diff --git a/admin/langimport.php b/admin/langimport.php
index adee53d4356..38df128f645 100755
--- a/admin/langimport.php
+++ b/admin/langimport.php
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ $url = new moodle_url('/admin/langimport.php', array('mode' => DELETION_OF_SELEC
 echo html_writer::start_tag('td', array('valign' => 'top'));
 echo html_writer::start_tag('form', array('id' => 'uninstallform', 'action' => $url->out(), 'method' => 'post'));
 echo html_writer::start_tag('fieldset');
-echo html_writer::tag('label', get_string('installedlangs','admin'), array('for' => 'uninstalllang'));
+echo html_writer::label(get_string('installedlangs','admin'), 'uninstalllang');
 echo html_writer::empty_tag('br');
 echo html_writer::select($installedlangs, 'uninstalllang', '', false, array('size' => 15));
 echo html_writer::empty_tag('input', array('type' => 'hidden', 'name' => 'sesskey', 'value' => sesskey()));
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ if (!empty($options)) {
     $url = new moodle_url('/admin/langimport.php', array('mode' => INSTALLATION_OF_SELECTED_LANG));
     echo html_writer::start_tag('form', array('id' => 'installform', 'action' => $url->out(), 'method' => 'post'));
     echo html_writer::start_tag('fieldset');
-    echo html_writer::tag('label', get_string('availablelangs','install'), array('for' => 'pack'));
+    echo html_writer::label(get_string('availablelangs','install'), 'pack');
     echo html_writer::empty_tag('br');
     echo html_writer::select($options, 'pack[]', '', false, array('size' => 15, 'multiple' => 'multiple'));
     echo html_writer::empty_tag('input', array('type' => 'hidden', 'name' => 'sesskey', 'value' => sesskey()));
diff --git a/blog/locallib.php b/blog/locallib.php
index 94d703af817..da01dc5eac9 100644
--- a/blog/locallib.php
+++ b/blog/locallib.php
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class blog_entry {
         if ($this->uniquehash && $this->content) {
             if ($externalblog = $DB->get_record('blog_external', array('id' => $this->content))) {
                 $urlparts = parse_url($externalblog->url);
-                $topiccell->text .= $OUTPUT->container(get_string('retrievedfrom', 'blog') .': '. html_writer::link($urlparts['scheme'].'://'.$urlparts['host'], $externalblog->name), 'externalblog');
+                $topiccell->text .= $OUTPUT->container(get_string('retrievedfrom', 'blog').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').html_writer::link($urlparts['scheme'].'://'.$urlparts['host'], $externalblog->name), 'externalblog');
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/grade/export/lib.php b/grade/export/lib.php
index 351929a817a..5759485cbc8 100755
--- a/grade/export/lib.php
+++ b/grade/export/lib.php
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ abstract class grade_export {
      */
     public function format_column_name($grade_item, $feedback=false) {
         if ($grade_item->itemtype == 'mod') {
-            $name = get_string('modulename', $grade_item->itemmodule).': '.$grade_item->get_name();
+            $name = get_string('modulename', $grade_item->itemmodule).get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$grade_item->get_name();
         } else {
             $name = $grade_item->get_name();
         }
diff --git a/lang/en/langconfig.php b/lang/en/langconfig.php
index 9f890a4e1a3..7905f6696dc 100644
--- a/lang/en/langconfig.php
+++ b/lang/en/langconfig.php
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ $string['decsep'] = '.';
 $string['firstdayofweek'] = '0';
 $string['iso6391'] = 'en';
 $string['iso6392'] = 'eng';
+$string['labelsep'] = ': ';
 $string['listsep'] = ',';
 $string['locale'] = 'en_AU.UTF-8';
 $string['localewin'] = 'English_Australia.1252';
diff --git a/lib/outputcomponents.php b/lib/outputcomponents.php
index deb3a6b85e8..f4626f82140 100644
--- a/lib/outputcomponents.php
+++ b/lib/outputcomponents.php
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@ class single_select implements renderable {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Set's select lable
+     * Sets select's label
      * @param string $label
      * @return void
      */
@@ -851,7 +851,7 @@ class url_select implements renderable {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Set's select lable
+     * Sets select's label
      * @param string $label
      * @return void
      */
@@ -1521,6 +1521,50 @@ class html_writer {
         return $output;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Renders form element label
+     *
+     * By default, the label is suffixed with a label separator defined in the
+     * current language pack (colon by default in the English lang pack).
+     * Adding the colon can be explicitly disabled if needed. Label separators
+     * are put outside the label tag itself so they are not read by
+     * screenreaders (accessibility).
+     *
+     * Parameter $for explicitly associates the label with a form control. When
+     * set, the value of this attribute must be the same as the value of
+     * the id attribute of the form control in the same document. When null,
+     * the label being defined is associated with the control inside the label
+     * element.
+     *
+     * @param string $text content of the label tag
+     * @param string|null $for id of the element this label is associated with, null for no association
+     * @param bool $colonize add label separator (colon) to the label text, if it is not there yet
+     * @param array $attributes to be inserted in the tab, for example array('accesskey' => 'a')
+     * @return string HTML of the label element
+     */
+    public static function label($text, $for, $colonize=true, array $attributes=array()) {
+        if (!is_null($for)) {
+            $attributes = array_merge($attributes, array('for' => $for));
+        }
+        $text = trim($text);
+        $label = self::tag('label', $text, $attributes);
+
+        if ($colonize) {
+            // the $text may end with the colon already, though it is bad string definition style
+            $colon = get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig');
+            if (!empty($colon)) {
+                $trimmed = trim($colon);
+                if ((substr($text, -strlen($trimmed)) == $trimmed) or (substr($text, -1) == ':')) {
+                    //debugging('The label text should not end with colon or other label separator,
+                    //           please fix the string definition.', DEBUG_DEVELOPER);
+                } else {
+                    $label .= $colon;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $label;
+    }
 }
 
 // ==== JS writer and helper classes, will be probably moved elsewhere ======
diff --git a/lib/outputrenderers.php b/lib/outputrenderers.php
index 0b81912b4d6..89b7c7f392a 100644
--- a/lib/outputrenderers.php
+++ b/lib/outputrenderers.php
@@ -1091,7 +1091,7 @@ class core_renderer extends renderer_base {
         }
 
         if ($select->label) {
-            $output .= html_writer::tag('label', $select->label, array('for'=>$select->attributes['id']));
+            $output .= html_writer::label($select->label, $select->attributes['id']);
         }
 
         if ($select->helpicon instanceof help_icon) {
@@ -1162,7 +1162,7 @@ class core_renderer extends renderer_base {
         $output = '';
 
         if ($select->label) {
-            $output .= html_writer::tag('label', $select->label, array('for'=>$select->attributes['id']));
+            $output .= html_writer::label($select->label, $select->attributes['id']);
         }
 
         if ($select->helpicon instanceof help_icon) {
@@ -1369,9 +1369,9 @@ class core_renderer extends renderer_base {
                 $popuplink = new moodle_url("$url&popup=1");
 
                 $action = new popup_action('click', $popuplink, 'ratings', array('height' => 400, 'width' => 600));
-                $ratinghtml .= $aggregatelabel.': '.$this->action_link($nonpopuplink, $aggregatehtml, $action);
+                $ratinghtml .= $aggregatelabel.get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$this->action_link($nonpopuplink, $aggregatehtml, $action);
             } else {
-                $ratinghtml .= "{$aggregatelabel}: $aggregatehtml";
+                $ratinghtml .= $aggregatelabel.get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$aggregatehtml;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/mod/choice/lib.php b/mod/choice/lib.php
index dfe746358e2..1cc93ea9fa5 100644
--- a/mod/choice/lib.php
+++ b/mod/choice/lib.php
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ function choice_show_results($choice, $course, $cm, $allresponses, $forcepublish
                 echo '<a href="javascript:select_all_in(\'DIV\',null,\'tablecontainer\');">'.get_string('selectall', 'quiz').'</a> / ';
                 echo '<a href="javascript:deselect_all_in(\'DIV\',null,\'tablecontainer\');">'.get_string('selectnone', 'quiz').'</a> ';
                 echo '&nbsp;&nbsp;';
-                echo html_writer::tag('label', get_string('withselected', 'quiz'), array('for'=>'menuaction')); 
+                echo html_writer::label(get_string('withselected', 'quiz'), 'menuaction');
                 echo html_writer::select(array('delete' => get_string('delete')), 'action', '', array(''=>get_string('moveselectedcoursesto')), array('id'=>'menuaction'));
                 $PAGE->requires->js_init_call('M.util.init_select_autosubmit', array('attemptsform', 'menuaction', ''));
                 echo '<noscript id="noscriptmenuaction" style="display:inline">';
diff --git a/user/index.php b/user/index.php
index 5be07811650..1c08d737b26 100644
--- a/user/index.php
+++ b/user/index.php
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@
     } else if (count($rolenames) == 1) {
         // when all users with the same role - print its name
         echo '<div class="rolesform">';
-        echo get_string('role').': ';
+        echo get_string('role').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig');
         $rolename = reset($rolenames);
         echo $rolename;
         echo '</div>';
@@ -499,9 +499,9 @@
             $strallparticipants = get_string('allparticipants');
         }
         if ($matchcount < $totalcount) {
-            echo $OUTPUT->heading($strallparticipants.': '.$matchcount.'/'.$totalcount . $editlink, 3);
+            echo $OUTPUT->heading($strallparticipants.get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$matchcount.'/'.$totalcount . $editlink, 3);
         } else {
-            echo $OUTPUT->heading($strallparticipants.': '.$matchcount . $editlink, 3);
+            echo $OUTPUT->heading($strallparticipants.get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$matchcount . $editlink, 3);
         }
     }
 
@@ -603,14 +603,14 @@
                     $row->cells[1]->text .= $OUTPUT->container_start('info');
 
                     if (!empty($user->role)) {
-                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('role') .': '. $user->role .'<br />';
+                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('role').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').$user->role.'<br />';
                     }
                     if ($user->maildisplay == 1 or ($user->maildisplay == 2 and ($course->id != SITEID) and !isguestuser()) or
                                 has_capability('moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields', $context)) {
-                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('email') .': ' . html_writer::link("mailto:$user->email", $user->email) . '<br />';
+                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('email').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').html_writer::link("mailto:$user->email", $user->email) . '<br />';
                     }
                     if (($user->city or $user->country) and (!isset($hiddenfields['city']) or !isset($hiddenfields['country']))) {
-                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('city') .': ';
+                        $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('city').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig');
                         if ($user->city && !isset($hiddenfields['city'])) {
                             $row->cells[1]->text .= $user->city;
                         }
@@ -625,10 +625,10 @@
 
                     if (!isset($hiddenfields['lastaccess'])) {
                         if ($user->lastaccess) {
-                            $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('lastaccess') .': '. userdate($user->lastaccess);
+                            $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('lastaccess').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').userdate($user->lastaccess);
                             $row->cells[1]->text .= '&nbsp; ('. format_time(time() - $user->lastaccess, $datestring) .')';
                         } else {
-                            $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('lastaccess') .': '. get_string('never');
+                            $row->cells[1]->text .= get_string('lastaccess').get_string('labelsep', 'langconfig').get_string('never');
                         }
                     }