diff --git a/lib/external/externallib.php b/lib/external/externallib.php
index 5ba6a5e3aa6..c69681d0e4c 100644
--- a/lib/external/externallib.php
+++ b/lib/external/externallib.php
@@ -236,7 +236,10 @@ class core_external extends external_api {
         $wsstrings = array();
         $componentstrings = $stringmanager->load_component_strings($params['component'], $params['lang']);
         foreach($componentstrings as $stringid => $string) {
-            $wsstrings[$stringid] = $string;
+            $wsstring = array();
+            $wsstring['stringid'] = $stringid;
+            $wsstring['string'] = $string;
+            $wsstrings[] = $wsstring;
         }
 
         return $wsstrings;
@@ -252,7 +255,7 @@ class core_external extends external_api {
         return new external_multiple_structure(
             new external_single_structure(array(
                 'stringid' => new external_value(PARAM_STRINGID, 'string id'),
-                'string' => new external_value(PARAM_TEXT, 'translated string'))
+                'string' => new external_value(PARAM_RAW, 'translated string'))
             ));
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/external/tests/externallib_test.php b/lib/external/tests/externallib_test.php
index 815b97e9347..5c4b2089855 100644
--- a/lib/external/tests/externallib_test.php
+++ b/lib/external/tests/externallib_test.php
@@ -105,9 +105,13 @@ class core_external_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $wsstrings = $stringmanager->load_component_strings('webservice', current_language());
 
         $componentstrings = core_external::get_component_strings('webservice');
+
+        // We need to execute the return values cleaning process to simulate the web service server.
+        $componentstrings = external_api::clean_returnvalue(core_external::get_component_strings_returns(), $componentstrings);
+
         $this->assertEquals(count($componentstrings), count($wsstrings));
-        foreach($wsstrings as $name => $string) {
-            $this->assertEquals($string, $componentstrings[$name]);
+        foreach($componentstrings as $string) {
+            $this->assertEquals($string['string'], $wsstrings[$string['stringid']]);
         }
     }
 }