diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index e6f5ff9b0e..13da7c0ec7 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -55,7 +55,15 @@ class XmlEncoder extends AbstractEncoder implements DecoderInterface
     {
         $xml = simplexml_load_string($data);
         if (!$xml->count()) {
-            return (string) $xml;
+            if (!$xml->attributes()) {
+                return (string) $xml;
+            }
+            $data = array();
+            foreach ($xml->attributes() as $attrkey => $attr) {
+                $data['@'.$attrkey] = (string) $attr;
+            }
+            $data['#'] = (string) $xml;
+            return $data;
         }
         return $this->parseXml($xml);
     }
@@ -157,14 +165,14 @@ class XmlEncoder extends AbstractEncoder implements DecoderInterface
     private function parseXml($node)
     {
         $data = array();
+        if ($node->attributes()) {
+            foreach ($node->attributes() as $attrkey => $attr) {
+                $data['@'.$attrkey] = (string) $attr;
+            }
+        }
         foreach ($node->children() as $key => $subnode) {
             if ($subnode->count()) {
                 $value = $this->parseXml($subnode);
-                if ($subnode->attributes()) {
-                    foreach ($subnode->attributes() as $attrkey => $attr) {
-                        $value['@'.$attrkey] = (string) $attr;
-                    }
-                }
             } elseif ($subnode->attributes()) {
                 $value = array();
                 foreach ($subnode->attributes() as $attrkey => $attr) {
diff --git a/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index 80df994b61..20197b854d 100644
--- a/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -111,6 +111,32 @@ class XmlEncoderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
         $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($array, 'xml'));
     }
+    
+    public function testEncodeScalarRootAttributes()
+    {
+        $array = array(
+          '#' => 'Paul',
+          '@gender' => 'm'  
+        );
+        
+        $expected = '<?xml version="1.0"?>'."\n".
+            '<response gender="m"><![CDATA[Paul]]></response>'."\n";
+        
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($array, 'xml'));
+    }
+    
+    public function testEncodeRootAttributes()
+    {
+        $array = array(
+          'firstname' => 'Paul',
+          '@gender' => 'm'  
+        );
+        
+        $expected = '<?xml version="1.0"?>'."\n".
+            '<response gender="m"><firstname><![CDATA[Paul]]></firstname></response>'."\n";
+        
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($array, 'xml'));
+    }
 
     public function testEncodeScalarWithAttribute()
     {
@@ -159,6 +185,33 @@ class XmlEncoderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
         $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
     }
+    
+    public function testDecodeScalarRootAttributes()
+    {
+        $source = '<?xml version="1.0"?>'."\n".
+            '<person gender="M">Peter</person>'."\n";
+            
+        $expected = array(
+            '#' => 'Peter',
+            '@gender' => 'M'
+        );
+        
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
+    
+    public function testDecodeRootAttributes()
+    {
+        $source = '<?xml version="1.0"?>'."\n".
+            '<person gender="M"><firstname>Peter</firstname><lastname>Mac Calloway</lastname></person>'."\n";
+            
+        $expected = array(
+            'firstname' => 'Peter',
+            'lastname' => 'Mac Calloway',
+            '@gender' => 'M'
+        );
+        
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
 
     public function testDecodeArray()
     {