diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericGroovyXmlWebContextLoader.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericGroovyXmlWebContextLoader.java
index 8c1924e6165..61d7a927b37 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericGroovyXmlWebContextLoader.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericGroovyXmlWebContextLoader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package org.springframework.test.context.web;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.groovy.GroovyBeanDefinitionReader;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import org.springframework.web.context.support.GenericWebApplicationContext;
 
 /**
@@ -35,13 +37,32 @@ import org.springframework.web.context.support.GenericWebApplicationContext;
 public class GenericGroovyXmlWebContextLoader extends GenericXmlWebContextLoader {
 
 	/**
-	 * Loads bean definitions using a {@link GroovyBeanDefinitionReader}.
+	 * Load bean definitions into the supplied {@link GenericWebApplicationContext context}
+	 * from the locations in the supplied {@code WebMergedContextConfiguration}.
+	 *
+	 * <p>If a location ends with the suffix {@code ".xml"}, bean definitions
+	 * will be loaded from that location using an {@link XmlBeanDefinitionReader};
+	 * otherwise, a {@link GroovyBeanDefinitionReader} will be used.
+	 *
+	 * @param context the context into which the bean definitions should be loaded
+	 * @param webMergedConfig the merged context configuration
 	 * @see AbstractGenericWebContextLoader#loadBeanDefinitions
 	 */
 	@Override
 	protected void loadBeanDefinitions(GenericWebApplicationContext context,
 			WebMergedContextConfiguration webMergedConfig) {
-		new GroovyBeanDefinitionReader(context).loadBeanDefinitions(webMergedConfig.getLocations());
+
+		XmlBeanDefinitionReader xmlReader = new XmlBeanDefinitionReader(context);
+		GroovyBeanDefinitionReader groovyReader = new GroovyBeanDefinitionReader(context);
+
+		for (String location : webMergedConfig.getLocations()) {
+			if (StringUtils.endsWithIgnoreCase(location, ".xml")) {
+				xmlReader.loadBeanDefinitions(location);
+			}
+			else {
+				groovyReader.loadBeanDefinitions(location);
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericXmlWebContextLoader.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericXmlWebContextLoader.java
index 2d39c303edd..c7ec959bacf 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericXmlWebContextLoader.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/web/GenericXmlWebContextLoader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ import org.springframework.web.context.support.GenericWebApplicationContext;
 public class GenericXmlWebContextLoader extends AbstractGenericWebContextLoader {
 
 	/**
-	 * Loads bean definitions using an {@link XmlBeanDefinitionReader}.
+	 * Load bean definitions into the supplied {@link GenericWebApplicationContext context}
+	 * from the locations in the supplied {@code WebMergedContextConfiguration}, using an
+	 * {@link XmlBeanDefinitionReader}.
 	 * @see AbstractGenericWebContextLoader#loadBeanDefinitions
 	 */
 	@Override
diff --git a/spring-test/src/test/resources/org/springframework/test/context/web/BasicXmlWacTests-context.xml b/spring-test/src/test/resources/org/springframework/test/context/web/BasicXmlWacTests-context.xml
index 90653e21e82..d995b404832 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/test/resources/org/springframework/test/context/web/BasicXmlWacTests-context.xml
+++ b/spring-test/src/test/resources/org/springframework/test/context/web/BasicXmlWacTests-context.xml
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 	xmlns:c="http://www.springframework.org/schema/c" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
 
-	<bean id="foo" class="java.lang.String" c:_="bar" />
+	<bean id="foo" class="java.lang.String" c:_="bar">
+		<qualifier value="foo" />
+	</bean>
 
 </beans>