Teaching Spell Checkers to Teach: Pedagogical Program Synthesis for Interactive Learning

TL;DR

This paper introduces SPIRE, an innovative spell check system that incorporates inquiry-based pedagogical strategies to enhance spelling instruction and support metalinguistic reasoning during writing.

Contribution

It presents Pedagogical Program Synthesis, a novel method for creating dynamic, interactive spelling interventions tailored to learner errors in real-time.

Findings

SPIRE aligns with professional teaching practices.

Supports exploration of word meanings and structures.

Potential for integration into writing tools.

Abstract

Spelling taught through memorization often fails many learners, particularly children with language-based learning disorders who struggle with the phonological skills necessary to spell words accurately. Educators such as speech-language pathologists (SLPs) address this instructional gap by using an inquiry-based approach to teach spelling that targets the phonology, morphology, meaning, and etymology of words. Yet, these strategies rarely appear in everyday writing tools, which simply detect and autocorrect errors. We introduce SPIRE (Spelling Inquiry Engine), a spell check system that brings this inquiry-based pedagogy into the act of composition. SPIRE implements Pedagogical Program Synthesis, a novel approach for operationalizing the inherently dynamic pedagogy of spelling instruction. SPIRE represents SLP instructional moves in a domain-specific language, synthesizes tailored programs in real-time from learner errors, and renders them as interactive interfaces for inquiry-based interventions. With SPIRE, spelling errors become opportunities to explore word meanings, word structures, morphological families, word origins, and grapheme-phoneme correspondences, supporting metalinguistic reasoning alongside correction. Evaluation with SLPs and learners shows alignment with professional practice and potential for integration into writing workflows.