diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/AbstractGenericContextLoader.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/AbstractGenericContextLoader.java
index 5729a02c58..b2ea37b9fe 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/AbstractGenericContextLoader.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/AbstractGenericContextLoader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2019 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2020 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.
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractGenericContextLoader extends AbstractContextLoader
 	 * <ul>
 	 * <li>Calls {@link #validateMergedContextConfiguration(MergedContextConfiguration)}
 	 * to allow subclasses to validate the supplied configuration before proceeding.</li>
-	 * <li>Creates a {@link GenericApplicationContext} instance.</li>
+	 * <li>Calls {@link #createContext()} to create a {@link GenericApplicationContext}
+	 * instance.</li>
 	 * <li>If the supplied {@code MergedContextConfiguration} references a
 	 * {@linkplain MergedContextConfiguration#getParent() parent configuration},
 	 * the corresponding {@link MergedContextConfiguration#getParentApplicationContext()
@@ -130,15 +131,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractGenericContextLoader extends AbstractContextLoader
 		return context;
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Creates instance of application context used by this {@code ContextLoader}
-	 *
-	 * @return new Instance of application context
-	 */
-	protected GenericApplicationContext createContext() {
-		return new GenericApplicationContext();
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * Validate the supplied {@link MergedContextConfiguration} with respect to
 	 * what this context loader supports.
@@ -159,7 +151,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractGenericContextLoader extends AbstractContextLoader
 	 * <p>Implementation details:
 	 *
 	 * <ul>
-	 * <li>Creates a {@link GenericApplicationContext} instance.</li>
+	 * <li>Calls {@link #createContext()} to create a {@link GenericApplicationContext}
+	 * instance.</li>
 	 * <li>Calls {@link #prepareContext(GenericApplicationContext)} to allow for customizing the context
 	 * before bean definitions are loaded.</li>
 	 * <li>Calls {@link #customizeBeanFactory(DefaultListableBeanFactory)} to allow for customizing the
@@ -204,6 +197,22 @@ public abstract class AbstractGenericContextLoader extends AbstractContextLoader
 		return context;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Factory method for creating the {@link GenericApplicationContext} used by
+	 * this {@code ContextLoader}.
+	 *
+	 * <p>The default implementation creates a {@code GenericApplicationContext}
+	 * using the default constructor. This method may be overridden in subclasses
+	 * &mdash; for example, to create a {@code GenericApplicationContext} with
+	 * a custom {@link DefaultListableBeanFactory} implementation.
+	 *
+	 * @return a newly instantiated {@code GenericApplicationContext}
+	 * @since 5.2.9
+	 */
+	protected GenericApplicationContext createContext() {
+		return new GenericApplicationContext();
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Prepare the {@link GenericApplicationContext} created by this {@code ContextLoader}.
 	 * Called <i>before</i> bean definitions are read.