
+}
+
+
 Buffer * LyXView::buffer() const
 {
 	BOOST_ASSERT(work_area_);
diff --git a/src/frontends/LyXView.h b/src/frontends/LyXView.h
index b51aa65447..6c3b62a79b 100644
--- a/src/frontends/LyXView.h
+++ b/src/frontends/LyXView.h
@@ -74,8 +74,15 @@ public:
 
 	std::vector<int> const & workAreaIds() const { return work_area_ids_; }
 
+	/// FIXME: rename to setCurrentWorkArea()
 	void setWorkArea(frontend::WorkArea * work_area);
 
+	/// return the current WorkArea (the one that has the focus).
+	frontend::WorkArea const * currentWorkArea() const;
+	/// FIXME: This non-const access is needed because of 
+	/// a mis-designed \c ControlSpellchecker.
+	frontend::WorkArea * currentWorkArea();
+
 	/**
 	 * This is called after the concrete view has been created.
 	 * We have to have the toolbar and the other stuff created
diff --git a/src/frontends/controllers/ControlSpellchecker.C b/src/frontends/controllers/ControlSpellchecker.C
index c001bd27b4..f6af7fd50c 100644
--- a/src/frontends/controllers/ControlSpellchecker.C
+++ b/src/frontends/controllers/ControlSpellchecker.C
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@
 #include "support/docstring.h"
 
 #include "frontends/Alert.h"
+// FIXME: those two headers are needed because of the
+// WorkArea::redraw() call below.
+#include "frontends/lyxview.h"
+#include "frontends/WorkArea.h"
 
 using std::advance;
 using std::distance;
@@ -251,6 +255,8 @@ void ControlSpellchecker::check()
 	// if we used a lfun like in find/replace, dispatch would do
 	// that for us
 	kernel().bufferview()->update();
+	// FIXME: this Controller is very badly designed...
+	kernel().lyxview().currentWorkArea()->redraw();
 
 	// set suggestions
 	if (res != SpellBase::OK && res != SpellBase::IGNORED_WORD) {