diff --git a/mod/chat/gui_ajax/index.php b/mod/chat/gui_ajax/index.php
index ee389bcc5b8fa..b79e07151b00c 100644
--- a/mod/chat/gui_ajax/index.php
+++ b/mod/chat/gui_ajax/index.php
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
 echo $OUTPUT->box('<ul id="messages-list"></ul>', '', 'chat-messages');
 $table = new html_table();
 $table->data = array(
-    array(' &raquo; <input type="text" disabled="true" id="input-message" value="Loading..." size="50" /> <input type="button" id="button-send" value="'.get_string('send', 'chat').'" /> <a id="choosetheme" href="###">'.get_string('themes').' &raquo; </a>')
+    array(' &raquo; <label class="accesshide" for="input-message">' . get_string('entermessage', 'chat') . ' </label><input type="text" disabled="true" id="input-message" value="Loading..." size="50" /> <input type="button" id="button-send" value="'.get_string('send', 'chat').'" /> <a id="choosetheme" href="###">'.get_string('themes').' &raquo; </a>')
 );
 echo $OUTPUT->box(html_writer::table($table), '', 'chat-input-area');
 echo $OUTPUT->box('', '', 'chat-notify');
diff --git a/mod/chat/gui_header_js/chatinput.php b/mod/chat/gui_header_js/chatinput.php
index 9431417954d51..d480fe1a35dce 100644
--- a/mod/chat/gui_header_js/chatinput.php
+++ b/mod/chat/gui_header_js/chatinput.php
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 echo $OUTPUT->header();
 
 echo html_writer::start_tag('form', array('action'=>'../empty.php', 'method'=>'post', 'target'=>'empty', 'id'=>'inputForm', 'style'=>'margin:0'));
+echo html_writer::label(get_string('entermessage', 'chat'), 'input_chat_message', false, array('class' => 'accesshide'));
 echo html_writer::empty_tag('input', array('type'=>'text', 'id'=>'input_chat_message', 'name'=>'chat_message', 'size'=>'50', 'value'=>''));
 echo html_writer::empty_tag('input', array('type'=>'checkbox', 'id'=>'auto', 'checked'=>'checked', 'value'=>''));
 echo html_writer::tag('label', get_string('autoscroll', 'chat'), array('for'=>'auto'));
diff --git a/mod/chat/gui_sockets/chatinput.php b/mod/chat/gui_sockets/chatinput.php
index fe369b5cd6704..237f4886f623b 100644
--- a/mod/chat/gui_sockets/chatinput.php
+++ b/mod/chat/gui_sockets/chatinput.php
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
     <form action="../empty.php" method="get" target="empty" id="inputform"
           onsubmit="return empty_field_and_submit();">
+        <label class="accesshide" for="chat_message"><?php print_string('entermessage', 'chat'); ?></label>
         <input type="text" name="chat_message" id="chat_message" size="60" value="" />
         <?php echo $OUTPUT->help_icon('usingchat', 'chat'); ?>
     </form>
diff --git a/mod/chat/lang/en/chat.php b/mod/chat/lang/en/chat.php
index efd50fd71e955..bd5ee733fd920 100644
--- a/mod/chat/lang/en/chat.php
+++ b/mod/chat/lang/en/chat.php
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 $string['chatreport'] = 'Chat sessions';
 $string['chat:talk'] = 'Talk in a chat';
 $string['chattime'] = 'Next chat time';
+$string['entermessage'] = "Enter your message";
 $string['idle'] = 'Idle';
 $string['inputarea'] = 'Input area';
 $string['invalidid'] = 'Could not find that chat room!';